Kusakusa Gunpla

Gundam Sadalsuud Type F

Introduction:

This is only my second kit from the Gundam 00 series and my third resin kit. The Sadalsuud didn’t actually make an appearance in the anime; it’s actually the predecessor to the Gundam Dynames. It’s no surprise then that a HG Gundam Dynames kit is required to build a Sadalsuud Type F. The defining feature of the Sadalsuud Type F is the two shield-like devices attached to the left & right shoulders, which I will refer to as ‘sensor shields’.

Materials & methods:

Like the Full Armor Gundam kit, this one also has a lot of small resin parts. Some parts were so small I had to double check to make sure it was an actual part, not some recasting artifact. I had to trim excess resin parts and drill deeper holes to make the parts fit, but generally it was less problematic compared to my RG Full Armor Gundam project.

The only parts used from the HG Dynames kit were the arms and legs. The rest of the parts were resin and the main bulk of it is actually the sensor shields. Originally, the sensor shields are attached to the shoulders using a resin part, meaning that they had to be glued together. This will limit the movements & poses I can make with it, so I decided to use the original plastic parts from HG Dynames (which are moveable) to link the sensor shields to the shoulders.

I actually lost two very small resin parts that make up the v-fin, so I just made new ones using pla-plate. There were panels that were meant to be attached to the rear thrusters, but the resin parts were slightly deformed so I decided to omit them. The resin kit includes a Revolve Bazooka, meaning I can use the original Dynames sniper rifle for another project. I also used the closed-fist hands from HD Builders Parts since the HG Dynames kit doesn’t have them. I got a bit lazy and didn’t fix the seam lines at the back of the ankle and forearms.

I primed all the parts (resin & original plastic) using dark-grey surfacer (Gaianotes Evo Spray). Since the photo attached to the resin kit wasn’t very useful, I had to rely on google for this image as a reference for painting. The feet, knees, shoulders and chest were sprayed with navy blue (Mr Color). The sensor shields were sprayed with lighter shade of navy blue (Tamiya) while the arms & legs were sprayed with Intermediate Blue. The round sensor parts on the shields, knees and forehead were sprayed with Pearl Green (Tamiya) and some parts on the chest were sprayed with orange-yellow (Mr Color).

The joints and hands were unpainted, and I added panel lines using black enamel. For the rest of the parts, I added panel lines using desert brown enamel. I attached some decals originally meant for the HG Quanta plus some warning decals and finally added a layer of flat topcoat.

Results:

Discussion:

Compared to my previous resin kit, the building process was rather straightforward. The tedious part was actually the painting process. Although the color scheme is predominantly blue, there was a lot of masking involved particularly for the grey parts. To attach the resin parts together, I had to use superglue. However, the superglue tends to leave a whitish residue near the surrounding parts. I had to cover up that white residue by hand painting the intended colors over it.

From afar, the kit looks great. And I’m glad I made the choice to make the shield sensors movable; if not the action poses I can make will be very limited. I’m also quite impressed with the original HG Dynames kit. The knees can bend >90 degrees, and the wrists have added articulation. The ankles, groin and elbow movement are typical HG standard, unfortunately.

The only disappointing thing about this project is the quality of the resin kit. I can’t really complain actually, because it’s a cheap recast of the original resin kit (very expensive). I’m most disappointed with the face and head. For some reason, it seems to have a sad face. Overall, it’s not my best work, but at least it looks good when viewed from distance.