This kit is a brand new design, with what I’m assuming is a unique, brand new mold with unique, brand new parts. In theory, it represents the state of the art in High Grade model kit engineering.
And in some respects, it does in fact reflect that state of the art. There’s some solid parts layering, and it does a very good job of hiding most of the seam lines.
However, there are two things about this model that felt decidedly old school:
- This isn’t a polycapless build. To be fair, Bandai has never promised that all or even most new High Grades would ditch polycaps, but in my experience most have anyway. I guess I expected a pricey kit under the Premium Bandai line to have a premium quality build.
- Even with its many, many decals, the kit has so-so color separation. There’s still a need to paint a lot of the details.
It was a slow and paintstaking (and not exactly an enjoyable) build. I ended up assembling all the body parts first so that I could paint them all in one fell swoop, rather than mixing multiple batches of the same colors of paint.
As a result, this build post consists mostly of “before and after” photos, to give you an idea of just how plain the model looked without any painting and detailing.
Rifle
I choose to leave it fairly plain looking. I used to be in a phase where I wanted to add lots of color separation to Gundam-style beam rifles, but lately I’ve been feeling the opposite.
And yeah, it’s a pretty traditional looking Gundam beam rifle. Not that that’s a problem.
Shield
This is highly reminiscent of the GP01’s shield:
It’s also really simple. Like, “only two pieces” simple. I ended up painting the inner lining in metallic black just to give it a bit more depth and complexity.
Beam Saber
It’s really long, and weirdly it’s made out of two pieces:
I don’t think I’ll ever understand when Bandai does or does not decide to do a two-piece beam saber.
Stand
The stand is very simple, made out of only four pieces of clear plastic.
The connector at the top fits into the rest of the base with a weird hexagonal connector, which limits it to only a few fixed angles:
That might sound reasonable for a freebie stand, but in practice there’s a problem with it. Since it’s not very heavy, it is highly likely to tip over once you actually place the model onto it. In fact, I’ve only found one angle that actually works, which makes it a bit useless.
Feet
It’s a pretty simple construction, but there’s so much to work with here. There’s tons of detail on the bottom, and there’s an interesting screw shaped piece in the front. And of course, there’s something about the angle of the red pieces that make them look like a pair of red pumps.
So here’s what I did:
- Added the color correcting red decals
- Painted the bottoms
- Painted the screw piece with the chrome Gundam Marker
- Used gloss coat on the red pieces to really make them look like shoes
I think these look fantastic. So much detail in such a small space.
Legs
Of all the body parts, I’d say the legs are in most dire need of color correction.
As you can see, there’s not much in the way of color at first. Here’s what I had to do to liven it up:
- Paint the thrusters in the back of the legs black and yellow
- Add some shading to the grooves in the front of the legs
- Add the red decals
- Add some black paint in some of the nooks and crannies
- Add some metallic paint to the hexagonal shapes that sit below the knee
It was a lot of difficult, painstaking work, and I’m not in love with how it all came out. But it also felt necessary in order to make it look halfway decent.
Lower Torso
It looks like I forgot to take photos of the lower torso when I was building it. Thankfully I did assemble the undetailed body parts so that I could take “before and after” photos of the model. Here then are some cropped, blurry shots of the “plain” version of the lower torso:
There wasn’t much to do here. There are some marks in the back, and of course there is the yellow decal for the Crotch-V. But that’s about it.
I also did a bit of painting on these thrusters (vents?) on the inside of the skirts:
Upper Torso
Once again I forgot to take photos of this when it was “plain”, so here’s another cropped shot from the first assembly:
There are a few marks to panel line, but most of the color in this section comes from decals:
The two black hexagonal sections in the center of each “boob” are actually decals, which is a lifesaver (I would have hated having to paint them in).
Oh, and I almost forgot the backside!
There are some really prominent panel lines in the back, and they really make it look like the Engage Zero is wearing a corset.
All in all, the torso has fantastic color separation and parts layering. I dig it.
Backpack
I didn’t take any “before” photos of this either, but it’s simple enough that you’ll get the gist:
All it needed was some panel lines and a decal.
Head
With anything but the eye decals, the head is looking rough:
Here’s what I had to do:
- Add the camera lens decals to the front and back
- Add in all the usual panel lines
- Paint in the crevices in the back of the head with black paint
- Paint in the side vents with black paint
- Paint the vulcan cannons yellow (with some grey paint behind them)
Here it is when finished:
It’s amazing what just a little bit of extra color can do.
Arms
Similar to the legs, there’s not a lot of color here before detailing:
But as you’ll now see, there’s still not a whole lot of color in the “after” photos either:
A bit of panel lining, some more red decals, and a bit of black paint is all you need. But together it all makes a huge difference.
Booster Unit
The Engage Zero has a huge booster back that it can use in place of its standard backpack. I’m not a fan of the size, but I do love the color:
This is the only “before” photo I have, which unfortunately doesn’t show off the four thrusters in the back, or some of the other details.
Here’s an after photo:
We’ve got the last two red decals, some panel lines, and some extra color inside the thrusters. It’s a great looking piece, though I still wish it was a tad smaller.
Assembled Model (Before)
Here is the Engage Zero fully assembled, but without any panel lines or paint, and with a bare minimum of stickers (also without its feet):
I know this isn’t a fair comparison without all the decals, but still. I’m shocked at how bad this looks. It has such a cheap, toylike feel to it, and is far and away from what I think of when I think of “Premium Bandai”.
I consider this a lesson learned. When they mean “Premium”, they don’t mean this definition:
Relating to or denoting a commodity or product of superior quality and therefore a higher price
But rather this simpler one:
a sum added to an ordinary price or charge OR the amount by which the price of a share or other security exceeds its issue price, its nominal value, or the value of the assets it represents
In other words, a Premium Bandai product isn’t necessarily more expensive because it is higher in quality. Sometimes it’s just more expensive.
Assembled Model (After)
Here now is the model with all the work done on it:
Now that looks pretty darn great. Dareisay it looks … premium?!?
In our next and final post, we’ll put the Engage Zero through some poses to see if the look holds up. But so far I’m liking what I see.