I'm finally building my first Perfect Grade kit... And it shouldn't come as a surprise that it's the PG Strike Rouge + Skygrasper. Since this is a bigger kit - basically two separate builds - I'm going to break it up into two posts. This week we've got the PG Skygrasper.
Like I said - this is a big kit. Basically two separate models in one box. And it's a big box at that. This thing's got a carrying handle!
There's three sets of instructions in here... The build manual for the Skygrasper, build manual for the Strike Rouge, and then another manual with all sorts of information and a marking guide and whatnot.
We get several pilot figures in the box, which I painted of course.
There's a seated Mu and Cagalli in her body armor for the Skygrasper. A seated Cagalli in her flight suit for the Strike Rouge. And then a giant standing Cagalli in her flight suit. That standing figure can't possibly be in scale... It's about twice the size of all the seated figures.
I also painted some of the cockpit details since that's all going to be fairly visible through the canopy.
This is kind of a simple build. It's impressively large for a gunpla kit... And there's plenty of room for details. Plus - those details are large enough that they're actually visible. But there honestly isn't a lot of mechanical complexity going on.
Unsurprisingly, there aren't really any accessories here. I mean - there's the Aile Striker pack that we'll see later... And a stand... But it's basically just the Skygrasper itself here. There isn't a lot of optional equipment to swap out or anything.
There was a sheet of sticker-style decals that I decided not to use.
I grabbed some DelpiDecal decals... But, honestly, I was a little disappointed with them. I should've shopped around more.
Unlike most of the decals I've gotten from DelpiDecal, these don't match the marking guide in the book. There's a separate guide on the DelpiDecal website. And I didn't like some of the changes.
The Skygrasper itself looks awfully plain. It was missing some of the caution markings like those triangles around the the intakes. And then the Aile Striker had a bunch of weird lines/stripes all over it that I didn't like - so that wound up looking very plain too.
Photographing this thing was genuinely difficult. It's just too big for my homemade photo box.
The stand is certainly functional... I guess it'd be weird to complain too much about a stand... But it is kind of big and awkward and bulky. I suppose it has to be to hold up something as large as the Strike Rouge is going to be - but I do wish it were a little less obtrusive here.
And then I added the Aile Striker and the thing just simply did not fit in my photo box at all. So now you have to look at my messy workspace. This thing is just huge.
So, unfortunately, I don't think my final thoughts on this Perfect Grade Skygrasper are too complimentary.
I mean, it's fine. It's not a bad kit at all. The build was fine. Nothing too annoying. The parts were all generally fairly large and easy to work with. And it's certainly nice having details large-enough to actually paint without using a toothpick.
But I can't help comparing this thing to the RG Skygrasper I built a little while back... That thing had some extra gimmicks like sweeping wings and articulating thrusters that this one doesn't. And I guess I expected something called "perfect" to be the best possible version. To have all the gimmicks of an RG and then some.
This kit definitely has shelf-presence, but I don't think I like it as much as I did the RG.
Continuing this week's Skygrasper project by combining it with my RG Aile Strike...
So, of course, you can equip the launcher strike pack on the Strike Gundam. It works fine, but there's not a lot of gimmicks to it. There's the big cannon an the shoulder equipment, but that's it. Looks decent. Poses well. Just not super-interesting.
The sword strike pack offers a lot more gimmicks. There's the beam boomerang, the rocket anchor, and the anti-ship sword. And the supplied wire is more than strong-enough to support the rocket anchor.
And you can attach the aile striker to the Skygrasper as well.
But this kind of points out another weird omission with this kit... There's absolutely no way to equip more than one striker pack at a time.
No way to carry the launcher and sword on the Skygrasper at the same time. No way to display both of them on the armor stand at the same time. And absolutely no way to set up a Perfect Strike
I guess there was a P-Bandai Perfect Strike kit? But it still feels like they could've included the parts with this kit...
And here it is - the culmination of this week's work!
Annoyingly - the RG Skygrasper uses the same square connector as all of Bandai's old RG kits, so it doesn't mount neatly on a 3mm peg.
I cut the octagonal base off one of the fork adapters for an Action Base. It fits perfectly into the Skygrasper's square stand adapter, but it's also got a 3mm hole in it. So now I can stick that Skygrasper on a normal stand.
And it looks pretty dramatic up on that Customize Scene Base. It gives a real sense of distance and scale. Feels really dramatic.
I've started working on the Perfect Grade Strike Rouge + Skygrasper... And this is bothering me far more than it should.
We get four pilot figures - seated versions of Cagali and Mu for the Skygrasper, a seated version of Cagali for the Strike Rouge... And then a giant, standing version of Cagali.
Why is the standing pilot figure so much bigger than the seated ones? That can't actually be to scale, can it?
The holidays are over and I'm done traveling for a while, so I'm going to be posting some new builds again... And I'm also beginning a far more ambitious build - but this one is going to take a little while.
Continuing this week's project with the RG Skygrasper.
This is kind of a weird kit... It's basically just an expansion-pack for the RG Aile Strike. And while Bandai certainly makes plenty of expansion-packs for their RG kits, I think this is the only one that's sold as a standard retail kit. All the others I can think of are P-Bandai.
I don't normally paint 1/144 pilot figures... But this one will be very visible in that cockpit, so I had to try. I don't think it turned out horrible.
This kit still has the fantastic density and complexity that I love in Real Grades. Lots of tiny little parts packed with detail and subtle color variations.
It's definitely a little weird building a vehicle like this though... No arms and legs or anything like that - just wings and fuselage.
This kit comes with a whole pile of RG-style stickers, which I won't be using. I picked up some Delpi decals instead.
There's actually quite a bit to this kit... There's the Skygrasper itself, the Launcher and Sword strikers, a couple extra hands for the RG Aile Strike, some effect parts, and a bunch of connector bits.
The Skygrasper feels very solid once it's built. It's got that density that I really like in RG kits. It doesn't feel at all hollow or empty.
This kit comes with a weird kind of armor stand sort of thing... It's a fake torso/shoulder thing you can throw a striker on for display. It looks decent-enough, I guess... But I'm not entirely sure why I'd want to do this.
It feels kind of half-baked? Like, if I'm going to display a striker like this I wish it looked more like an actual armor stand or something. Not like it's just sitting on an action base.
And, of course, the Skygrasper can carry a striker as well.
Building this kit makes me wish Bandai would expand the RG line with more vehicles. I guess I'm not exactly sure what that would mean for Gundam... Maybe something like a Magella Attack tank? Or one of those Bloodhound hovertrucks from 08th MS Team? But maybe we could see some RG kits from Star Wars? How about a nice RG Millennium Falcon or TIE Fighter?
