Hobby Base Ultimate Joint Series EX Mechanical Hands (Angular) 1/144 Gray Part 2

Bigger hands, smaller wrists
Assmbling and trying out the fixed closed fists from Hobby Base's Ultimate Joint Series EX Mechanical Hands (Angular) 1/144 scale gray set after the introduction and minor paint work in the previous posting. ^^


The painted armor parts for the back of the hands.


Comparing the wrist joint of HG 1/144 Genoace Custom's default hand to the two types available on this option part set.
While all the ball joints are of the same size, there are two different lengths for the pegs on the option parts.


Parts of the closed fists.


The angled part separation between the finger segments helps to eliminate seam lines between the parts.
The slot for the thumb is square in shape.


(Left) Two types of thumbs included for each closed fist: straight, and bent.
(Right) The straight thumb has a peg that allows it to swivel around on the slot shown earlier on. The bent type has an odd triangular tab that doesn't permit any movement for the thumb.


Done for the closed fists with the straight thumb.




Much richer mechanical details on be seen on the fixed fingers, as compared to the standard open fists included for most High Grade kits. ^^


As mentioned earlier on, the straight thumb can be swiveled around its base to give the hand a slightly different appearance.


The bent thumb is swapped onto the hand units.


Apart from achieving a more natural look, the bent thumb allows the clenched fingers' side details to be seen in full.


A standard Master Grade kit articulation feature realized in 1/144 scale: hinge joint for the wrist.


Comparison with Genoace Custom's default fists.
With the huge slots taken into consideration, the option hands seem a little larger than the default pair. ^^


Unfortunately, the ball joint of the option hands is a little smaller (perhaps by half a millimeter) than that on the default hands. ^^; As a result, it can't be fitted to the wrist polycap of the model kit properly. ^^;


A little bit of epoxy putty to bulk up the ball joint will be enough to solve the fitting problem I believe, but for the sake of trying out the option hands on other kits, I just apply a temporary solution to the joint: tiny band of paper tape. ^^


With the enlarged wrist joint, the option fists now fit nicely on Genoace Custom's.







While the details are great, the end result isn't exactly special I guess. ^^; The versatility and flexibility of a pair of fully articulated hands would be the definite highlight of this mechanical hand set no doubt, which is coming up next. ^^