I threw away and rewrote my last post, and I did it again this time. I’m kind of getting tired of overly long and detailed build posts. Re-reading through some of them (including some yet-to-be-published drafts), it’s clear that there are a lot of times where I’m just going through the motions, writing things just for the sake of doing so.
Let’s see if I can keep it shorter and sweeter.
Pour Type Marker
I bought this pour-type marker for panel lining long ago, but I never really gave it a fair shake:
But I brought it out again for this build, since the Turn A has so very many panel lines. I was hoping that maybe it’d save me some time.
I … don’t actually think it did. Sometimes it requires a lot of cleanup, and sometimes that means accidentally wiping away your actual panel lines. I lost count of how many of them I (re)did.
The one thing it did still save was my regular panel lining markers, which I probably would have destroyed on this model. So I guess it was still worth it in the end.
Beam Sabers
This kit is quite a bit old at this point, and you can really see it in the weapons. The beam sabers are made out of two halves instead of a single piece. Even if you try and remove the seamlines, the pour type marker will probably seep into the seams:
Lots of nice surface detail though.
Beam Rifle
Another seamline here running right along the top.
It also requires some color correction, as there’s a bit on the side that needs to be painted red:
There’s also a spot on the other side too:
At least if you believe the show’s opening credits:
Shield
There is a track on the back, and it actually works:
Those little flappy bits on the inside fold inward to eventually fasten to the arm to keep the shield in place:
(okay, so they don’t actually fasten to the arm, they just cradle it. Whatever)
Feet
The feet use C-clip joints, though they feel much sturdier than the ones you get on High Grades:
Legs
I love how the parts that make up the thruster vanes interlock and weave together:
The inner frame of the leg is a mix of white and grey plastic, and I think it might have been entirely white if not for the fact that there’s some grey bits that peak out from underneath the armor:
This red dot in the front of the leg needs to be painted, as the model doesn’t come with a sticker:
And there’s a seamline down the middle of the knee armor, which I recommend you try and remove if you can, if for no other reason than because fusing the two parts together will prevent the pack part from popping off:
Lower Torso
We get our only instance of color correcting stickers here, in the form of the little black spot on the side skirts:
Not sure why that had to be a sticker, but there it is.
Now we have to build the Core Fighter:
It’s a fun, simple little build. The hardest part is painting the pilot figure (which you might want to consider doing since it isn’t hidden)
Chest
The Turn A doesn’t have a traditional reactor, so the interior of its chest cavity is largely hollow:
You can fill them in with these storage chambers:
And then optionally fill them in with some missiles:
A word of note: the model comes with an alternate white cross piece for the front of the chest. This appears to solely exist so that you can replicate the way the Turn A looked in one particular bit of Syd Mead art:
It’s not a bad look, but I’m not sure if I’d keep it like that long term.
Head
Time for some controversy.
In the show, the Turn A is always depicted with eyes that are orange-red. But I guess sometimes it’s depicted with yellow eyes in other media:
For better or worse, that’s what they went with for this Master Grade.
My guess is that they really wanted the eyes to be fully three dimensional, rather than using a traditional eye sticker, and either they couldn’t do it in orange, or they thought that orange wouldn’t pop as much.
I’d also like to briefly complain about the seamline running right down the side of the head. It’s not impossible to remove, but it’s still a pain.
Helmet Design
In this interview with Syd Mead, he explains the Turn A's so-called "mustache" was actually inspired by the crest of a samurai kabuto helmet, and that he simply repositioned it.
He also explains that the back of the head is supposed to be shaped like a samurai's top knot.
I guess what I'm trying to point out is that despite how weird it might look, it was inspired by traditional Japanese iconography, just in a way that's different than what we've come to expect.
Arms
The back panel of the shoulder armor actually plugs into the chest, and actually remains fixed in place while the rest of the shoulder rotates freely:
I have no idea why this is the case. I can’t think of any instance in the show where this design quirk is notably visible or important in any way.
The arms aren’t anything fancy to speak of construction wise, though they have lots of nice panel lines:
Hands
This kit is a bit on the older side, old enough that it doesn’t have the modern Master Grade hands that are standard(?) nowadays. They’re very similar, but different in some important ways, some good and some bad.
Here’s a “modern” holding hand:
You’ve got five individually articulated finger that plug in via ball joints into five dimples in the hand.
Those dimples are all very shallow, so they don’t provide a very secure connection. And if they happen to be just a bit too wide (or too narrow), it becomes an even bigger challenge to keep them in place. It is for this reason why these hands are often very frustrating to deal with.
With the Turn A, the fingers are all still individually articulated, but they way they’re attached is completely different:
The thumb and index finger are on ball joints that sit in little wells build into the hand. Then the other three fingers are laid down side by side in a larger well, close enough that they won’t fall out, but not so close that they too stiff to move.
Then you add the white backing armor to the hand, which that sandwiches all the fingers and keeps them in place. The result is that all five digits are much more secure than the ones on the modern holdings hands. I went through the entire photo shoot and only had one finger come off the entire time.
That’s the good, but there are some downsides to this approach. The first is that, since some of the fingers aren’t on ball joints, they don’t have quite the same range of articulation. Whether or not this is a problem for you depends on what you plan on doing with the hands. If all you need them to do is wrap around a weapon and hold it tight, then this isn’t going to be an actual problem.
But you still might run into different problem. The fingers on a modern MG hand have articulation at every single knuckle:
Whereas the Turn A’s hand only has articulation at at single knuckle, the one where the finger meets the hand. That’s technically enough to get the fingers to wrap around the weapon, but it’s not enough to really get them to curl around and ensure a rock solid grip. So while these hands are certainly more stable, their lack of functionality is a huge downside that kind of makes the whole thing a wash.
Beam Saber Holsters
The beam sabers tuck into these little holsters that you fasten to the shoulders:
It’s kind of a pain to take them out again, though I do like how you can move them out of the way if you don’t want them seen.
Cow
Look, there’s your cow:
Are all you memelords happy now?
Moonlight Butterfly Wings
Real quick, let’s see how these work:
Most of the parts are for creating a knockoff Action Base 1 made of some awful looking plastic.
As for the wings themselves, they fasten to these little plastic clasps, which then attach to the model via a hidden hole in its back:
All the parts are made as small and as clear as possible so that you hopefully won’t notice them.
Finished
It was a good build. Maybe not quite as unique as the gunpla community hyped it up as being, but still unique enough. Most sections have at least one thing going on that’s unorthodox compared to your standard MG, and that counts for something.
I enjoyed my time with it, even when the Pour Type marker was giving me problems :)