Kotobukiya Jehuty HD Edition Review

Here is the review of the model kit Jehuty HD Edition made by Kotobukiya from the game series Zone of the Enders.
For those who don't know what Zone of the Enders also know as just Z.O.E is. It is a fast pace action game which the player controls the giant mecha Jehuty also known as a Orbital Frame. It is made by Konami, which the first game came out in 2001 for the PS2.
I have always been a huge fan of the games, and always wanted to get this kit since it came out. Jehuty is my 2nd favorite design in the game with Anubis as my all time favorite. I am still hoping that Kotobukiya will make a Anubis model kit in the near future, but for the mean time I got this kit to work on. Their is also a model of the Vic Viper which I would love to get one day.

As for the kit itself, there are two versions of it. One is the normal one and the other is the HD one which has slightly different colors then the normal one and it also comes with the effect parts for the wings and the Option parts as well. The HD Edition is about $18 more then the normal kit, and if your a big fan like me I would recommend it, but if not I would say just pick up the normal Jehuty.
As for the overall detail and design of the kit itself, I would say that this kit is more like a HG in Gunpla terms. The color separating is quite good, only areas that is going to have to be painted is the hands and a  alittle spot on the bigger option parts.
It doesn't have that great of movement which was a little disappointing, and most of the joints are hold on by poly caps which I don't mind the hands, but I will replace the leg ones with some after market ball caps when I start to paint it.
As for seam lines, their is a few, but the way this kit was design they are very hard to notice and the ones that are noticeable are easy to fix.
One thing that really surprise me is that this kit can stand on it's own without it's stand. It was quite hard with it fully together, but is possible. It does come with a stand, so I would say just keep it on the stand as there is really no reason to have it standing on it's own other then to see it with your own eyes.
As for the stand, they look nice, but they are pretty bad. They have very little strength so I ran into the problem of it falling down all of the time. The manual does say to use a screwdriver to tightening the screw, but I found that this did not work at all for me. It could of been that I just got unlucky and just got a bad stand. Once you do get it into place, it will stay up, just don't touch it and you will be fine.
The normal kit runs about ¥4,800 JPY and the HD one is about ¥6,200 which is alittle on the pricey  side for this kit in my eyes. It is a great kit and if your a big fan of Z.O.E like me I would highly recommend picking this and the Vic Viper up. But if your not a big fan I would say to pass on this kit and only pick it up if you find a good deal on it.

Picture Time!

MG Heavyarms WIP 1

Here is my first WIP for Heavyarms. It took my a little longer to get started on this kit as I wanted to put together my new Kotobukiya Jehuty HD model first before I started painting this, which I will upload  a little review of the unpainted kit in a few days.
Anywho, back onto Heavyarms. This is mostly just a straight OOB build with a few color changes mostly to the Gatling gun and a few chrome and gold parts here and there.
I did make a tiny mod to the Gatling Gun so I wouldn't have to do as much masking. All I did was cut the pegs off of the barrel section and this allows it to slide in and out of the main part of the gun. I don't even have to glue it when I am done as the handle holds it in place just fine. I plan to paint the main part a dark gray and the barrels are going to be a chrome with gold on it.
Other then that, I haven't got that much more done. I have started washing the parts and have the orangish and the yellow parts prime, which I hope to paint tomorrow. Painting this kit wont take very long at all, and if I am up for it, should be able to get it done in a week. I am thinking about trying shading again on this kit, but I am not too sure yet.
This kit isn't very big, so I most likely won't have too many WIP for this. I may do three of them, this one as one and the others will mostly likely be it painted with the gloss coat on and the last one will be the decals and panel lines.

Anywho here are some pics so far:

Before the mod

After the mod, as you can see I cut the pegs completely off and sanded it down.

I didn't cut the pegs off in the main part as they help keep the barrel line up.

MG Epyon Review

Here is the MG Epyon Ver Ka from Gundam Wing.
For those you who watch the show would know that Epyon was design only for close range combat and lacks any type of range weapons on it. For it's weapons it only has two, the Beam Sword and the Heat Rod.
I love the design of both weapons on this kit, but I am a little disappointed with the heat rod. The heat rod was design so it can lock up in place or unlock and move it around, but I find that once I unlock it it becomes very weak and it is very hard for it to stay up in place. This problem is really bad at the area were the heat rod connects to the shield as even when it is lock in place it will not stay put. I am sure this problem will be fix once I paint this kit up as the paint will make the connections tighter.
As for the Beam Sword I just love it. It is connected to the main body by a wire that has a very tiny metal rod inside of it so it and not just a chuck of tubing which was very nice. It's beam effect part for the beam sword also looks very nice and it just pops in and out which it also stays in place very well.
As for the kit itself it is very nice. I just love the wings on this kit as they look great and also have the ability to spread open or close by pulling down or up on the wings and they can move up and down and back and forth so they have a wide range of movement.
One complaint about this kit is that alot of parts well fall off on this. I had problems with the front skirt armor coming off if you move the legs to high up. I also had some problems with the little fins on the side of the ankle armor and the boosters on the back popping off as well.
Overall if your a big fan of Gundam Wing, or just love the Epyon design or just looking for a good MG, I highly recommend this kit.

Here are some pictures of the kit unpainted: