January 2001 for $15.99
Nice kit. I got this one a couple months ago, seeing that it was a huge box for a 1/144 and the art on the box was sweet looking, I bought it for $17, somewhat of a ripoff, but oh well. Anyhow, once you open the box the smell of ancient plastic flies up your nose, and you get a wiff of greatness from this model. Looking over the runners, you'll find that this is a BIG kit, for a 1/144, but in scale, seeing that Nu Gundam was quite large. This was my 1st Nu Gundam kit, and I've been a fan of the design ever since...:P. Anyhow, this kit was produced in the late 80's, although it uses very nicely molded vinyl-poly-caps. They're just as good as the modern ones, and they're very nice, too. This kit is obviously one that needs paint, although it does feature system injection. It has screws, like all the Char's Counterattack kits do, which help to keep it very sturdy, but I fear that if they're overtightened, they might collapse the leg. The weaponry for this one is quite nice, including a LONG beam saber, a nicely molded beam rifle, and bazooka, which has some cool details scattered throughout. The funnels are another story, they're two separate runners, which are molded in ALL white, so I didn't really bother with them, and they were loose in the first place, so I kept the fin funnels for another project. The body has a non-poseable waist, no biggie, but it kinda bugs me. The side skirts are limited as well, which kinda takes away from such a nice kit. This particular series of kits utilizes poseable fingers on the hand, where the index finger is poseable, and the pinky, ring, and middle fingers are poseable as a group. The thumb, unlike the master grades, is fixed, however, but it is still a cool addition. The plastic is somewhat thin in the hands and mine snapped, so I made them fixed, and they can't grip weapons super-well. Overall this kit is nice, but is limited in both poseability and lack of sturdiness. Don't let those two things stop you from buying this classic kit, it's still a nice design and one that is a great addition to any modeler's collection.
On a scale of 1 thru 5, I would give this a 4.
An old pic taken with a BAD DIGITAL CAMERA.