Dazzio Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 (edited) I'm not going to be starting this for a while, but I thought I would get the background behind this down for Antony, and for anyone else who has seen these models crop up and wondered "WTF?!". This will be an extremely short background as the series has been going on for 40-odd years now, so you can imagine the history of it. Please note that all links will be directed to Wikipedia unless otherwise specified, which are all work-safe and contain no viruses. I've been using them for years and had no troubles (yet). Gundam backgrounds : Right the story of Gundam started in 1979, so is probably a lot older than some of the people on here (it's older than me!). The first story is a TV series called "Mobile Suit Gundam" aka Gundam First (I will not be bothering with the Japanese names on here). In it space travel is common place and we "have" (I think) 5 groups of colony's called "Sides" at 7 different Lagrangian points near Earth (yes, it's a proper term). Once we have started to live in space our time calendar changes from AD to Universal Century at what people think is 2000-2001 point. All of the bits in Gundam First, occur in UC 0079, after the Principality of Zeon at Side 3 had declared independence from the Earth Federation (EF) in UC 0058. Think of the Principality of Zeon like Nazi Germany, only in military and decorum ways mostly. Their structure is more like a Royal Family of some kind, best way I can describe it. Anyhow in UC0079 after the EF had placed strong sanctions on the colony to try and force it to re-join the EF. War was soon declared unilaterally on the Earth Federation after that. 3 seconds after the war had been declared, Zeon troops where on the attack, they managed to take control of a colony and drop it onto Earth in "Operation British", the force of the explosion is equal an 60,000 Mega-tonnes nuclear weapon. It lands on Australia, practically wiping it out. The One Year War (as it's called in Gundam First), is a lot like the Second World War in that one country has an advantage until that drive stagnates and they then have to be on the defensive (I'm making a lot of generalisations here to make this as short as possible, so may not be 100% accurate). Zeon has the advantage as they have a new weapon called a Mobile Suit, in the Zaku II (Non-wiki link). All the EF have is battleships/cruisers/frigates of various configurations and their fighters called RB-79 Ball (non-wiki link) that's when the story of Gundam First kicks in. Mobile Suit Gundam story : The story starts at Side 7, who are neutral, when the newly developed warship White Base (non-wiki link) arrives at the colony to pick up it's new weapon, the RX-78-2 Gundam (non-wiki link). Closely followed by a Zeon recon team, one of the members of the team disobeys orders and attacks the White Base, the resulting battle kills most of the military personnel and civilians. This is when Amuro Ray, finds the Gundam and uses it to neutralise the situation. The White Base sets out, deploying all of the forces it can to fight it's way out of the colony with Amuro in tow as the pilot of the Gundam. They did not know how they would change the face of the war from that moment on. I will not say what else happens from this point on incase anyone wants to see the show (it's worth a watch). Amuro Ray is later discovered to be something called a "Newtype", basically the next stage in Human evolution. It's said that as humans went into space and the vast distances involved the body developed heightened mental awareness. They appear to make the best kind of pilots for Mobile Suits. Amuro turns up in the other various shows after Gundam First in some form or another, and there is a lot of shows the time line for the Universal Century is below : UC0079 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam (the original series that started the franchise) 1989 Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket 1996 Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team 2004 Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War 2006 Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079 2009 Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front UC0083 1991 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory UC0087 1985 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (some compilation movies were released in 2005) 2001 Gundam Neo Experience 0087: Green Divers UC0088 1986 Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ UC0093 1988 Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack UC0096 2010-(ongoing) Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn UC0123 1991 Mobile Suit Gundam F91 UC0153 1993 Mobile Suit Victory Gundam If you would like to know more, please don't hestitate to ask, or go onto wiki. But please be aware I am by no means an expert. The model : The model I will be building is the RX-93-v2 Hi-v Gundam (pronounced "High-Nu", also non-wiki link), this is a different take on the RX-93 v Gundam (non-wiki link) that you see in the film Chars Counterattack. They are basically the same, just with more powerful generators, compountants and weapons. I wont bother listing the differences as they would mean nothing to most. However if you wanna see a little clip of the The video is in Japanese but has been translated for into English. You get the point of the various bits of it, I have a model of the Nu Gundam already from Bandai's Gundam Fix Figueration line. If you wanna see it, let me know and I will see what I can do. Onto the shots of the actual model parts. The box cover, cool drawing Instructions side1 Instructions side 2 Sprue A Sprue B Sprue C x2 Sprue D Sprue E Polycap joints and the boxed stickers, yes they are actually stickers!!! Aftermarket decals for the Nu-Gundam HWS (Heavy Weapons System). Aftermarket decals made specifically for my model. Hope that little lot is enough information for you, it's done my head in Hopefully I will get this started in the next week or so, haven't decided if I wanna just make it, or to put LEDS and stuff in it, which will take a lot longer if I do. Thank you for staying with me until the end of this post! Kind Regards, Dazz Edited March 12, 2013 by Dazzio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antony Robertson Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks for that, very informative. I have some idea of what it's all about now. The kit looks pretty cool too. Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Ah. Gundam! I have one of those kits in my stash (well, a similar one), and I'm surprised how good they look, and all this at a reasonnable price. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Excellent, I was hoping a Gundam would appear in this GB. I've got a couple I wouldn't mind making if I get the hoverycraft done early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks for that, very informative. I have some idea of what it's all about now. The kit looks pretty cool too. Antony You're welcome, basically just think "Big bad-bottom robot" and you are there. Ah. Gundam! I have one of those kits in my stash (well, a similar one), and I'm surprised how good they look, and all this at a reasonnable price. Alex Oh aye which one? I've got quite a few, my fav is my MSA-0011 [bST] S Gundam Plan 303E "Deep Striker" gotta love a robot that has a cannon from a battleship as it's main gun Excellent, I was hoping a Gundam would appear in this GB. I've got a couple I wouldn't mind making if I get the hoverycraft done early. sweet!... Which ones? I was thinking about a Real Grade, but decided against it as I am not too keen on the kits out for them at the moment. Not sure on what colours to do this, I've seen them in the normal colours depicted above, also with the blue replaced with purple. A White, black and gold example, also an white, black and grey example. Not sure yet, I'll decide when I get around to the kit. Kind Regards, Dazz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Vale Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 In 1/144 I think I have a RG Zaku II and the Zaku Ground War set which also has a couple of those cool-looking M61A5 tanks with double barrelled turrets. Too many Zakus I like the Deep Striker you linked to, that looks awesome. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Oh aye which one? I've got quite a few, my fav is my MSA-0011 [bST] S Gundam Plan 303E "Deep Striker" gotta love a robot that has a cannon from a battleship as it's main gun Kind Regards, Dazz It's a Zaku. Something human-like, and dark-green. Don't ask me for too many details, they look all the same to me! Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Ah, I found it! Thanks to the email-program with its unbelievable search function! It's this: http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN61217 Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzio Posted April 25, 2013 Author Share Posted April 25, 2013 In 1/144 I think I have a RG Zaku II and the Zaku Ground War set which also has a couple of those cool-looking M61A5 tanks with double barrelled turrets. Too many Zakus Oh cool, Gotta love a good Zaku. I wanna get the EZ-8 or the Feddies Ground set. Maybe in my next order from HLJ. If you liked the look of the M61's then have you seen the Hildolfr? Thats a mental tank with an 30CM main cannon. , I can not find it. You get the idea tho. Ah, I found it! Thanks to the email-program with its unbelievable search function! It's this: http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN61217 Alex Oh the classic HG Zaku II, I keep on meaning to get one but I keep on forgetting. I look forward to seeing it built. So I had sometime today, so I built the Hi-Nu. Pictures below... Here she is with her "sister" the RX-93-2 Nu Gundam, the original one you see in the TV series. I'm gonna paint the head, hence it not being on yet and gotta paint.add a wash to the various parts of the Hi-Nu. Shouldn't take me too long. Kind Regards, Dazz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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