Wcloudx (kumo)'s Blog – Ramblings about Figures, Gunpla, & More!!

Transferred from old blog.

Next entry is this HGUC GP03 Dendrobium, another amazing kit that I acquired not long ago. This kit is the biggest kit that Bandai ever produced, with a whoopin length of 40 inches, which is equivalent to 101 cm, with the price of 24,000 yen. >.<~

I ordered this through Hobbylink Japan for 30,000 yen, which includes shipping cost. You will understand why it’s big ^^;

First of all, this is the packaging when it arrived at my place:

Yeah, it’s big. I was surprised when I saw it (but it looks kinda cool though with the “Bandai” logo on it :p). The box has “1/144 Gundam GP03 Dendrobium” printed on it, if you are wondering.

Anyway, the actual box kit isn’t really that big. It’s only half the size of it. The other half is just some sponges and plastics to protect the kit. This is the actual box:

Still, it’s bigger than other kit ^^; It even has a plastic handle to carry it around ^^;

When you opened the box, it contains 2 containers; A & B:

You can even line up both containers together to make a nice image~

Inside, there are actually 2 kits that you need to build, the “Orchis” pack and the HG 1/144 GP03 “Statem” itself. There was supposed to be a DVD included with an episode of “Gundam Evolve”, which features Dendrobium itself, but it was only given with the initial release of the kit. It was released in 2002 I think, if I’m not mistaken =/

Anyway with a kit this big, one would think that it would be really difficult to build it, since there are a lot of parts which is labelled from A-Z (zomg!!) and that is still not enough , until Bandai had to add another group of A-Z with an added “W” (WA-WZ).

But no worries!! Bandai is smart enough to arrange the parts in order to make your life easier. This is what you should do if you ever bought one:

1. Always starts from Container A

2. Never take out all the parts or just randomly put them elsewhere. Bandai is kind enough to stack them in order. So if you do taken them out of the container, I mean all of it, try to put them back in the same stack order and manner as when it was still in the container. Only take out what is needed, one by one.

3. Just follow the manual carefully and you’ll be fine ^^

This kit is pretty challenging even for a veteran. One word of advice is that you need some extra force and strength to put this “monster” together, since some parts is really difficult and need some real push to put together.

With this size, panel lines really a hazzle to do. Painting is also needed on some areas. Surprisingly, for a kit this big, there’s no decals provided, but lots of screwing.

Some shots in-the-making:

As you can see, there are metal plates provided for this kit, total of 3 plates, which I think is needed to balance it and it’s pretty heavy. The finished kit is nearly 2 kg in weight (ouch!).

This just shows how big it is, from the tip of the main cannon to the back of tail booster (btw, that’s my Strike Freedom Lightening Edition ^^;):

In the end, it took me 4 days to complete Dendrobium, but it was worth it.(was expecting it to take longer ^^;)

First is the GP03 Statem:

It is actually quite well detailed for an HG~

Next is equipped with the “Orchis” pack (Gattai Da!!):

The pack can also act as a weapon container.

I have to say, Bandai did went all out for this kit and it’s definitely a nice addition. The only letdown is the space needed for this kit!! lol

Tags: Gunpla

This entry was posted on January 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Gunpla. 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.