The Blazing Gundam was such a simple, painless build. I could spend as little as thirty minutes on it and feel as if I made some progress. Let’s see if the Helios follows suit.
First, the runners:
I am quite positive this is reusing runners from previous models (there is both an F and an F1 runner), so this doesn’t really tell us all that much. For all I now, a quarter of these parts may end up going unused.
But maybe not! I can distinctly pic out the satellite cannons and the wings. Assuming most of the parts on those runners are used - and assuming the A Runner is new for this model - then perhaps most of these parts will end up on the model. We’ll find out one way or another.
Let’s warm up with the weapons.
Beam Rifle
The instructions say that this is based on the Destiny Gundam’s rifle, which looks like this:
And here is the Helios’:
That’s the spitting image.
One thing that’s noteworthy is that the Beam Rifle needs to be painted. In addition to standard panel lining, the two green squares on the side must be painted, and so does the silvery scope at the top. Not to spoil things, but this will not be the last time we’ll need to bust out the paints.
Normally I wouldn’t mind this, but I admit that in this case it’s a bit of a shock, having just built the Blazing Gundam (which didn’t actually require any painting). I guess the truth is that because these Battlelogue kits are built out of parts of older, real world models, there’s no guarantee that any given model will or won’t need extra detailing.
Shield
The Helios uses a beam shield, though it’s not like the one seen on the F91. Rather than being roughly square shaped, like a traditional physical shield, it is quite small and dagger shaped.
I think it’s an interesting design. It reminds me of a buckler, something small and lightweight that you can use to block blows during close combat. With all its guns, the Helios is clearly a long range specialist, so I see the shield as a last line of protection in case anyone manages to break through.
Beam Sabers
It looks to me that these Beam Sabers are the same ones used by the Double X. These handles look identical:
Let’s take a look at the instructions:
Yep, that look about right.
I love the Gundam X’s Beam Sabers. I love those big handles, the big beam blade, and how it’s stored in the butt of the Satellite Cannon(s). Color me pleasantly surprised to see them here.
That’s it for the weapons. Well, not really - there are still the weapons on the body of the model itself, but we’ll get to those another day.