08th MS Team Model Kits

Gunpla Chronicles - The 17th MS Build - Body 2019-11-23

Last post, we talked about the weapons for the Gundam Ground Type, and for this post (on the very same day!) we cover the body parts.

Head

Here is the head after being touched up with some panel lining:

This is still one of my favorite head designs for a Gundam. For comparison, here it is lined up next to the heads of the EZ-8, the Gundam Mk. II, and the OG Gundam:

All things considered, it looks closest to the EZ-8, which as it should be. You can tell that they have the same basic shape, and that the EZ-8 simply has some extra pieces welded atop. I also think is has quite a few similarities to the Mk. II. Surprisingly, it looks the least like the OG, which is strange considering they came from the same batch of prototype parts.

Gunpla Chronicles - The 17th MS Build - Weapons 2019-11-23

Let’s get this build started! Here are all the runners:

We have ten runners total, though some are extremely small. It will, as always, be interesting to see how this relatively small pile of pieces becomes a full fledged model kit.

Let us begin the build with the weapons and accessories. The Gundam Ground Type has a lot of them, so we have a lot of (pun intended) ground to cover here.

Gunpla Chronicles - The 17th MS Build 2019-11-22

Once again, the wife and kids are out of town on a trip, leaving me to my lonesome. Once again, I find myself in need of a model kit to build in order to keep my mind off of how much I miss them.

Thankfully, I was in the Rockville area last month, and when in Rockville, I always have to checkout Little Thingamajigs in order to see what new model kits they have in stock. Amazingly, they had exactly the kit I wanted to build next, so I bought it in advance to have it this weekend.

To tell you the truth, I have been wanting to build a model kit of this particular mobile suit since I first got into the hobby seven years ago. The trouble, however, was in finding one to build. The last High Grade model of this mecha came out in 2007, five years before I started this hobby, while the last Master Grade came out in 2000. Finding either of them online was not easy, and the price was not always within my budget. Even when it looked like a decent deal, I feared whether such old kits would resemble the more modern builds I am used to. Rather than take a chance, I just made due building other kits hoping that somehow or another Bandai would grace us with a new version of what was becoming my Moby Dick.

Last year, they did exactly that, putting out a new and improved High Grade kit of one of my Top-3-All-Time-Favorite mobile suits. Ladies and Gents, today I build the Gundam Ground Type from Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

Gunpla Chronicles 6 - EZ8 Part 3 2016-09-05

With the EZ8’s torso, there was less snapping of things together, and more plugging of pieces into one another. That might not sound like much of a difference, but it is. The final product looks much the same as any other Gundam torso, but it was a weird way to get there.

One nice thing about the torso is that it feels - how should I say it - robust. The skirt armor is big, but not too big, and it feels sturdy. Some delicate panel lining rounds out the finished piece.

Gunpla Chronicles 6 - EZ8 Part 2 2016-09-03

The EZ8’s head is tricky. It has tons of panel lining grooves, and one look at the manual shows just how much great detail you can get out of it if you ink it properly. Trouble is, it’s so small. Somehow, whether due to the markers, or my own skill, it came out well (who am I kidding, it had to be the markers). I’m not going to assemble it until it is painted, but I can’t help but feel like the final product is going to look almost Real Grade quality.

Gunpla Chronicles 6 - EZ8 Part 1 2016-09-02

Ok EZ-8, let’s do this.

The first thing I noticed is that this kit has the fewest amount of runners of any I’ve built. I’m guessing that unlike the Tryon-3, this model isn’t reusing runners from an older kit, and that this is a more accurate depiction of the piece count for the average High Grade. Thankfully, I’m not too worried about piece count anymore. It’s quality that matters.