Bandai Hobby MG Full Armor Gundam Thunderbolt Ver. KA Building Kit (1/100 Scale)

This kit is indeed a challenge. Assembling it is tricky in some places, so here are several ideas to make it easier:- Calm down and read the instructions twice before inserting arms into place, or one or both of them might get a broken peg and will slide out of socket when rotated. Eqsily fixed with modelglue or superglue- Don't stack the joint wraps too much, or piercing it with pegs and getting it under the armor will drive you crazy. It WILL wrinkle and get between pieces you are trying to connect. Fixing one layer is plenty. It may not make sense in text, but you might figure what i mean out once you start applying the covers.- Use the extra long black piece from base runner to wrinkle up the plastic covers. It's longer, so i found it more convinient- Take your time to check the last pages of instruction book to use the gimmicks properly. You will learn how to open the cockpit in full armor mode and how to fix sub-arms folded out . Also the decaling map is there- The included base is kinda bad. The model in its final form is very heavy and can barely be supported by it. I recommend you use standard 1/100 stand for this model, it works much better and lifts the kit a lot more, increasing the immersion.- Probably watch other people assembling it on youtube. In general makes your life easier.- You're better off glueing some parts, like the blue piece on top of heads V-fin, or knee thrusters, these come off too easilyThe kit itself is great. It's definetly the most fun i experienced assembling a model. Its big (the backpack and shields on sub-arms do wonders to increase its presence), gimmicky, almost flawless in terms of general build (as said above, take time to attach arms properly), very posable and relies mostly on waterslide decals instead of stickers.The biggest problem is that it's a bit awkward to handle with backpack and weapons attached because of the size and weigh, so posing it requires patience. And the size is also a huge pro, it does matter in terms of giant robots.Minor issues i personally have with it:- The biggest one - arm joints are not that tight. Complex shoulders and elbows cannot bear the weight of twin cannon with shield and disassembling thevelbow for tightening is going to be absolute aids, so i'll pass with loose elbows until it really pushes me.- Lack of waist hinge/balljoint. It can't arch back or crunch. This is due to a corefighter which is actually put inside the hollow torso. I just think it would've benefited from having at least some kind of hinge, would've allowed to do more dynamic poses in its 'slim' mode with armor ditched- Swappable hands. Just because i love articulated hands of zaku too much.- Backpack can slide apart while handeling. Again, modelglue to thicken things up- Primary weapons have "sledges" on top, to which the shields connect. On my kit the tiny notches on these sledges were weaker than sledge-to-shield connection and broke down, starting to come off too easy. One more time, superglue.

I loved this kit, and it sits in the center of my 100+ gundam collection as one of my favorites with the Sasabi ver ki and the freedom full burst. The only downside was there are several parts in critical joints that seem weak, I don't know if it was poor plastic or just too thin, I lean towards the latter, but you have to be careful and not bend or stress the parts or you can break a part like I did in the hip joint. That said, it was only one part that broke and I was able to glue it back and it now functions perfect again and is completely hidden so you can not see my sloppy repair. That said it is a great looking model and with the included stand holds an incredible standing pose with no signs of sag on this heavy kit. I love it so much I am considering ordering a second to display with all the extra armor off and laid out in front of it like in the included pictures on Amazon. Once again, great kit and I personally consider it a must have in any MG gundam collection.

This was my first ever MG Kit, and it was very fun but took a LONG time over multiple days. The fabric sheathing part was difficult and I couldn't figure out how the decals for this kit worked so it looks like it left the factory without getting detailed but still looks nice.

This was my second MG kit that I've worked on so far. Also, the most difficult one too. I'm not a model builder pro by any means but I've done a lot of HG kits a while back before I started with any MG ones. This one was a bit more challenging than expected.Even though there is no inner frame, it's gotta lot more intricate parts than I expected. This one is gonna require quite a bit of patience...especially with the plastic bag wraps around the joint areas. Oh those bags...why must we have them?? It's due to the fact that the actual FA-78 Full Armor Gundam from the Thunderbolt anime features rubber joint covers to protect from debris. Hence now we have to implement the plastic bag wraps in the gunpla model. But once you get through the frustrations of getting the plastic wraps in place, it actually does look quite nice.Once completed, the Gundam stands about 7.5in, a bit smaller than what I expected since my first MG Barbatos Gundam was roughly about an inch taller. Not to mention the box this thing came in was huge and all the sprues that came in it. I was expecting something more in size to the Barbatos. Nonetheless, once fully built it looks so badass. Especially with the armor plating. Since the time frame of Thunderbolt takes place literally at the same time as the original Gundam (granted towards the end of it..), this FA-78 is totally reminisce of the RA-78-2 Gundam. Just more darker and sleeker with a more modern look. With all the attachments added (backpack, boosters, shields, weaponry)...holy crap...how would this held up against Amuro???Anyways aside from the plastic wrappings, I really enjoyed working on this kit. Still haven't gotten to the decals yet but I plan on too in a few days.Definitely recommend this kit if you're looking for a challenge.