MG Unicorn Ver. Ka Part 2

Simplicity is complicated
Was pretty convinced of my plan beforehand, but looking at the comments in Part 1 (thanks very much for all the useful input ^^), I started to think again, but in the end, I decided to just move on with the original plan.

The reason for me to be so stubborn (^^;) is because of the original design of Unicorn Gundam I saw when it was initially announced:



One of the very few MSs with the most complicated transformation gimmick, but with the most simplistic exterior design (Unicorn Mode).

So, the three major questions I asked myself regarding the work on this MG:
- Panel-line or no panel-line for the armor?
- Marking or no marking?
- Panel-line or no panel-line for the psycho frame?

I ended up with no for each of them, which is kind-of surprising for me as well, because that would mean that the work is going to be extremely easy (theoretically) as well.

Firstly, for the armor pieces linked to the transformation, the gap between them are very obvious, and obviously, they require no panel-lining at all (not exactly workable anyway). For parts not linked to the transformation on the other hand, most visibly the shoulder armors and upper arms, the "panel-lines" between the parts are very subtly shown.


I was pondering on why it was done so in the illustration and I realized that the designer wanted to distinguish between transformable and non-transformable parts to the audience, when we were unaware that the gimmick is there.

So, no panel-line at all for all the armor pieces. Let the gaps between transformable parts define themselves, while letting the lines between the non-transformable parts remain subtle by not panel-lining them at all. To prevent them from looking like gaps, that's another way to see it I suppose.

No marking, a very natural choice for me I suppose, since I wanted to keep to the original design of Unicorn Gundam which has no marking at all. But on top of that, I'm even more concerned about damaging any of those decals and clear stickers, be it during applying them, or during the transformation process.

No panel-line for the Psycho Frame as well. The Psycho Frame is like ruby encapsulated in the body of Unicorn Gundam in my perception. Ruby itself doesn't emit light like the Psycho Frame, but it does look different when viewed from different angles - how light bounces off its surface. This characteristic can be seen on the two ABS runners for the Psycho Frame. At first glance, they seem to be in bright pink. When you look closer, it's actually red. I bet it's going to look different when there are parts behind and around it in the complete model.

Anyway, the reason I decided not to panel-line the Psycho Frame is so that nothing extra would "steal" the show of those parts. It's better to let the Psycho Frame shows off its different shades of red when viewed from different angles, rather than to have extra lines and colors to complicate it I believe.

Also, I can't imagine having to panel-line the Psycho Frame as well when it's already pretty hard for my eyes to look at those two runners, ^^; With that said, those who are wondering why there was not a single Psycho Frame part in the intro yesterday now know why I suppose. ^^ None of them has been cut out from runners yet. I will focus of them in one go later.

For the V-Fin, it'll be yellow with no panel-line on the details. A very obvious decision when I decided to go for the original look. The yellow V-Fin would stand out well against the white armor and red Psycho Frame of the complete model, which is the primary reason for it to be given such a color in the first place I believe.

With all those considerations out of the picture, time to start working on the model. A significant number of parts are going to be "as they are", but there are a lot others that do require panel-lining and a bit of painting. Almost all the parts that are neither white nor red fall under this category.

I get to work a bit of my own painting preference on some of them as well. As long as they won't alter the original feel, I'm OK to give them a go.

Two of such treatments are shown in this review.



Lego-style magazine clips for the Beam Magnum. ^^

Panel-lined all the connectors on top of the 16 clips. In a much simpler manner, I could have just done that for the one sitting on top of the three 5-clip stacks, but since they can be stacked at will (just like Lego bricks XD), I didn't want to place a limitation on which has to be on top of the stack all the time.



Painted gray (from Gundam Marker SEED Basic) for the end of the rockets protruding from the bazooka's magazine to separate them from the casing. The initial plan was red actually, following the example of Nu Gundam's Hyper Bazooka, but then it would seem too outstanding for me, especially in Unicorn Mode when there is no red part on the Gundam itself. So gray they are.

Done with the work on the two weapons ^^




Painted gold (from Gundam Marker BB Senshi Sangokuden) for the interior of the thrusters. These four are for the backpack, but the other four for the rear skirt armors and legs are going to be painted like this as well, since all of them are identical.

Unicorn Gundam only has these eight rocket thrusters, at least these are the ones included for the model. Being small, I wanted something a bit different to allow them to look more powerful. I never tried gold for thrusters before, so in the color is. ^^

Done with the backpack, as well as the left leg ^^



Way faster than MG Destiny this time XD