GunplaWorks Bonus! GM Sniper K9 Conversion!

So if you're like me, and you like the GM Sniper K9 as well as the GM Sniper II that its based on, you might ask yourself, "If they use similar pieces/recolored runners, can I convert the GM Sniper K9 to the GM Sniper II?" 

Well for the most part, Yes! (except for the blue colors)

Included on the runners are these pieces here

And that yellow piece for the chest (and the other one i forgot to include that goes in the stomach)

When you put them together, you have the pieces that replace the front and side skirts, replace the shoulder vents, and the chest area, and the backpack. 

I couldn't quite get the chest part open (couldnt get the collar off) so i just took off the combat knife holder, and you can see where the vents go. (be careful, the instructions calls for a sticker over the other vent that might come off when you remove the piece)

and here is the replaced backpack. 

Compared to the HG GM Sniper II as seen below. (the K9 also comes with a shield)

GunplaWorks: HGBF 1/144 GM Sniper K9, Final Thoughts and Verdict

Welcome to my follow up post to the GM Sniper K9 GunplaWorks. Here are some final thoughts, along with some poses/pictures I took. Discretion: These thoughts are based on my opinion and experience, and by no means should be taken as a final verdict/fact. You may have a different experience than me, of course. Feel free to comment whether you agree/disagree/or have anything else that might be helpful to know about this kit as well! Thank you all. 

Price: 

I purchased this kit off of HLJ  for 1530 Japanese Yen before shipping. Currently the market fluctuations hover around 20-30 dollars on popular sites. 

Size Comparison: 

On the left we see the GM Sniper K9 compared with the Build Strike Full Package, the original HGBF release. With the wings fully extended on the Strike, it is much taller and wider than the GM Sniper. However, the GM Sniper's frame is wider/bulkier than the Strike. Going by head, both are fairly similar in height, but the Strike is barely taller (if i had him stand completely straight up) But the antenna on the GM evens it out (if that even matters at all).

On the right, we see the GM compared with the HGUC Jesta Cannon. The Jesta traces its origins back to the Jegan, which is developed from the line of GMs. The Jesta is bulkier, and wider, and overall bigger just because of the armaments/armor. (btw the Jesta Cannon is one of my favorite HGUC kits, so pick it up if you have the chance)

Posture: 

The GM Sniper K9 stands fairly well. However, as you can start to see in both pictures, the pistol holsters and the side skirts start to get in the way of each other as you shift them around. Pictured here, the GM sniper is holding the sub-machine gun, and the standard rifle, with the K9 rifle strapped to his back. 

K9 Pack:

One of the first things that concerned me when i thought about purchasing this kit was "How ridiculous will a dog hanging off the back of a Gundam look?" and to be honest, it isn't too bad. You can fidget with the legs to make it look like an extended booster/jetpack type of thing, and its not as high-profile as you might think it is. 

Additional Weapons:

The GM Sniper comes with Dual Pistols (dualies) that can make for some pretty cool action shots. Here he is propped up on an Action Base #2. Though the action base is not necessary, you can still get some cool poses with it. The pistols can be stored in the leg holsters when not in use. 

The GM Sniper also comes with a very large K9 rifle that can be converted to the head of the K9 pack. My one problem with this is the weight, and size of the rifle. It is very cumbersome, and also very difficult to pose with, and the GM Sniper K9 does not do a very good job of holding it. Though if you can get it right, it will look very cool. You can switch out the other hand and have him holding that forward handle as well, but the rifle will have to run across the front of the body, because he can't reach it in front of him. The Rifle also has a monopod. 

Final Thoughts/Verdict: 

I really like this kit. I don't particularly "love" the GM Sniper K9, but I really like the GM Sniper design. The reason I chose the K9 was because of the amount of weapons it comes with. It also comes with extra parts that you could swap out to make it look more like the GM Sniper II that it is based on. 

Pros: 

Amount of weapons

Lack of too many stickers

Cool gimmicks (the flip down visor/exam system etc)

Comes with 1/144 soldiers!

Amount of manipulators

Sturdy Build for the most part

Great design

Great color molding

COMBAT KNIFE!

Cons:

K9 pack can look ridiculous

Problem with legs staying on because of the holsters

Holsters and side skirts get in the way of each other

Can't hold large rifle very well

Large rifle is cumbersome/heavy

Should you get it? That's up to you to decide. After my purchase, I was not disappointed, especially for the price I paid (which came out to about $25 including shipping). If you love the GM Sniper II and want more weapons, or just  the GM Sniper K9, this kit is very good, and is certainly one that I think would be great to add to your Build Fighters collection. (even though it was only featured in one episode). 

GunplaWorks: HG 1/144 GM Sniper K9 Build and Thoughts

Today I will take you through the initial build of the GM Sniper K9 with some of my thoughts. In a little bit, I will post the photos/poses. Hope this helps if you want to get the kit. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!

The parts: As you can see, there are a two shades of green, and a few shades of gray, the yellow, clear green, and the beam sabers. All in all, if you look closely, there are a lot of pieces. The instruction booklet itself had about 56 steps (including the K9 pack/weapons)

And of course, it comes with 8 1/144 soldiers that fit in the pack. (I could only manage 3 at a time, and i broke one of its feets)

Fairly small sticker sheet. I was pleasantly surprised with this. After building the Build Strike and seeing how many stickers it needed to be finished, I was glad to see that the GM sniper would not need as many. As such, I decided to use the stickers they provided. 

The sticker sheet gives you the option to put the GM Sniper into Exam Mode. (which i prefer) however, this is permanent (unless later on you decide to just peel the stickers off and replace them). Most of the stickers are for the torso area, as you can see. The only one I didn't like was the folding piece that goes right over the center. 

Here it is done with the shoulders. If you refer to the prior picture with the stickers, those rectangular/trapezoidal yellow stickers go into the vents on either side of the shoulders.

The kit itself comes with 6 manipulators. You get 2 standard trigger finger hands for L and R, and one extended wrist trigger finger for the R hand. It comes with one open hand, and also two open fists for holding the combat knife/beam sabers. 

Finished up the legs and arms as well. There is panel lining to be done. You might want to darken up the vents in the knee sections so they pop out a little more. 

Ok so this is the interesting thing. If you haven't heard anything about the GM Sniper K9, this is my one problem. The holsters are a separate piece that slip in between the gray part and the rest of the leg you see there. This causes a very loose connection, and the legs will fall out occasionally, especially if not in a standing pose. The other thing is the side waist skirts will bump into them as well. Though it is a nice touch, it seems to cause a lot more trouble than its worth. 

Here is the waist skirt in question. 

Put all the bottom part of the body together. Be careful, the beam sabers connect to a very small peg of plastic on the waist skirts, and I feel if you move it the wrong way, you will easily snap it. (It has happened with my Unicorn Destroy mode...)

Front of the legs section

All together. 

Weapons (not including combat knife and beam sabers)

Thanks for checking this out. Stay tuned for the next post, giving my final thoughts and verdict on the kit, along with some poses!

A Quick Look at the Builders Parts Campaign

Many of you know that Bandai has been running their Builder Parts Campaign for some time now. Basically the idea is to promote kitbashing/customizing kits based on the parts you already have, or parts you can get from other kits. Bandai is helping with this by shipping adapter pieces to facilitate the process (for their HG kits) Currently, from my knowledge HobbyLinkJapan and GundamPlanet are doing this campaign for a limited time (based on stock). 

HLJ is throwing in 1 of these runners per HG kit you purchase (that is eligible) 

GundamPlanet is throwing in 1 of these runners for every 3 HG kits you purchase (that are eligible)

I got my runner through GundamPlanet, but only because they announced their involvement just days after I purchased the HG Arios and GN Archer that you have seen before. After some emailing, they said if I bought one HG kit, they'd throw in a runner (and they gave me the one I requested too!)

I ended up picking the Kampfer Amazing, because I love the weapons. We'll see what I do with the kit later. (custom paint? straight build?) Well I guess he'll have the Renato Bros. to go up against.

Here is a quick look at the runner. its fairly small, about 4x4 inches

The Beam Gatling that I wanted, very easy to build, just three pieces. 

For the demonstration of the adapter pieces, I will use the HG Build Strike FP

And the Sinanju!

I've been tinkering the idea of sticking the Sinanju pack on the Build Strike just for fun, but it never fit because the hole was too deep into the Strike's back for the peg to reach. Well, with the Builder Parts peg extender (1x included) you can extend that peg and make it fit!

Sinanju Strike! (size proportions are pretty off haha)

Next just for fun, I'm going to switch out the arms. The Sinanju uses a polycap with a peg insertion for the shoulders. The Build Strike uses a polycap ball joint. To fix this, we will use the shoulder adaptors

with the ball joint inserted on one end, and pegs on the other, we can finally switch out the arms!

Though, I don't know why you would ever want to. That just looks ridiculous.

With the backpack adapter, you can take pieces from other kits backpacks and attach them on as well!

I took the cannons off of the Rezel Defenser and put it on

Kinda crazy, but its cool nonetheless! 

Finally, there's the beam gatling. The only gripe i have is that the beam gatling handle doesnt fit certain hands that well, so you just gotta find the right fit. But all in all, I'm pretty excited to see what I can do with my HG kits now. 

Anyways. On to building my GM Sniper K9!

See ya'll next time.

Still Waiting

Today I decided to publicize my blog, so if this is your first time viewing, welcome! 

Its been a little frustrating getting rolling, especially with the weather so far. Hopefully once Spring really comes, I can start some of my bigger projects. 

It has been a season of waiting: 

So I'm still waiting for my MG Exia and Duel Assault Shroud to arrive.

and also my replacement part for my GN Archer so I can finally do this 

wait wat

and I'm waiting for good weather to start my painting endeavors

and waiting to see who wins the GGDC 2014. I have friends who have entered, and also have seen a lot of amazing posts on r/gunpla. 

I'm just glad there was an opportunity to work towards something, instead of just building for fun. Having a goal in place helped me to want to put a lot of effort and give my best. Best of luck to all who have entered! 

HG Arios + HG GN Archer WIP UPDATE 6/6/14

Here is the A Plate for the HG Arios, i'm not a big fan of the orange that it came molded in. 

Girlfriend was building the GN Archer, and she did a pretty good job at it!

We were making about the same progress as we built, Head and Torso done about the same time.

Everything was going well, until the arm joint snapped when she was putting it into the bicep section. 

I was very disappointed because I thought she just broke it, but in fact the arm joint is very fragile looking, and poorly designed. The part where the Polycap connects to is very thin, and broke without much effort at all. With many failed attempts at fixing it, I'm currently in the process of trying to order a replacement part.

She decided to paint sections, instead of using stickers. So proud.

The one armed sass master, GN Archer

Arios basically finished. (Comes with a base!)

Another shot

The knock I have against the Arios is how the arms connect to the torso. The polycaps in the torso are directed diagonally up, and the connector ball joint from the shoulder armor points diagonally down. This leaves very little room for forward and backward whole arm movement. As you can see in this picture, most of the arm movement will happen either away from the body, or at the elbow. 

Together! (before the arm section snapped off again)

So all in all, we had a fun time. My girlfriend thought the GN Archer was too simple, so maybe we'll step it up next time. I'm still kinda upset with how fragile the part was for the GN Archer, but once I get the replacement part, I will fix it up, and then do some cliched Arios and Archer poses.

UPDATE 6/6/14

The parts finally came! GK Parts came through and we finally got the pieces in to fix the arm (too bad it cost an arm and a leg to get it...) but anyways here are the final photos and some thoughts!

 This kit had been sitting on my shelf for awhile, with one arm, just kinda chilling. I almost forgot I ordered replacement parts for the snapped arm joint months ago.

Using the Crossbone Maoh's peace hand

Kawaii?

In its flight mode, very easy transformation. 

Docking mode is very easy too, glad you don't have to take pieces apart, but instead just use the attachment pieces. 

Gotta love Arios and GN Archer. Allelujah and Marie had the only real romance of the series. Unless you count Lockon with anyone... (either lockon...) sigh lockon...

If nothing else I'm just glad to finally be able to pose these two together, in their finished forms.