Bandai MG RGM-79C GM Kai
Entry, Bandai Asia Cup 2003

Ever since the introduction of the Advance of Z series in Dengeki Hobby Magazine (DHM), I have been fascinated by the cool design of the mechas in the series. The Titans Test Team (TTT) range of design are especially appealing as they appear to be really advance compared to conventional Gundams.

I’m especially inspired by Hazel and BigWig and I thought of introducing my own design which is a blend of the 2, and what better mecha to use then the GM Kai which is already appealing in its own right.

Construction

I don’t really know how to describe how I went about building this model. Most of it are just constructed from styrene and the methods used are pretty much already said in previous gallery articles. All I can say is measure twice cut once!

Most of the work goes to the leg, I hate the original foot (I think many do too) so I fashioned my own. I had wanted to add details that the mech deply before it fires its weapon (for stability) but it was too much trouble.

Weapons.
In order to maintain the look of the model with the TTT series, I constructed the big gun with most reference to the BigWig. It took me awhile to build the blast shield but other than that the construction went about pretty easily and I kinda like the look. The only regret is that I could have added more details underneath the gun but I wanted to maintain the clean look of the series. Oh well…

Diorama

My first impression of a heavy artillery/gunner type of mecha is that it covers an area on a high ground. The idea led me to build the base as a helipod which the mech took fire position on.

Building the base from plaster requires the building of a mold. This is constructed from dense foam which is 5mm thick. The only difficulty is that when building the mold you gotta keep in mind it is to be negative. Meaning a deep part of the mold will form a high part of the the piece of building. Toothpicks are used to hold the mold together. This is better than permanently gluing the pieces together since:

1. Plaster is extremely britter and if the mold encloses the part too tightly, u will break the plaster when de-molding

2. Toothpicking the mold allows the mold to be built fast

Remember that it is not required to build details. Details can/will be added later and what is important is to achieve a basic shape.

Additional Images