G-04
Reviewed by Adam Rehorn
1/100 Master Grade RX-78-04 Gundam “G-04”
Maker: Bandai
Cost: $30-$55 depending on the source
Aftermarket: a piece of bare metal foil is all I needed on this one!
Walk softly and carry a really, really big stick.” That seems to be the Gundam G-04's philosophy. The fully completed Master Grade G-04 is no slouch in the intimidation department, as you can see looking down the barrel of its huge Mega Beam Cannon
Many of the mech kits that I've built in the past come from either anime or manga (i.e. Japanese animation and comics). However, there is another source of inspiration for mecha that has taken on increasing importance in the last few years. That wellspring of robot design is video games.
As gaming systems become insanely powerful and capable of handling ever-better graphics, the mecha that can be designed for them can increase in complexity as well. One example of this is the mecha designs in the Gundam Sidestory “Place Beyond the Blaze”. In this story, there are two new Gundams that are used by the Federation carrier “Thoroughbred”; the G-04 and the G-05.Both of these mecha are nearly the same, and clearly borrow many styling cues from the original RX-78 and the supposedly contemporary RX-78 NT1 “Alex”. The main differences between the “04” and the “05” (besides their chest breather vents) are their colouring and their weaponry. The G-04 is designed for anti-ship assault, and as such carries a huge mega beam cannon. The G-05 is designed for close in defence, and carries a huge Gatling cannon.
Of course, I have both of these kits, since I couldn't decide which armament scheme I liked better. (That's what Bandai was banking on, I'm sure.) This time, though, I'm going to discuss the G-04, the only one of the two that I've built. I'm sure that the G-05 will be similar, and I'm looking forward to applying some of what I learned on this kit to its nearly twin sibling.
The Kit:
This is the first Master Grade kit that I've ever worked on, and I must say that the impression upon opening the box is seconded only by the impression I had when I got my Perfect Grade Gundam. The first thing that struck me was now nicely everything was packaged.
There is a cardboard ‘inner lid' with a front view of the mech right inside, and this is the first thing you see. Upon removing that, the builder is struck by the sheer number of parts in the kit. While I know that it is a 1/100 kit, this is a lot more involved than anything else in that scale that I have previously tackled. There are certainly a lot more parts that one finds in a big HG kit, I can tell you that!
The part and colour separation is excellent, and there are a lot of colours of sprue in this one box. In addition to this, there is even a rack of ABS plastic parts, which is something I've only encountered in the PG before this.
This shows the racks that you get in the G-04's box. There are a lot of pieces in this kit, and it was enough to keep me going for about four months of solid modelling work. The good news is that all the parts are flawlessly moulded.
Even though this is no longer the most impressive MG kit (it has been eclipsed by newer ones), the G-04 was, in its day, the cream of the crop. There was clearly a lot of care that went into its design and production, and there is no flash anywhere. All the panel lines are nice and crisp, and there is a lot of surface detail, even on the INSIDE of the armour plates.
Because it is an MG kit, there is a lot of internal detail that a normal 1/100 kit doesn't have. Most MGs actually have an internal frame (similar to, but much simplified from the PG series of kits), and the armour bolts onto the outside. In the case of the G04, this approach was changed slightly. There is not a full internal frame for the legs or the arms; instead a ‘partial frame' is included. The innards of the lower leg are built with much of the calf armour included. If you want to leave the leg armour off, you still get the impression of a frame, but the effect is not as good as on other kits.
The fit of most parts on the kit is, as expected excellent. Most seam lines are well hidden or are not a problem because they are on armour plate separation lines anyway. An interesting and obvious exception to this is the lower leg armour. There is a prominent seam that runs down the back of the leg, and it doesn't fit too well. It also isn't set up for looking like it should be outlined.
To get around this, I assembled the leg armour and used my rescribing tool to scribe in a panel line along the seam line. I then made the resulting line a bit deeper and more trench-like with my knife, after separating the halves again. This worked really well, and once the armour was put back together and an outline run down the trench I created, it looks exactly like there's supposed to be a line there! This is definitely a trick I'll use more often, I can tell you...
In this rear view of the G-04, you can just see the ‘cheat' line I put in, as described above. The line is just above the dark grey ankle block on the back of hte leg. Most of it on each leg is hidden by the deflector on the thruster pack.
Building the G04
Building this kit is a lot more involved than a normal kit of this scale. The separate armour parts make the finished product look very nice and reduce the amount of seam-sanding, but it does mean that there are that many more sprue attachment points to clean up.
There was some buildaround on this kit, too, which didn't impress me. The biggest problem came with the knees. I still don't get why Bandai changed the system they used on their old HG Wing/X Gundams; that of a separate knee block that plugs into the top and bottom halves of the legs. On the G04, the knee block has to be finished and inserted into the upper leg frame and the lower leg. Thankfully, due to the frame on either end, I didn't have to be too careful about paint slopping. However, this was still a massive disappointment to me, and slowed down production considerably.
There was some build around with the internals of the breather vents in the chest, but this was easily overcome. A bigger problem would have been the cockpit itself, but since I don't display the hatch open anyway, it really wasn't a problem, and I didn't even put any effort into the cockpit. As usual, the face was also an area of buildaround, but some creative cutting solved that problem, and I was able to insert it into the head when it was done.
This view of the semi-completed chest shows one of the breather vents before the cover is put on, and one of after the cover is put on. These two vents and the cockpit tub (seen in the middle of the unit and only done in primer as I wasn't going to open the Gundam up) were originally one peice. Nothing a new #11 blade can't solve!
The mega beam cannon was troublesome from a buildaround standpoint, too. The blue front half had to be built onto the white back half. I tried butchering it to make it slide on, but there was just no way. Thus, when it came time to paint, there was a lot of touching up that went on with the cannon.
This view, looking down the length of the Mega Beam Cannon belies just how much trouble this big gun gave me. The blue being a separate piece didn't help me in the SLIGHTEST, since it had to be put on first anyway. The various sights at least went on afterwards.
The thing that struck me with the entire build was that it was very complicated and picky. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but this kit was one of the few that had me carefully checking my instructions to ensure that I was using the right pieces in the right orientation. Many Gundam kits have parts that are the same for both sides. However, the G04 has a lot of parts that are side-dependant. Watch for that!
Other than the build around, there were no major problems with the construction of this kit. It was not a fast build, but it was interesting and challenging. I just wish that Bandai would use a softer plastic: the top of the shoulder on the chest block kept splitting no matter how much glue I used! It still shows a bit of a scar even now.
Painting and Finishing
Like most Gundams, the G04 is white, although somewhat unique for a Gundam there is no red on the mech itself. For some reason, the kit comes moulded in a sort of off-white, almost bone-coloured plastic. This needs to be painted white. For the first time on a Gundam, I used Mr. Base White 1000 (which is like Mr. Surfacer 1000, but white) and this worked very well.
The internal framing parts, as well as the hands and exposed actuators were done in Testors Model Master Gunship Grey, and then blackwashed with artist's oils. This gave a nice highlighting effect, and I had no problems with parts cracking like I did on the Slaughter Dagger (and would have later on some other kits, too, I might add).
This rear view of one of the legs shows the oil wash on the knee and ankle blocks to good effect.
One thing that I really didn't like on the box was how the thrusters are done in yellow. They even came moulded in yellow! However, I think this just looks dumb, so I changed it. Thus, the thrusters are picked out in Testors MM Jet Exhaust, and then blackwashed. The big thrusters are orange inside, as well. This makes a big difference to the finished product; imagine the thrusters on the shoulder armour being in yellow, for example and you can see just how cheesy that would look.
Looking at the backpack and shoulder armour from this angle you can see the large amount of Jet Exhaust that was used on the kit. Now, imagine all these thrusters in yellow. Yeah, that's lame... The use of oil washes on the engine and blastplate surfaces adds a lot to the realism of the kit.
The main body is done in my latest batch of Gundam White, and the blue is a modified GM Engine block Blue, which is a new Testors MM acrylic. The blue went over the white primer much more easily than I originally expected, and I was very pleased with the results.
All subassemblies were gloss coated with airbrushed Future, and then flatted with Gunze Flat Clear. Once the sub-subassemblies were done in flat, they were assembled. At this point, to give the final product a satiny look, I used Microscale Microflat. This is not as flat as the Gunze, and by putting some on the really parched surface created by the Gunze you get a somewhat satiny appearance.
This look at the head and shoulders of the G-04 really shows the satin finish to good effect. Normally, you can see reflections in my mecha. No more! The use of the flat/satin coating gives the mech a great look: somewhere about half way between the anime and a real piece of fighting machinery!
The sight on the mega beam cannon was originally moulded in yellow. However, I covered it in Bare Metal Foil (which is a very cool product, and I'm hoping to use some more some time) and then put on a couple of coats of yellow tinted Future with the airbrush. The effect I wanted was one of mirror-like optics, similar to what one sees in a laser tracking head, TADS/PNVS turret or even a big telescope. It didn't work out perfectly, because the foil is non mirror smooth, but it does look cool, and I'll definitely be using the trick again at some point.
Here's a closeup on the sight that used the BMF. It certainly gives a different look from just paint alone. I can't believe the number of different sighting windows on this gun, or the number of different colours they are!
Final assembly just involved putting all the armour on the frame and putting the subassemblies together. It was pretty straight forward, although the pieces were a bit bigger and heavier than I was used to.
Conclusions:
The MG G-04 is an AWESOME kit. However, it did take me a long time to build, and while it made me want to get more Master Grades, it also made me want to take a break from them. (Note: I have been successful on BOTH fronts!) They are very involved and the large number of separate pieces makes life quite tough when it comes time to gloss. I think a good thing to try is to assemble the sub-subassemblies first, then gloss-flat-satin. This shouldn't result in bare spots, and should make life a bit easier. If it doesn't work, I can always pull them apart and redo the coatings.
I didn't use any of the rub on transfer decals that came with this kit. I generally tend not to decal my Gundams, but I might give it a try in the future. The dry transfers look neat, and I'd like to get some experience with them.
Overall, this kit is easy for those who assemble kits and difficult for those who actually build them. It is fairly well thought out, but there's still a lot of build around and chances to improve things. This is a great kit for either a beginner or an old hand, but one I'd not give to someone who has only a few simpler MS kits under his/her belt.
Of course, I am very pleased with the kit and how it came out. I am looking forward to building its sibling someday, although for now I should try some of the simpler ones in my stash, just to ensure I get more than two kits a year done!
Looking at the G-04 from the back gives you a good feel for the amount of detail in this kit. It's very busy, and there's a lot to keep a modeler's attention. This kit was fun, but it was a real time hog. Still, for Gundam builders, this kit is one of the best out there.
