1. Intro:
Model: Nu gundam
Size: Hguc 1 144
Pilot: Amuro Ray
Boxart:
Nice looking boxart showing the fin funnels. Too bad the funnels cannot be displayed in this way.
Sideshot:
There seems to be no picture of the unpainted kit in the box.
Manual:
Standard hguc cover style.
Price: 2500 yen
On the higher end of the high grade price spectrum, it is the same price as my Ng arios and saviour. The size of the gundam and the fin funnels are probably responsible for the higher price tag.
2. Parts:
Head and Torso. The front camera and rear camera for the head are green stickers. Same goes for the sensor -looking thing on the torso. I trimmed the v-fins to get rid of the child-proof end part, to make it look that much sharper. The sides of the head and the front vents on the torso are lined. Typical hg fare.
Back of the head and torso. Can see the sticker on the back of the head.
The arms and shoulder pieces. Articulation is only up to 90 degrees as shown. The amuro insignia on the shoulder piece is a clear sticker. What is disappointing is that the sticker tends to not stick well and the edge can be seen. Rather unsightly, hope i can find its waterslide decals somewhere.
The left arm has an interesting gimmick where you can slide back the dark blue part can flip out the beam saber's handle. Works perfectly as of now.
The waist. The eyesore of the yellow sticker on the crotch area is another disappointment for me. The V is protruding and hence it is difficult to get the sticker on. The sticker will probably peel off soon. An actual yellow part would have been much welcomed here.
Back of the waist.
Side of the waist. The side skirt actually has yellow parts that are very tricky to paint if you choose to do so.
The legs. Articulation is decent, more than 90 degrees and the foot can move around quite abit on the ball joint. The back panel can be lifted up to reveal the thrusters. I painted the inner side of the thrusters in yellow, like the anime. Makes me wonder why are the inner sides of the thrusters yellow?
The backpack. I painted the thrusters' inner side yellow again. And the black strip of the round part is painted with gundam marker black. The left side is the part for holding the fin funnels. Bandai is kind enough to include another of that piece , so that we can mount the funnels on both sides on the back pack. This is an actual variation, where the nu gundam has funnels on both sides.
Much like the GMIII, the kit comes with 3 extra hands, for a total of 6. 2 closed hands, 1 right trigger hand, 1 open left palm and 1 right open fist for beam saber.
The v-hyper bazooka and beam rifle. The beam rifle is as seen, no moving parts or gimmicks. It has good channels for lining though. The bazooka is hyper indeed though, with a moving handle and the rounds in red.
Looks very good, almost MG quality.
The shield, with its attachment part. The Amuro insignia works well this time since it is used on a flat surface. The subtle appearance of the missiles at the bottom looks good too. The vents on the shield are not done by gundam markers, but there are 2 slits on the white part to allow the back piece to show through.
The back of the shield. The shield itself is pretty big for a hg.
The beam saber parts. The longest jagged one and the short one are for the beam saber stored at the back. The standard one is for the beam saber stored on the left arm.
Fin funnels, all 6 of them. They actually come in 3 sets of 2, as stated by the manual as there are some minor differences at the back for the attachment.
They can be easily folded for the attacking pose. Too bad there is no way to display them that way.
The foil stickers. The 12 yellow strips are for the funnels. I did not use them and just panel lined the white parts. Looks good imo. Stickers suck in general.
Not sure if the pic is clear enough, but one thing unique about this kit is the joint portions are in this colour, I was worried about the nub marks at first, since this is neither gray nor silver. But Bandai has done a splendid job this time and all the nub marks for these parts are hidden. Awesome.
3. Details and articulation
All assembled. This is one tall gundam. One thing i forgot to mention in the parts' section was the yellow part on the feet. The yellow rectangular parts on the feets are stickers. Which suck. Thus i painted those with the same yellow i used for the thrusters. Tamiya flat yellow.
It can almost reach the beam saber on its back.
The beam saber for the Nu gundam is unique, it has jagged edge and the handle design is different.
Probably needs to be careful to not let the other side of the beam saber touch yourself.
Funnels on. The Nu gundam is a little back heavy but extremely side heavy. As you can see my Nu gundam is leaning slightly towards its left. However some minor adjustments and re-positioning and Nu gundam is standing perfectly like a boss.
Yeah, it is a tall Hguc. Like a Boss.
Almost double the height of GmIII if you count the funnels.
4. Poseability
On action base 2 (black)
Ready to pull out beam saber on its left arm.
Funnels on.
Ready to charge forward pose.
5. Sturdiness.
The beam rifle and v-hyper bazooka has pegs for the hands to hold so no problem. The beam sabers are light and they just kinda fit snugly into the open fists.
The shield attachment works well.
You can also attach the shield on the back of the arm without it falling. The v-hyper bazooka can be mounted on the back easily and steadily.
Funnels are securely attached to the backpack.
The problem arises when i put the Nu gundam on the action base. The base connector does not seem to be strong enough and the Nu gundam leans heavily to its left due to the weight of the fin funnels.
Anothe problem is that the shoulder parts are not attached well enough to the torso. They tend to become loose whenever the arms are moved.
6. Conclusion.
Good:
1. The beam rifle, v-hyper bazooka and the beam sabers look good and work well.
2. The Fin funnels work as they should and the Nu gundam can stand well with all the weight of the funnels.
3. Good nub marks hiding techniques for the joint parts.
4. Proportion of the Hguc Nu gundam seems much better than its Mg counterpart. The Nu gundam looks sleek yet imposing.
5. Extra hands are always good for High grades.
Bad:
1. Stickers. Especially the ones on the feet and the crotch area. Those should have been yellow parts.
2. Some colour details such as the side skirt are still left out and those are extremely tricky to paint. No wonder there was no Out-of-box picture on the box.
3. The model leans towards the side, when mounted on the action base. Poor base connector. Bandai should have given us a stronger custom connector, considering the weight of the kit.
4. Loose shoulder parts.
5. No way to display the fin funnels in dynamic poses.
Details: 6/10 Stickers and some lack of colour details.
Articulation: 7/10 Somewhat limited by the fin funnels.
Sturdiness: 6.5/10 Somewhat disappointing when the kit leans to the left on an action base.
Poseability: 7/10 Nice array of weapons and accessories.
A good kit well picking up despite its issues, until Mg Nu 2.0 comes out...
Correct me if i am wrong, but i though it is spelled Londo Bell, not Lond Bell?
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