BB Senshi Sangokuden Giga Taifu Shiba-I Sazabi Part 1

Hey, I'm red too!
Jumping away from MG Char's Gelgoog Ver. 2.0 after the work on its legs to work on something else for a while. ^^ Since it's Char's month on my blog right now, something that is bright and burning red gets the call for the next project. ^^

Something that I can definitely do 3 times faster: BB Senshi Sangokuden Giga Taifu Shiba-I Sazabi ^^


This version of Shiba-I Sazabi is from the manga series of the plamo line who appears after the great battle of Red Cliffs, assisting Sousou Gundam's son, Souhi Gundam to manage the kingdom of Giga after his father went missing during the war. The title of Taifu (太傅) refers to a minister who advises the king when he's very young, who can even make decision on behalf of the king when he's not around (From Wikipedia (in Mandarin)). Therefore, without any doubt, Shiba-I Sazabi is the second most powerful person after Souhi Gundam in the kingdom of Giga at that time. Given how much Souhi Gundam relies on him as shown in the manga when the plamo kit of the earlier was released, it's very obvious that Shiba-I Sazabi holds perhaps just as much commanding power as the king himself.

Released in March 2009, I like this red version of Shiba-I Sazabi just as much as the original white version. ^^ Its overall red color scheme is as lot closer to the image of Sazabi, but in an exaggerated manner I would say, because it doesn't just come with plated red parts, the rest of the kit that is not plated is in glossy molded color as well. Such bright red with bling-bling effect on a small kit is definitely extravagant in my eyes. ^^

Even though there are plated parts included, this is not a limited release. The price is pretty exclusive though - twice the cost of the original white version. ^^; At 1,000 Yen (exclusive of tax), it's of the same price as HG 1/144 00 Gundam. Since the gap of release wasn't too far apart for the two kits (HG 1/144 00 Gundam came out half a year earlier), the price issue stayed in my head for a long time, which is why I still remember it now. ^^; On a separate note, I'm also not really into kits with plated parts, since my prior experience with such parts on 1/100 scale kits from "Gundam X" tells me that they are not going to look pretty when oxidization effect kicks in. ^^; So, for quite a while when it was first released back in 2009, I was pondering on whether or not to get it. ^^;

Alas, a Shiba-I Sazabi in bright red with bling-bling effect, just go for it. ^^



Introduction of the kit on the box sides.
As with all the clear color variations or box sets released in the past, the completed model shown in the introduction as well as the huge one on the box art is a straight assembled version with foil stickers. The idea is to show off the glossiness of all the specially treated parts no doubt, same thing with the Trans-Am variations from HG 1/144 scale Gundam Double O series I suppose. ^^


Content.


Manual design.


The transition for Shiba-I Sazabi from white to full red, before turning into the menacing Tenshihou form, which is obviously not shown here.


No manga is included for this kit, but a chart showing the warriors and advisers in the court of Giga is quite a nifty feature nonetheless. ^^


The design of Joko Serpent is not updated yet when this kit was released it seems. He's still carrying the large twin knives-like weapon instead of the assigned battleaxes when the actual BB Senshi kit was released in May 2009.


Sousou Gundam, Ryuubi Gundam and Sonken Gundam in clear color shown on the back of the manual are all from separate releases (Sousou from the battle of Kanto set, Ryuubi from the Peach Orchard Oath set and Sonken from the combined set with Shuuyu Hyaku Shiki).


All runners.



Runner A1




Runner A2
All glossy black and red parts on both runners A1 and A2. ^^



Runner B with all the plated parts.


Plated color - empty to be exact is another feature of such runner on almost all previous and subsequent releases. ^^;


Polycap set and foil sticker sheet.


All the plated parts.


As careful as I could when removing the parts, some dents are still impossible to avoid.
The ones on the waist (left) are not a concern since they won't be seen when the kit was assembled, but the one on the helmet part definitely needs some treatment.


Painted the dent using Gundam Marker Metallic Red from the BB Senshi Sangokuden set for an instant solution. ^^



No special treatment whatsoever for the rear face of the metallic parts that are "empty" since I don't want to do anything that might ruin the main color in front. ^^


No panel lining planned for the glossy red and black parts as well because I just want the entire kit to look as red and as bright as possible. ^^


A little bit of painting is needed for the face part since the sticker provided for the mask only covers the surface area and not the valley in front of the goggle.


Painted the valley silver using Pilot Super Color Silver Extra Fine.


The character on the forehead is painted gold using Gundam Marker.


Instead of using the foil sticker with unmovable mono-eye, I plan to use the self made sticker pieces did for my first BB Senshi Sangokuden Shiba-I Sazabi.
Before that, the goggle is painted black using normal marker (which comes with its own glossy paint).


The bottom of the mask is covered using Pilot Marker as well.



The same old trick for the character's name engraved on the bottom of the feet, but I use Gundam Marker Gold to highlight the name this time to make them stand out even more. ^^
The face and feet are the only parts with some sort of paint work applied to them. I'll leave everything else without any panel lining to follow the example shown on the box, which means the kit is already ready to be assembled. ^^

Plenty of foil stickers to apply is quite a reminiscence to my old days of assembling Gunplas too. ^^