| 1/100 F91 Gundam F91
Series: 1/100 Scale Title: F91 Gundam F91 Release Date: 1991 Suggested Price: ¥ 1400 No. of Parts: 84 + polycaps + paper stickers + water slide decals Plastic colors: System Injection (red/white, light gray/white, teal blue/light gray), white, light gray, red, teal blue, clear green Gimmicks: beam rifle, beam launcher, beam saber (2), beam shield, removable shoulder radiators, deployable VSBR's
Contributor: Graham McIntyre Date: September 18, 2004 Ahh, the poor Gundam F91. Say what you want about the movie, but it's a real shame the Gundam's been so badly neglected over the years, as it's a great design with a lot of nifty gimmicks. How does it hold up more than 10 years after it was originally released?
If you've seen Gundam F91, you'll probably remember the Gundam's face splitting in half to cool off the bio-computer inside. The model includes two heads, one normal, and the other with the open face. The construction is very simple, with a front and back half, a polycap, a clear green piece for the eyes, and a V-fin. The red chin piece is molded in, which is nice, but since it's a System Injection part, you might have some trouble with mismatched seams. Another interesting thing to note is that the V-fin isn't swept back very much, unlike more modern Gundam kits. When it's finished, it looks quite nice...the normal head at least. I think the open faced head looks ugly as sin, so I left it out.
The torso is more complex than you'd think. Like a lot of older Gundam kits, it consists of a front and rear half. However, the rear half is made up of two halves itself, a left and right half, and it includes the backpack. The front half is a System Injection part, with the neck and gray area of the chest molded into it. The blue parts of the chest are separate parts. There's one for the front, and one for each side, which the arms plug onto. These are also System Injection parts, with the gray rail for the VSBRs (More on those later) molded into the teal blue plastic. It's a definite change from the darker blue we're used to in newer Gundam kits, and it looks quite nice. The waist isn't too difficult to build, with little rails that the front and side skirts clip onto. Overall, it looks very cool when finished, but you might encounter more mismatched seams for the left and right halves of the back half of the torso.
When you open the box, you should immediately notice that the F 91 markings on the shoulders are molded in. Very cool! You won't have to worry about the shoulders sagging, either, since they're practically flush with the sides of the chest, but won't get worn down by rubbing up against them. Each shoulder has a polycap in it, which you plug the radiator fins into. The arms are quite simple. The right arm is a bit different from the left, since it has the beam shield. The elbow joints might get a little loose, but generally the arms work well. The hands have no problems holding the beam rifle, beam sabers, or VSBRs, but have trouble with the beam launcher. that's mostly because of the launcher, though, and not the hands.
The legs are really cool, very smooth and slender, with more System Injection goodness for the gray vents on the front, as well as for the area under the moveable thrusters, which look totally sweet by the way. There are also little hydraulic pistons that go down into the feet, which is a nice touch. They're a bit of a problem to pull out, unless you have long fingernails or something to pry them open. You might encounter more mismatched seams. The thighs are simple, nothing to write home about. The lower legs like to fall off, though, if you're not careful. The feet feature more System Injection parts. The ankle armor had really bad mismatched seams, but weren't too hard to fix.
The F91's trademark weapons, the VSBRs, are very nicely done. Under the gray and blue chest parts are polycaps, which you attach gray parts, which in turn attach to the VSBRs. These are used to swing them under the Gundam's arms, and to that end, the chest pieces have a little groove molded into the rail, which the gray swinging pieces look like they fit onto, though they don't. It looks really cool, though. Once you swing the VSBRs under the arms, you could just leave them like that, but where's the fun in that? They slide open, and a grip swings down, so it can hold it in its hand. The rifles are surprisingly poseable, but once again there are mismatched seams. Starting to sense a trend with this model? now for the rest of the accessories. The shoulder fins are cool, and you can pivot each one a little to the left and right if you're so inclined. The rifle is simple, just two halves, but it looks nice and the hands hold it well. The launcher looks cool too, but is quite unwieldy. The sabers are one piece, pretty ordinary, but the shield is a beautiful piece of clear green plastic, which connects to the arm by way of a gray hydraulic arm bit. With a watered-down layer of silver paint on the back, it looks very convincing.
This kit is really short, just like nearly all of the mobile suits from Gundam F91. Whether that's a bad thing is up to you, but I think it's kinda neat to compare it to other 1/100 scale kits, like a Master Grade. You really get an idea of how much smaller mobile suits get as the Universal Century progresses. Does it look like the F91? Definitely. Considering its age, and that it came out at the same time as the truly wretched 0083 kits, its proportions are practically perfect, and it's nicely poseable. Oh, and of course...it comes with decals! They're easy to read, and don't feature the silly Engrish 'avoid excessiv use of con-trols' commonly featured on the clear film stickers newer Gundam kits come with. With all of them on, it looks a bit tacky, but if you show a little more restraint than the instructions call for, you can surely find good places for most of the decals. Don't let the age of this kit (or the flaws of the F91 movie) turn you away from this gem of a model. If you're willing to do a bit of painting and a little gluing, you will have one awesome-looking, well-accessorized, and accurate kit of the F91. Go and give it the recognition it deserves!Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars <<back to Gundam |
