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What we have here is Bandai's 1/48 scale Mega Size Model Gundam RX-78-2. As far as I know it's Bandai's largest general release kit. At 15" tall it dwarfs even Perfect Grade kits.
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In general the kit is very simple. No internal frame, no special gadgets or gizmos. All the joints are done with poly caps which feature a unique toothed design. With these little notches the kit does a fantastic job at staying in place. Even the arm has no difficulty holding the large shield in place.
And the shield is huge, seen below compared to the 1/100 MG shield.
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Despite the simple construction there are a ton of line details all over the kit. Even considering it's size there's more lining than any MG I have. It's about on par with the RX-78-2 ver Ka. From what I can tell a lot of the lines match the 30th anniversary 1/1 Gundam that they erected for a short time over in Japan and the 1/144 HG that they released at about the same time.
The range of motion of this beast isn't nearly as strong as it's smaller brethren...
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The rear skirt armor is a single plate so the forward movement of the leg can't be mirrored behind.
In general, this is a fantastic kit, if only for the size. But, being the hypercritical bastard I am, I feel I should note a few minor issues.
The kit only comes with two pairs of hands. One's a fist and the other is a grip with trigger finger. Great for most purposes, but looks ridiculous while holding the beam saber.
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The only weak joint on this kit is the connection between the shield's the arm connector piece and the arm itself. Generally not an issue but it could prove annoying to some.
One thing I noticed is that the 1/48 scale beam sabers aren't really that big. Compared to all of the 1/60 PG ones post RX-78-2 they're pretty much the same size.
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Unique Kit Elements
This kit brings a couple of new building elements to the party which I haven't seen before.
The first is a piece remover and separator. It reminds me a lot of the separator Lego used to ship.
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One end is used for breaking parts from the runners while the other can be used to separate pieces.
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Snapping the pieces out using the tools is a bit more awkward than the guide makes it seem. It's easier just to use a bit of brute force to remove 'em if you're too lazy to use nippers. Oddly enough many of these pieces were molded in such a way that despite their large size the connection to the runners themselves is quite small. For the most part you can just snap 'em off without causing damage to the pieces themselves.
The separator end of the tool was designed mainly for separating the pieces that make up the kit's hands. It's a tad too weak to be truly effective on some of the tighter, more preeminently designed parts.
Something cool Bandai did with this kit was design some runners to actually fit together and form full parts before they've even be removed. I'm sure the guide can explain it better than I can.
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However interesting, it makes it harder to sand down any left over nubs.
Last but not least in making the guide more accessible, in my opinion, they've made it more complicated.
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It took me a bit to adjust to all the extra information they throw into every assembly step.
Size Comparison
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Despite a considerably smaller number of runners the box is nearly as large as PG kits.
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The 1/48 Gundam stands alongside the 1/60 PG Zaku II and 1/100 MG EZ-8 Gundam.
Hobby Japan/Dengeki Hobby
The kit comes with a little booklet containing little picture gunpla tutorials like how to line or apply water slide decals. I'll be trying to work those into my guide at some point.
It also contains two completed kits by takayo4 and Yamazaki Gunsou. I was going to just line this kit but their work has inspired me to try something similar.
You can see the scanned images on my flickr gallery...
More Images
Here are some more images that I didn't work into the guide.
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With any luck we'll see a few more super sized kits from Bandai. With the popularity this kit has garnered so far, my money's on a 1/48 Zaku being announced.
