Bandai Hobby BAN230363 Char's Counterattack Sazabi RG 1/144 Model Kit, Red

Product Information

The product in the image is a prototype still in its developmental stage. The product is also painted. The actual product may appear differently from the image. There isn’t anything bad to say here. The RG Sazabi looks great, poses better, comes with good accessories, and is big as hell. It’s an amazing piece of GunPla, managing to be an easy (if somewhat lengthy) build, despite the sheer volume of parts. It’s just a great kit, and was probably the best Real Grade until the Nu Gundam came out and immediately overthrew it. Some things never change. Since it is an RG, it has many movable parts, and it is good that it can reproduce more human-like natural movements. It is easy to handle, so it is easy to pose, and it will flexibly respond to any poses. (During assembly, grease is applied partially to make it easier to move.)

A twin pipe is embedded in the muzzle, and the sensor on it is laminated with two hologram finish sheets painted in clear green. I built this kit over the course of two sessions, the first being nearly six hours and the second about an hour and a half. I don't recommend building this kit in this way; this build really deservesto be savored.Before I started I had a good handle on what was required to successfully install these, however what I didn’t fully understand was how easy it is to tear them. I may, or may not have (but definitely did) tear the largest and most prominently displayed decal by being a bit to rough with a Q-tip trying to rub away the water. My bad.

Apparently, some builders have encountered issues during the assembly of the chest and shoulder connection. The three segments of this joint are each directional, so pay close attention to the instructions when building this segment. Additionally, when inserting the joint into the chest, it needs to be pushed all the way down into the peg. In a partially assembled state this area is a bit fragile; use common sense and be gentle! Since the advanced MS joint parts that are used partially move finely, I paint with a multi-primer to prevent biting and improve the bite. Completely avoidable self-own here, but that’s perhaps to be expected from the man who oriented his entire life around revenge, and then still got distracted dogfighting a teenager for a while. At any rate, the Sazabi did its level best, and against any other opponent in any other mobile suit, it would have been enough – it did, after all, solo most of the EFSF navy until Amuro showed up. Visually, clad in heavy samurai-looking armor and painted the customary red, it did not, under any circumstances, need to go this hard, but thank god that it did.Although I don’t paint, I may well end up figuring out a matte clear coat for the plastic to really make those metal joints shine through. Funnel. The inside is painted in iron colors. The exterior red is also divided into two colors, the feather and the base. The detail of the mega particle cannon in the abdomen is improved by embedding a twin pipe of hi Q parts in the center. The left and right round molds on top of that are embedded with Evolve Works negative mold metal parts. Color and form of the product may differ from the actual product and what is seen on screen depending on monitor settings. Since it comes with a flat hand, you can reproduce the reloading effect by attaching it to the barrel grip of the beam shot rifle.

This is the first time I’ve introduced non-Bandai parts into a build (the DOT workshop metal frame kit from USAGundamStore.com) To put that in more concrete terms, the Sazabi at 1/144 absolutely towers over almost all other suits in the same scale. It’s nearly the same size as an average 1/100. I don’t have one handy to compare, but the MG Sazabi Ver.Ka is almost as big as a smaller 1/60 PG.Although this is the third MG kit I’ve undertaken, this will be my biggest build yet and certainly the heaviest by far with the addition of the metal frame. Beam shot rifle. The power pipe inside is painted metallic red. Since the barrel grip had a parting line on the mold, it was scraped off with the mold and reshaped with a plastic rod. Unfortunately some of the color-accuracy is lost in the translation to clear parts – there should be a couple of shades of red here, and with the clear plastic there still is, but it’s impossible to see the different shades with the naked eye. Styling is reminiscent of the Ver.Ka design, but different in spots. A few of the flourishes and opening panels made it, but not all of them. It’s a nice design, and still similar enough that often the only way to tell the difference between the MG and the RG in photographs is what gun it’s holding: if you see the rifle, that’s the MG, but if you see the shotgun and have nothing else to provide a sense of scale, it could go either way. Another three hours of decal application and, two more ripped decals, I’ve only managed to apply about 30 or so decals.