HG 1/144 Tieren Ground Type Part 1

This is no Zaku, boy! No Zaku!


But no matter how you see it, be its head design, shoulder shield, color scheme, or even its designation code, a very strong connection to Zaku II is definitely there ^^

I love Tieren very much. It's definitely my favorite grunt unit from Gundam Double O, both season 1 and 2. I love the very realistic design of Tieren. Instead of an MS in the world of Gundam, Tieren looks like the evolution of modern day tank to me: the size is mainly on the body, very well armored, may be slow, but highly reliable (at least I feel so).

I think if there's going to be MS coming up 300 years from now, it would definitely be looking like Tieren.

As for this HG, its overall design is just plain awesome. I'll save my breath on that first, to avoid talking about the completed model at the beginning of this review ^^;


Like the other HGs for Gundam Double O, action pose on the box art can be mimicked completely by the actual model, plus even more too ^^
Bought this HG some time around the beginning of last year, and it's the same case with my BB Senshi Destiny. I started working on a few parts on this Tieren but never continue for a long time. The (continuation) work on the previous kits reviewed made me want to do the same for Tieren as well.


Four runners including the polycap set. The two small paper trays on the left contain parts I've painted.


A closer look on the runners of this HG reveal plenty of hints for further variations to be released.


Runner A: Parts in the middle are common for all Tierens, mainly for the body and forearm.


Runner B: Changes to the weapons seemed to be planned, but all the variations released after this come with the Smooth-bore Gun and Carbon Blade (for space use Tieren as well). Changes like the blades for the Smooth-bore Gun are appended onto the left portion of the three instead.


Runner C: Total wild card, containing all the distinctive parts for a particular Tieren. Other variations use Runner D, E, or F.
As mentioned earlier on, I've started working on a few parts, mainly on painting:


Mecha part for the thigh, shoulder shield and upper arm: light green to gray (SEED Basic Set). I was pondering between gray and dark gray actually, to match the color of the other parts from Runner B. Dark gray would seem like a better color, but when I bought Tieren Taozi and Tieren Space Commander Type, I see the color of their respective Runner B to be even darker. So I changed my mind to using normal gray for Tieren instead. Dark gray would be more proper for the other two Tieren mentioned.

Also, you can actually get a darker version of the normal gray, but still lighter than Dark Gray, if you purposely skip some effort in shaking the marker prior to using it on the model ;)

On the separate note, the same parts on the larger 1/100 scale version are molded with the same 'flaw' of missing the gray. While there are so much details being poured onto the 1/100 scale version, the design of the parts is all the same. ^^; Then again, I won't call it a definite weakness because the paint job required is really optional.


Antenna on the backpack, Carbon Blade and magazine for the Smooth-bore Gun:
Antenna: gray for the body, and white for the tip.

Carbon Blade: black to light blue for the handle. I use Light Blue for SEED Destiny Vol. 1 Set as mentioned in FG Exia Part 3. The whole blade is in dark gray, but I just painted one layer of light blue, which is not enough to cover the base color. Considering that the blade can be pinned to the hand when carried or mounted onto the rear skirt armor, quite tightly as well, more layers of paint increase the risks of the the paint being scratched off in the future. And then you would paint another layer of light blue to cover the scratches and it becomes thicker, and more prone to ugly scratches.

Magazine for the Smooth-bore Gun: White for the cap on both ends. One end is a separate part, so no worries on spill over of the paint. The other part is molded together with the body of the magazine (or to say it the other way round is the same), so unless you have masking tape, you'll inevitably need to scratch off some spilled over paint from the body in the end.

Since it's painting white on black base color, I did a few layers to cover up the base color.


I used to think that it's a targeting sensor, because it seems a bit too small as the magazine of the gun. The manual from the 1/100 scale release proved otherwise.
Interior of the armors: Painted black for the interior of almost all the armors to give them more depth, to make them look like they are made of multiple layers of materials.




Panel-lined all the parts, with many still on their runners.


Foil stickers will be used for this HG - orange-colored ones for the components on the chest.


Green marker used to cover up the nub marks on all the green parts of Tieren.


All the parts separated in different paper trays for the final assembly ^^
Will be working on the eye for the next review ^^

Images of the runners and mecha design of the Smooth-bore Gun are from Dalong Dotnet.