1/144 HGUC Geara Zulu (AMS-129)
This is Geara Zulu, the standard soldier's mobile suit (MS) in Gundam Unicorn series.
The price is 1,800 yen (about SGD 28.00) before shipment charges and that is the same as the previous Geara Doga and basically this Geara Zulu is an upgraded and slim version of Geara Doga.
Probably I put too much expectation on this model and obviously at the end I feel a little bit disappointed with it. In terms of look obviously it looks a little slimmer than Geara Doga but obviously on articulation wise - there is nothing to shout about despite this kit being released in December 2009. Again, probably I put too much hope and expectation on that department.
Nonetheless, for just a HGUC kit, this Geara Zulu sure will take a lot of time to work on. Eventually I did something challenging (at least for my self) when I built this kit and that is I built 2 kits at the same time using 1 manual (since both of them are the same actually).
Overall I spent about some 13 hours for both - that means 7.5 hours each including top coating process. About 6 hours to finish building it and cleaning up the cutting marks and 1.5 hours for top coating process including final touch up. Then again, maybe some of you have better speed and more expertise than me and thus maybe you could do it better and faster.
There are plenty of small parts for this kit and lots of cleaning works (clearing cutting marks) need to be done and thus in a way it makes me feel like doing some of the older simple 1/100 MG kits though this is somehow a little more difficult as the parts are smaller than the MG counterpart...
The box...
Plenty of runners for just a HGUC 1/144 scale...
So this is it... let's have a look...
Since I have 2 unit, I decided to make 1 as commander/leader's unit and the other one as normal soldier unit...
Articulation wise - nothing great if compared to the Geara Doga but this Zulu can still achieve this kneeling pose....
Some kicking pose... not well balanced it seems... but he sure can stand on 1 leg albeit after several weight distribution and adjustment...
Maximum stretch... nothing great but still OK... if we use 00 Gundam as the comparison, surely this is lousy...
Nonetheless, I like the face/head... look kinda cool...
By the way I skip plenty of the stickers parts... there just too many of them and I'm always lousy with stickers and thus I rather keep it simple... I'm still happy with the way it looks now...
The backpack style is inherited from Geara Doga...
All the weapons and equipment...
1 thing that is cool (or at least what I like the most) abut the rifle is that there is a small gun attached to it as well and you can always detach it from the rifle...
Something like this....
Some action pose with the weapons...
Improved beam hawk but actually that's about it... nothing too spectacular... the Geara Doga of Rezin Schneider at least also have beam saber...
Sturm Faust bazooka...
Hand grenade...
Side by side with Geara Doga... despite the overall bulky looks of Doga, I think I prefer the Doga over the Zulu...
Overall, if you plan to collect 1/144 HGUC kits from Gundam Unicorn series, maybe you would and should include this item as well or maybe wait a little while for the "ace pilot's" version with different color scheme or special customization on mobility and speed maybe. It could be blue, red, yellow or whatever... Bandai always knew how to manipulate their GunPlaMo kits bu just changing the colors and add a little bit of stuff here and there.
I have said a lot about this kit above, so not much to say anymore now.
Currently (as at end of December 2009/ early January 2010) only 4 model of HGUC kits available from Gundam Unicorn series - the Unicorn in 2 mode (Destroy/Unicorn), the Kshatriya and this Geara Zulu.
ReZEl and Stark Jegan is coming soon and I'm sure the Sinanju should come as well, it's just a matter of time for Bandai plus probably many more will follow suit. It's all about timing strategy for Bandai.
You can see the list from HLJ in here.
The price is 1,800 yen (about SGD 28.00) before shipment charges and that is the same as the previous Geara Doga and basically this Geara Zulu is an upgraded and slim version of Geara Doga.
Probably I put too much expectation on this model and obviously at the end I feel a little bit disappointed with it. In terms of look obviously it looks a little slimmer than Geara Doga but obviously on articulation wise - there is nothing to shout about despite this kit being released in December 2009. Again, probably I put too much hope and expectation on that department.
Nonetheless, for just a HGUC kit, this Geara Zulu sure will take a lot of time to work on. Eventually I did something challenging (at least for my self) when I built this kit and that is I built 2 kits at the same time using 1 manual (since both of them are the same actually).
Overall I spent about some 13 hours for both - that means 7.5 hours each including top coating process. About 6 hours to finish building it and cleaning up the cutting marks and 1.5 hours for top coating process including final touch up. Then again, maybe some of you have better speed and more expertise than me and thus maybe you could do it better and faster.
There are plenty of small parts for this kit and lots of cleaning works (clearing cutting marks) need to be done and thus in a way it makes me feel like doing some of the older simple 1/100 MG kits though this is somehow a little more difficult as the parts are smaller than the MG counterpart...
The box...
Plenty of runners for just a HGUC 1/144 scale...
So this is it... let's have a look...
Since I have 2 unit, I decided to make 1 as commander/leader's unit and the other one as normal soldier unit...
Articulation wise - nothing great if compared to the Geara Doga but this Zulu can still achieve this kneeling pose....
Some kicking pose... not well balanced it seems... but he sure can stand on 1 leg albeit after several weight distribution and adjustment...
Maximum stretch... nothing great but still OK... if we use 00 Gundam as the comparison, surely this is lousy...
Nonetheless, I like the face/head... look kinda cool...
By the way I skip plenty of the stickers parts... there just too many of them and I'm always lousy with stickers and thus I rather keep it simple... I'm still happy with the way it looks now...
The backpack style is inherited from Geara Doga...
All the weapons and equipment...
1 thing that is cool (or at least what I like the most) abut the rifle is that there is a small gun attached to it as well and you can always detach it from the rifle...
Something like this....
Some action pose with the weapons...
Improved beam hawk but actually that's about it... nothing too spectacular... the Geara Doga of Rezin Schneider at least also have beam saber...
Sturm Faust bazooka...
Hand grenade...
Side by side with Geara Doga... despite the overall bulky looks of Doga, I think I prefer the Doga over the Zulu...
Overall, if you plan to collect 1/144 HGUC kits from Gundam Unicorn series, maybe you would and should include this item as well or maybe wait a little while for the "ace pilot's" version with different color scheme or special customization on mobility and speed maybe. It could be blue, red, yellow or whatever... Bandai always knew how to manipulate their GunPlaMo kits bu just changing the colors and add a little bit of stuff here and there.
I have said a lot about this kit above, so not much to say anymore now.
Currently (as at end of December 2009/ early January 2010) only 4 model of HGUC kits available from Gundam Unicorn series - the Unicorn in 2 mode (Destroy/Unicorn), the Kshatriya and this Geara Zulu.
ReZEl and Stark Jegan is coming soon and I'm sure the Sinanju should come as well, it's just a matter of time for Bandai plus probably many more will follow suit. It's all about timing strategy for Bandai.
You can see the list from HLJ in here.
Haha bandai sticker spotted! Ah man, sweet review. I just got the geara zulu and I think I'll go for the command fin instead :D
ReplyDeleteBy the way, when are you coming to Singapore haha for that little dinner :D
david john, how to follow ur blog.. What a great collection bro
ReplyDeleteThe gun is actually an underslung grenade launcher, and the beam machine gun is modelled after the StG-44 rifle used by Nazi Germany, it's also Geara Zulu's motif.
ReplyDelete