Yes, I know it’s been only two days since my introductory post. What can I say? It was a simple build! See for yourself:
But here’s the thing - one of the reasons why it’s so simple is because it is so well engineered.
Despite being so small, so simple, and so cheap, the Nobel Gundam has no noticeable seamlines. With just a bit of panel lining, and a tiny bit of optional painting, you can have a perfectly good looking Gunpla.
Build Strategy
I decided to use a mix of glass and matte topcoat on this model. Matte for the white pink armor and the hair, and gloss coat on the rest of it. I thought the contrasting finishes would look particularly good in Berserker Mode.
Feet and Legs
The feet are heels of course, and all the parts are solid plastic without a seamline in sight:
As for the legs, they do have a seam in the back, but it’s one of those ones that’s engineered to look like a deep channel for you to panel line, rather than one to buff out.
(I opted to just leave it be)
A few more notes:
- There’s some nice detail around the knee for you to paint up if you’d like
- From the front, the legs look an awful lot like a feminized version of the RX78’s
- There is a pink sticker that runs across just one of the legs. Is it supposed to be a garter or something?
Lower Torso
There’s a joke to be made here about Nobel putting the “skirt” in “skirt armor”, but it wouldn’t land. The truth is that, again, this looks like a slightly modified variant of the RX78’s skirts. They’re a bit more angular and … that’s it. You’d think the girlbot would have a skirt that looks frillier or poofier, but no.
I mean, it does have a bow on the back, so it’s got that going for it. But I feel like it could have been so much more.
Chest
As you can see, no gundam boob here, as that would be weird and unnecessary. But we do get a nice big bow just like you’d see on a Sailor Senshi (complete with one of the handful of decals included in this model)
The chest is the one part of the body where you might feel a need for color correction. Nobel’s purple collar/kerchief has a panel line running across that that should be white (or pink in this case). The kit comes with stickers to do the job, but they’re much wider than the actual groove on the plastic, and I can’t imagine they’d fit flush:
The better idea is to paint them yourself if you can.
Staying on the collar, it comes in two forms. One goes flat against her back:
Or you can use a version that flares out so you can display her thrusters:
I had no idea her thrusters could hide away like that. Cool!
This is the third body part in a row looks like a fem version of the RX78; I guess I keep bringing that up because I never quite realized how true it was until now.
In any case, they made the upper torso so slim that, when juxtaposed next to its (less slim) lower torso, it really gives off the impression of an hourglass figure and wide hips.
Head
It turns out that this comes together like any other Gundam head. It just happens to have long strands of hair attached to the parts that make up its V-Fin:
It’s a pretty clever and effective way of creating hair. Also, without the arms or the rest of the hair, the head does kind of look like it’s too big for its body:
Also also, without the hair you can see the ball and socket joints where it all attaches, so let’s get on that right away:
Wait, nuts, I forgot to take any WIP shots of the hair. Best I can do is zoom in on the runner:
It comes in five different strands, and each one has some tiny little vents that you can panel line if you want.
Now, this next bit is not a complaint, but an observation. Much as you might want to flatten down her hair and make it look as normal as possible, the model isn’t really designed for that. If you do, you end up with this very visible gap between the head and the hair:
Though it still looks pretty good from the front:
But no, the hair is meant to flair up and out as wildly as possible:
Whether you like it or not, if you want a calm, normal looking Nobel, you’re going to have to spring for the standard model.
Arms
The arms are very simple, but also nicely color separated, including the little orange side vents in the shoulder armor:
These bright pink parts need to be put on the correct way or they won’t fit:
But other than that, it’s quite a simple assembly.
Now let’s talk about the hands. Here’s Nobel’s hands next to “regular” sized High Grade hands:
Those are quite dainty! Maybe too dainty. What do you think?
Where Did you Get Those Holding Hands?
Those normal sized holding hands didn't just come from anywhere. They actually came with this kit!"But wait", you're thinking, "how is that possible? No way those are meant for Nobel"
And you're right, they're not. They're actually meant for the High Grade God Gundam, and they came with this kit because they have a very specific purpose - to be used to create that one scene in the show where God Gundam carries Nobel bridal style:
Yes, it's a hyper specific accessory that you need two kits to even use, but I appreciate that they included it.
I’m also happy to report that we get more than two hands in this kit, including an awesome peace-sign hand:
And finally, here they are all put together:
Finished!
And there it is - a completed Berserker Nobel Gundam:
I’ll have more to say in the next post, but I really like how this turned out.