Gundam Model Kits

Two halves enclose the faceplate, eyes, and antenna. The reinforced chin and a larger antenna plug into the front of the face .The antennas are annoying. Not because of construction, but because they are flimsy pieces of plastic that stick out and are easy to snap off and lose. The bottom half of the main antenna has to be painted to match the off-white color. The head can side-to-side and down a little bit, but that's about it.

Torso

Construction involves sandwiching the interior with the outer armor and adding the chest plate. All the mechanical parts and the folding chest plate just slide into the cavities in the front of the chest. The chest is real bulky and the vulcan drum is a simple, one-piece affair. The chest plate folds down to reveal inner mechanics that look excellent painted some metallic color. The cockpit hatch also opens, revealing an interior with figure. The backpack rack plugs into the back and has a sliding system on it that locks into place for the storage backpack. Attaching the backpack does not make the model overly back heavy. There is a ball joint on the waist that allows the torso to rotate around. The back skirt armor is fixed. The side and front skirt armors do not get in the way of leg movement at all. The side skirt armor has attachment points for the extra ammo clips.

Arms

The arms look very simple but have a well-engineered construction. The shoulder armors have moveable flaps for a parachute to attach to (not included, nor even made to my knowledge). The arms have a ball joint that goes through the shoulder armor and connects tightly into the torso. There is an inner skeleton that the armor slides onto instead of snapping around it. My first piece of advise is don't tighten the screws too much or the stress of moving the joint may cause it to snap. Elbows are double jointed and have an armor covering that slides in between the upper and lower arm. Nothing gets in the way of the wide range of arm movement. Three sets of hands are included, open, fists, and the standard MG gripping hands.

Legs

The Ez8 can kneel, even with the storage backpack attached, and looks perfectly natural doing it. The thighs slide into their armor covering, leaving some exposed details. There lower legs store the beam sabers in the calves. The sabers are stored at an angle so they're easy to remove. All the armor on the lower leg snaps onto the frame, and is easily removed to show off the details. The armor around the ankle is hinged to allow the foot to move. The ankle construction is amazing. There are two joints in the leg, one that moves the foot up-and-down, the other moves it from side-to-side. The result is a very wide range of foot motion. The feet themselves have no articulation and some nice detailing on the soles.

Weapons and Accessories

Like all the 08th MS Team kits, the Ez8 comes fully loaded, and this is one of the best aspects of the kit. First is the 100 mm machine gun with removable clips, folding stock, and stabilizing handle. The gun looks great and the clips slide into place easily and securely. The beam rifle is a simpler construction with a stabilizing handle and another handle on top that allows the Ez8 to carry it. The beam rifle is hard to hold since it has so much of its weight in front of the grip. The precision shot poses are hard to do since the bulky chest gets in the way. The hyper bazooka fits together well and is easy for the Ez8 to hold. It breaks into 5 parts that fit in the backpack. The backpack is made out of several flat pieces and attaches securely to the storage rack. The shield has a real basic appearance, but has a rotating part that allows it to be either held by hand or stored on one of the arm slots. Its molded in the color of the Ez8's armor and should be painted gray. Beam sabers have the plug in blades with a nice tapering shape. The Shiro figure is molded in flesh color and was easy to paint, especially since the required colors are used on the Ez8 anyway.

Conclusion

I'm a fan of the Ez8 for its in-the-field-constructed design, which is well represented in this model. It looks very white and plain when constructed and since it was a ground-type it deserves some good weathering and battle damage. The massive amount of weapons and the storage backpack it has are a definite plus. This is the best-engineered model I have, easily posed and excellent inner details. If you like the Ez8, don't hesitate to pick up one of these.(Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars)

Contributor: Chris 'KokopelliChindi' Knudtson

General and Technical Data
Series: Master Grade (MG) 1/100 Release Date: 10/2000
Price: ¥ 3000