Gunpla Build - High Grade Sandrock Custom

I can’t believe it’s been almost seven years since I built the High Grade Sandrock. I’ll be forever grateful for it, as it made me realize just how much I actually like this mobile suit design.

However, I’ve come a long way as a builder since then, and looking back at my work, I’m not exactly proud of it:

It’s got some seamlines, and the panel lines are way too dark and heavy (also, I’m pretty sure some of them bled due to me using cheap topcoat). And I didn’t even bother to clip off the safety nubs on the V-Fin!

Suffice to say that I’ve wanted to redo it for a while now, to use all my current skills and tools and everything to make it better and really do the design justice. So let’s do exactly that:

Barnes and Noble came in the clutch for the second time in a row, stocking this Sandrock Custom at a good price.

(well technically the price was free since I got it with cashback rewards, but still)

A Chance at a Redo

In the past I’ve “upgraded” some of my busted old High Grade Gunpla by replacing them with better models (see the recently built Real Grade Wing Zero, or the Master Grade F91). But this situation is a bit different than either of those. This is the first time (or at least the first time that I can remember) where I’ve purchased a second copy of a model so that I can build it again and do a better job of it.

I don’t think it’s something I’d make a habit of. It would be pretty costly to replace old kits while buying new ones, but also I’m not sure if I’d want to repeat all that many builds. Sooner or later I imagine it would get boring.

But I think it’s okay every so often, especially if it’s a design or a build I particularly enjoy.

About the Mobile Suit

Sandrock Custom is the mobile suit’s midseason upgrade, seen in the later parts of Gundam Wing. Like Heavyarms Custom, it’s basically just the original design with a few tweaks:

• It’s shoulder armor is slightly different. The original design has some simple flat panels in between the armor, but on the Custom there are now vents
• It has a new, bigger backpack, presumably designed for space use
• It now has a gun, which is the number one thing it needed to really round out its arsenal

Compared to Altron or Deathscythe Hell, Sandrock Custom looks underwhelming as a midseason upgrade. But as a Sandrock fan, I’m fine with it. The original design was already pretty great, and the Custom solves its biggest flaws. It’s a perfect refinement.

About the Model Kit

Bandai made High Grades for all of the Gundam Wing midseason upgrades, and originally they were all Premium Bandai releases. Eventually though the Powers That Be decided to make them all into standard retail releases. My guess is that either they sold better than expected on P-Bandai, or executives realized that making them standard retail would be a safe bet (especially in the west). Whatever the reason, I’m not going to complain.

Anyway, this is literally just the P-Bandai kit with a colored box:

They even went so far as to just reprint the plain, boring, monochrome manual, which might come to a surprise to anyone who hasn’t dealt with a Premium Bandai kit:

When it comes to the runners, things get interesting. It’s basically the same runners as the original kit, with a few of them being extended with all the new and extra parts:

Comapre this:

With this:

This makes me think that they designed the two models at the same time, and when they manufactured the standard retail version they just blocked off the areas of the mold with the Custom’s parts.

New Stuff

Let’s go over the new and interesting stuff in this build.

First, the shoulder armor. Here you can see the original flat panel next to the new vent part:

It’s a minor change, but an important one. So many mobile suits have vents in their shoulders like this, and it never made sense why Sandrock didn’t.

Now here’s the backpack:

I like how it’s bigger than the original. and I also like the shape. It’s curved and swoopy and feels at home with the Sandrock aesthetic.

Finally we have the gun:

It’s simple, but it gets the job done. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a beam gun, even though it looks like a ballistic weapon. For better or worse, that’s par for the course with Gundam Wing.

Detailing

I ended up using my new Real Touch marker again, particularly on the shin armor. It has an … indentation of sorts. I’ve seen this before on other models, and I’m never sure what to do with them:

You can’t just draw a panel line because it ends up looking weird:

So maybe you rub it in to make it look like shading. But because the indent is so shallow, the marker can’t really settle in, so instead you end up just wiping it all away.

I decided to try and solve this by adding some shading using the Real Touch Marker, and it actually worked pretty well:

It highlights the shape of the indent, but it’s subtle about it.

Finished Model

And now here is the finished Sandrock Custom:

Does it look better than the old one? When you look at them in person, absolutely. The original has all sorts of blemishes and flaws that are made even more obvious when comparing to the new one. But when you put them both in the lighbox it hides a lot of the problems, and so the gap doesn’t seem so wide:

Even if I did better with this new build, I didn’t necessarily do my best. At the very least some of the panel lines could have been cleaner. Still, I’d say the model is still some sort of improvement, if for no other reason than the inclusion of the new gear.

Now, I’m not going to do a full photoshoot for this build, but I will do a few shots, considering I didn’t have a lightbox seven years ago.

This version of Sandrock comes with trigger finger hands for the gun (which I don’t think the original one had). They’re at a weird angle though, such that it’s hard to position the weapon in a way that looks or feels natural.

I still assert that Sandrock looks cooler than most people give it credit for. Gundam Wing simply did a poor job of drawing its sword to be as massive as they’re supposed to be, nor did the animators ever really draw it in any awesome poses. This is the robot version of an ancient Persian warrior king. Making it look cool should be a layup.

The articulation on this isn’t bad for an HG, but it’s still not quite good enough to do this “crossed swords” pose:

And now a few more action shots for good measure:

And here it is with the Master Grade for good measure:

So there you have it folks. A nice, clean, simple upgrade. Now let’s move on to some more interesting builds.