The White Dingo Custom is done, and I think it looks wonderful. But I’m having troubles getting photos of it. Again.
It’s a bit different this time around though. It’s not a problem of motivation. It’s just taking a really long time.
The problem is with the hands. Those damn modern hands with the individually articulated fingers. It’s all the usual problems. They keep popping out of their sockets, and they aren’t very good at keeping a steady grip on weapons. Sticky tack helps a lot; in fact, I might have gone crazy without it.
I’m not going to give up on this thing. I’ve been looking back at past photo albums, and I’m disappointed in just how few action shots I take of some of my builds. It’s clear in some cases that I simply got frustrated and gave up.
I don’t want to do that here. This is too nice of a mobile suit, and it’s got too many weapons. There are so many things I can (and should) do with it. But the only way it’s going to happen is if I take my time. If I focus on getting just a few good shots every night for several nights, I’ll be less likely to get impatient or frustrated.
In the meantime, I’m going to post next about the EZ-8 build (which is now completed), and hopefully when that’s done I’ll have some more photos to share with you.
Update 6⁄23: I’m updating this post with another important point. The problem I’m having isn’t merely caused by the hands being crummy, but by a combination of these particular hands with these particular weapons.
The one silver lining about modern MG hands is that they have a peg system, where a peg built into the palm plugs into a small hole in the weapon to help keep everything in place.
But remember that most of the weapons included in this model come from the Master Grade EZ-8 and Ground Type, which were from 2000⁄2001. They don’t have such a hole, and so they’re secured by the grip of the fingers alone.
Also, I was perusing the instruction manual while taking photos, and finally dawned on me that the original Master Grade GM Sniper II uses older, fixed holding hands for its weapons:
Which means that the new-style hands were some sort of “update” that Bandai did for the White Dingo Custom. That in turn means that even weapons intended for this mobile suit, like the bullpup machine gun, were designed to be used with an entirely different set of hands.
Now technically speaking, these hands are so dextrous that they should be able to grip anything, which is why Bandai probably wasn’t worried. But being able to technically grip something is not the same as securely gripping it. In this case, it needs some help (be it sticky tack, luck etc) to do the latter.