Dragon Gundam

Kit	Kit Manufacturer	Scale	Price	Options	Out of Box (OOB) or Modified	Rating (1-10 10=best)
Dragon Gundam	Bandai	1/144	$8	None	Paint	7.5

If you go outside the "strict" timeline (also known as the UC, or Universal Century, series) of Gundam, you find some interesting side stories. This Gundam - the Dragon Gundam - is from G-Gundam. Instead of being a Mobile Suit or Mobile Armor, it's known as a Mobile Fighter. The whole schtik, as far as I can tell from trying to watch the series (hey, I miss it a lot) is that most of mankind has gone out to the colonies, and they send their Mobile Fighters down to Earth to determine who rules for X amount of time (a year or so, I think - part of what I missed.) Instead of huge space battles, they basically "duke it out." (I've heard it referred to as "Dragonball Z with Gundams" more than once.) They have a few special "powers" or weapons, but in general... Well, it's different from the regular Gundam series. There are a few interesting designs out there, too.

This Gundam I saw sitting around at K-mart, very cheap... It looked different, so I picked it up. Inside, you still get sprues of differnet color, though the color breakdown doesn't look as well thought out. The two "biggies" for me are the lower arms, and the "core fighter" (small car/plane/etc that fits into the back like a backpack.) The arms form the lower "jaw" of the dragon head, and should be yellow, like the top jaw. They're molded in white, and need painting. The core fighter is worse - it's molded in green, when it's mostly white. Painting white over colored plastic is a *real* pain. (I went with light grey, which works better, but still needed several coats.)

Construction:

This one seems simpler than many of the other 1/144 Gundam kits, somehow. It still uses the standard snap-fit, poly-cap construction as most current Gundam kits, so there aren't any real suprises when you put this together. The - well, I'm not sure what they are, I'll just say 'tubes' - under the shoulder pads are kind of odd to fit in. If you don't get them just right (and manage to keep them there!) there will be a split in the shoulder. Just take your time on it.

The same holds true for the rest of the kit. There were no real suprises in construction. Take care to clean off any attachment "nubs," and you should get a good fit. Pre-paint the lower arms (from the last "ridge" forward) or it'll be a pain to get to with the dragon heads on. You will also need to paint the edge of the shoulders yellow. (They could have done this with their standard metallic decals, but I don't mind painting them. They seem to look better that way.) The chest "dome" would probably best be painted - the sticker given for it doesn't seem to want to settle down very well. Use care and a fine brush around the edges, and it should come out nicely. I went ahead and used the stickers for the side vents, too - they look slightly tacky that way, to be honest, and five minutes with a paintbrush would have them looking much better. (Don't be afraid of paint with these figures!)

The only other points to watch on construction are these:

• Shoulders - they should fit over the stubs on the chest. If they're sticking out a bit, wiggle the "shoulder pads" around until the arm slides in snugly against the chest. This is kind of a loose point in construction before they're on.
• Dragon heads - Assemble with a small gap, slide over the arms, and then squeeze together. Yes, it should be obvious. =] The dragon "horns" get in the way of the arms and shoulder pads, though, so you'll find yourself posing it with a lot of "underhand" shots.
• Feet - the white "shoe straps" (I can't think of another term) only fit one way. If you have them on the wrong way, they'll stand *very* proud of the foot.
• Core fighter - It goes together quickly and tightly, but it's slightly loose in the back. Not quite sure what to do about that at the moment - perhaps some of that poster "clay" they use for mounting would help hold it in.

Painting and finishing

For most of this, I'd suggest painting instead of using the decals. In some areas, there's not really a choice. The only decals that really "work" for me is the Gundam face decal and "knee pads." The others just flatten out detail, or look odd (like the chest "dome" again.) You will need to paint the green plates on the lower legs, the dragon "face" on each arm (more detail - mask them carefully,) and if you choose, the kneepads and dome. You'll want to paint the core fighter, as well - it looks odd in solid green.

I ran a black acrylic wash into most of the panel lines on the lighter parts (the green skirt and shoulder armor has some detail, but a pebbly - I suppose "dragon skin" surface, and I wasn't sure I wanted to bring all that out.) It breaks up the areas of solid color enough. If you do this, do the front skirt armor before adding the "Ace of Clubs" sticker (I hesitate to call them decals.) Otherwise, you may end up highlighting the sticker edge, which is not what you want.

Conclusion

Interesting design, but not one of the best kits. Not horrible, either, though - it's just passable, to me. There's not a lot of cleanup work that needs doing, so assembly is easy. It's just that, during building, and now, looking at it - it's not all that inspiring to me. Recommended, if you like the design.