My First Gundam Build:WIP of PG Banshee:Giant Claws Mounted

[shovelchop81]

Just got into Gundam or rather thought I'd give it a try... Jumped in the deep end of this world and picked up a Perfect Grade (the biggest and most complicated series of models they do) Unicorn Banshee Norn. I've got the LED set and extra weapons set on the way and might pick up the metal parts upgrade set too just to do the whole shebang. This is the Daban copy not Bandai as I'm not paying daft money for the same thing and I have no conscience, put it this way; Bandai's LED kit goes for $160 without a usb port, Daban's goes for $25 with a usb port..

Anyway, it's like a massive Kotobukiya HMM kit but the runner labelling is a bit more confusing at first so I recommend adding your own labels with masking tape, makes them easier to find as well. So far so good... you cut, you denub and you connect, since this transforms from the Unicorn Fighter mode into the Destroy mode then the Chains Unleashed mode there are loads of moving, sliding parts so denubbing is essential even though most of it is hidden.

The figure being built (I heard it is 18" fully extended but not so sure about that right now):

2 inch increments in the height markers:

Unicorn Fighter Mode:

Destroyer and Unleashed Modes with weapons packs:

LED parts pack and effect, uses black light LEDs inside the armour:

I'll use a remote control system like the rest of my lighting and effects:

Metal part accessories:

Where I am and what I've done, not a heck of a lot build wise to be honest, the runner/sprue labelling and order sorting took a few evenings on its own!

Yup.. the instruction manual is like an issue of National Geographic!

I simplified the labelling even more after this by cutting off all the ABS and PC bits leaving mostly only the alphabetical order, still more involved than HMM kits though...

Cockpit:

[Leon35]

I wish I had space for PG's. I don't even have space for any 1/100 Gunpla kits now.

This is awesome.

[shovelchop81]

Apr 20, 2017 23:41:23 GMT -5 Leon35 said:

I wish I had space for PG's. I don't even have space for any 1/100 Gunpla kits now.

This is awesome.

Cheers Leon! I'll keep updating thread as I build, lots and lots of parts per section though!

[shovelchop81]

Done the ankles and finished the feet but had a bit of a whoopsie, got two parts mismatched then couldn't get them apart again without breakage but quickly fixed it with a metal screw after drilling out the broken off connecting tube, should be hidden by the layers of armour but I can always file the head down smooth if needed later.







These shin/calf covers are amazing, brilliant engineering just on their own! How something so seemingly simple can unfold like a flower or beetle wings is stunning in hand. They will be lit up later with black light too.

[Maethius]

Wow... you didn't start small, did you? O.O

That looks like a really awesome kit! I'll be watching your progress with great interest, young Padawan!

[shovelchop81]

Apr 21, 2017 12:46:45 GMT -5 Maethius said:

Wow... you didn't start small, did you? O.O

That looks like a really awesome kit! I'll be watching your progress with great interest, young Padawan!

Nah, don't see the point, go big or go home!  Well it was the light up feature that drew me to this kit in particular. I'm flattered you think I am a young padawan.... more like a 42 year old jack of all trades! . Talking of the light up feature, the LED kit arrived today, perfect timing as I was starting to get limited as to what I could build without it since I wouldn't want to tear the kit apart again to install it. The usb circuit works fine so no batteries needed like the Bandai version (yes that $160 kit!). Right now I'm at the installation point for the torso and leg LED harnesses so will do those next; just an observation about the leg builds, I might have just been over tired but I couldn't for the life of me get the part orientation correct initially on the first one; took around three or four attempts.

This was the tricky part, not sure why, dyslexia?

(pink/purple in the instruction manual means LED installation steps)

$25 Daban LED kit:

Direct from the mains:

[shovelchop81]

Installed the wiring on the legs, pretty easy as long as you don't start going the wrong way i.e. wiring the left leg up as the right... I started with their supplied plastic multitool but decided to use the blunt end of a metal sculpting tool instead to get more control over the pressure on the wires; don't use anything sharp ffs as you'll sever the wires! I think their multitool is more for part disassembly if you built the model first then decided to get the LEDs (certainly not the best way to do it as you risk breaking parts and causing stress marks). Tested the LEDs installed so far and they work well enough, they're not super bright because they're UV so it's down to the quality of the UV reactive plastic to get a decent result. Then again their size or light filtering could factor into it too as you'll see in the pics of one of my many UV reactive tattoos (the H-D racing orange that we didn't know was UV reactive at the time, only found out when the local bowling alley did a black light special soon after on my birthday and all you could see was my forearm glowing flames holding a glowing bowling ball! Well trippy as he were pretty drunk and forearm tattoos were still uncommon back then before these bloody hipsters...$%*?#!) where I've compared them to a large tube UV light.











NO UV:



UV LEDs:



UV Tube Light:

[shovelchop81]

"(s)he's got legs and (s)he knows how to use them.." a ZZ Top reference to any other old farts out there...;-)
Had a bit of a clearance issue with the unfolding lower leg panels initially but swapped them around and that seemed to help, no idea why, they're the same castings but like modern mass produced screws, some of the same type thread into certain holes (all drilled with matching threads) better than others and visa versa, just micro tolerance issues. I think there must be more to the knees to come as there's still an unused hook and tab and it's not transforming quite right yet unless they missed a bit in the instructions? We'll just have to wait and see. I've compared the rather impressive sized legs to a couple of my 1/6 Hot Toys Iron Man figures which are around 13" tall, then did a silly combo for S&G.

[Maethius]

Nice! A cool Gundam, AND Stark gets a new suit of armor!

[shovelchop81]

Apr 23, 2017 15:08:33 GMT -5 Maethius said:

Nice! A cool Gundam, AND Stark gets a new suit of armor!

Funnily enough as this is my only Gundam as of yet, I had been thinking he would display very well with my rather large 1/6 Iron Man collection as in this scale he could easily pass for 1/6 armour and Iron Man actually has a foe called Unicorn! Yup with a canon on his forehead and has plenty of orange too! The rest is dark green but this could easily be a modern interpretation of the villain. Wouldn't be the first "custom" IM villain I've got there either, I've scratch built all the others and even a giant Titanium Man inspired by the cartoon series "Armored Adventures".

LOL, just noticed he's Unleashed as well!!

Could work well having moved onto armour from the dated spandex LOL:

Titanium Man:

My 1/6 scratch build:

[shovelchop81]

Anyway.. back to the build, done the torso LED harness and finished it, started the crotch section and I'm working on all the skirt parts now, denubbing and more denubbing... There's a cool geared hip dropping mechanism like in the Hot Toys Iron Man figures but this can be locked into multiple positions for stable posing I would imagine and added articulation of course; neat idea! Did the stand's wiring too, I'll need to Dremell out a pathway for the USB lead as they forgot to take that into account, will only take a couple of minutes if that...

[shovelchop81]

Dremelled out holes for the usb plugs and cable in the inside of the stand so it all fits now, not my finest work but it does the job and is hidden anyway. The design of the side hip skirts' sliding mechanism sucks! Very fiddly and weak, I can see less experienced model makers breaking these easily. Legs are on and hooked up, the rest of the skirt is assembled and mounted with LEDs, I'm working on the arms now.

[Maethius]

Big sucker.. it's looking great!

[shovelchop81]

Apr 24, 2017 15:52:49 GMT -5 Maethius said:

Big sucker.. it's looking great!

Cheers Maethius! It's getting there!

The hands on this set are an engineering marvel and this set was first released ten years ago! I admire how they designed them to be cast on the runners fully assembled and yet fully articulated and ready to go once cut off the sprues, very clever! These are seriously articulated hands, one of the best sets I've ever come across in 1/6, Transformers (incl. 3rd party companies) and Zoids. The weapons accessory pack just arrived which is great timing again! I think someone used it as a football but luckily nothing appears to be damaged inside the box, omg there are a load of water slide decals!!  I guess I'll try the big ones but all those tiny ones would drive me bonkers. Still got the arms to do as you can see from the pile of parts I just finished denubbing, then the head, backpack, shield, standard weapons before I even get to start on the add on kit!

Instructions just for the water slides!!

Weapons transformation guide:

Building add on weapons:

Still to do first though:

[Maethius]

Those fists are incredible!