Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam

Kit box

This is the old HG kit from Bandai of the Prototype RX-78-2 Gundam in the 1/144 scale. This one is done by Kunio Ohgawara. Its one of Bandai's old HG kits and uses an internal "skeleton" of ball and socket joints. It does not have the familiar PCB joints in the later HGUC series. Very limited poseability. The head only turns left to right and there is no movement up or down. But the completed kit does have the look of Gundam. As you can see from the box art, it still refers to U.N.T. Spacy instead of EFSF, which is the standard for later Gundam references.


Kit Instruction Manual

The manual is quite detailed. But the color pictures of the Gundam does not match with the actual model kit. I suspect it belongs to a 1/100 scale model instead.

Custom Decals
The kit comes with a rudimentary set of stickers. I decided to try making some decals for this kit using Avery Inkjet Printable Tattoo. These are actually tattoos to be applied to skin or plastic. I figured it should work for model kits too. The result? Not too promising. On dark surface there seems to be some sort of whitish color. This turns out to be the ahesive used by the tattoo. On white or lightsurface it works fine. Mixed feelings on this. Will try more to see if it works.

I did this as a quick build. Just cut and glue. No paint except black Pilot Twin Markers and Gundam markers for the panel lines.


RX-78 Gundam on my washing machine..... Markings are a mix of kit stickers and my self designed "tattoo" decals. As you can see the underside of the shield is horrible. No details at all.

Scene from Side 7 colony.

Amuro piloted the RX-78-2 Gundam prototype inside the colony when the EFSF White Base mobile suit carrier was attempting to pick up the prototype mobile suites. The prototypes came under attack from a pair of Zeon MS-06 Zaku IIs on recon.


RX-78-2 Gundam

The decals seen in this shot are all done by the "tattoo" decals. As you can see in this shot, they reflect light at certain angles. On the white shoulders, they appear fine.


RX-78-2 Gundam spots a Zaku II...

... and fires its Beam Rifle.

Conclusion
A fine kit nonetheless but quite far from the latest HGUC series. The look of the Anime series is there but its age shows in the techniques used to produce this kit. Very limited poseability. If possible, buy the newer HGUC kits.