mechaCENTRAL

Here we go… Let’s have a look at these assembled but not painted MS-09F Doms. Coming first is the oldest one — released in 2000 — just to remind you :)). I do not know if plastic can age over time, but that is exactly the impression I got while putting both 2000 and 2002 versions together. I already mentioned that some kits’ dark blue molds are somehow more brittle than details of other colours, but in case of these Universal Century models everything seemed to be rather fragile… Go figure. Anyway, this is how its front and rear look like (to view the picture in more detail click on it):

And here is the same Dom viewed from its sides (massive one it is, I am telling you ):

Honestly, I am a bit confused about this kit’s “default” colours. Who in their right mind would cover a military vehicle in this sort of “violet-pinkish” paint? Unless it was originally designed for combat in girls’ sections of huge supermarkets :))

On the more serious note, however, this camouflage does not make any sense… to me. If you are wondering as well, then paint it in any other scheme you like, and by the way — here is its colour guide:

My translation can be a little bit off in some cases, but I am pretty sure I got most of it right (Feel free to correct me if I made a huge mistake — just leave your comment and I’ll fix the translation ASAP):

1. Feet and Air Intakes: Indigo (35%) + Midnight Blue (Gray?) (35%) + Red (15%) + White (15%)
2. Hands, Legs and Lower Torso Armor: White (70%) + Purple (30%) + a little bit of Red
3. Shoulder Plates, Pilot Cockpit, “Faceplate” Rim, and Thrusters’ Internal Surface: Monza (?) Red (70%) + Glossy (?) Red (30%) + a little bit of Blue
4. Palms, Elbow and Knee Joints and Feet’s Parts (see picture below): Medium Blue (60%) + White (40%) +
   a little bit of Red
5. “Skirt”, Upper Torso and Shoulder Armor; Backpack, Ammunition and Bazooka: Navy Blue (60%) + Neutral Gray (40%)

Here is the picture form the original build guide on how its feet are to be painted:

Problems and Imperfections

And now it is time to get to the troublesome parts and difficult places :).
As I mentioned a little bit earlier, the plastic can be considered as fragile either due to its age or because it always been like this, I do not know. So be careful with cutters.

I am going to start with the front view:

As you can see there are three major places where a lot of sanding and painting is going to be required:

1. Bazooka — it just does not seem serious — how can this plastic-looking “thing” can be a lethal weapon? Sand paper, some glue (optional but highly recommended), paint, and metallic finish — and your Dom is going to look much-much more dangerous
2. Armor “skirt” — a lot of marks due to some not-so-well-thought details placement in the mold. Sand paper and paint should cure this.
3. Feet — a lot of sanding and painting.

Let us have a look from the other side:

Well, the list of imperfections here is mostly the same, just viewed from a different angle:

1. Bazooka — again, to give you a chance to appreciate the amount of work required
2. Legs armor seam always going to be a problem, so no surprises here — sand paper and paint.
3. Air intake — a lot of careful sanding and painting.

I found some other things worth mentioning here:

• The spare ammunition hanging off Dom’s “skirt” is literally hollow — these parts are cheap decorations. They have the look of a real thing but you cannot swap them with the one already inserted in the bazooka.
• Dom’s legs — they are huge — there is no surprise in that but that also means the pose-ability in the lower part of its body is very limited.
• Dom’s head movement is quite restricted too. Just a little bit to the left or to the right.

Conclusion

My overall impression left by this kit is rather positive — after all this mecha supposedly successfully replaced ZAKU in One year war, and it looks like the one capable of doing exactly this type of things. However, due to its huge proportions, it is going to be hard to make it look like it is going to a battle — in most cases it will look like it just standing here minding its own business… :).

 

Some anime and Gunpla-related videos for you here:

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Dom, Universal Century. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.