MG MS-14A Gelgoog 2.0 Work in Progress 4 (Finishing up the dry fit build)

Continuing this beast, I decided to go ahead and finish up all the actual building.  We're gonna get all the outer armor on and get the weapons together.  There's also a few ideas I want to play with before painting.

The chest armor is only a few pieces and goes on easy enough.

The head is the same deal as the chest.  It is worth noting that Bandai went out of their way to make the armor easily removable.  Which makes sense as on this kit it seems like they spent a lot more time and effort on the inner frame than the outer armor.

Also, you have the option of making this an S-Type or Commander type Gelgoog with the included command antenna (horn) option.  They also give you two choices for the horn and if I remember right the one on the left is for ground use and the one on the right is for space use. I could be wrong though.

Eventually I want to make this a B-type Gelgoog but for now I'm gonna leave the smooth helm on for the A-type. And yes there are a lot of Gelgoog variants with subtle differences.  I may do a Gelgoog history post at some point before I paint.

Moving on to the arms.

More easy fitting.  You can see in the second pic that the armor is gonna add quite a bit more bulk to an already bulky frame.

The armor for the shoulders is easily the hardest part of this build...

It's almost a shame to cover those cool cage frames.

I will say that with the armor on the skirts keep linked together a lot better.  Also, not too much mobility was lost.

Legs are up next.

Easily more outer pieces than the rest of the body.

We also have more frame layering above the thrusters.

All together...

I do have to say, the completed model looks great.  I just realized I forgot to take a pic of the completed legs, oops.

The articulation hasn't really changed after adding the armor. Actually I don't think it got hampered at all.

One thing you will notice when you start moving the legs around is that those easy to remove armor pieces will start to split.

It's not a big deal and hardly noticeable from most angles.

Moving on to the weapons to finish this build up.

Pretty simple construction for the Beam Rifle.  I left the clear piece for the scope out as it will be impossible to remove later.

You do get optional grenade launcher and bipod attachments.  Which is nice.

Not too big on the bipod but the grenade launcher is cool.  I'm torn because I do like the classic look on the Beam Rifle too.

Beam Naginata is next.

Three pieces for the weapon itself, an adapter to mount it on the back or the shield, and four effect parts.  The straight blades are a nice inclusion but I don't think I'll use them.

Last but not least is the shield.

Nice big hefty Gelgoog shield.  Not much else to say.  The arm on the underside attaches to the back of the Gelgoog and can move pretty much wherever you would need it too.

A quick look at it all together.

Looks great.  Getting the shield to clip onto the hand is a bit finicky but it holds none the less.  Speaking of the shield, it's heavier than I thought and while typing this even the sturdy 2.0 frame succumbed to the weight.

Sigh.  Oh well, I can only hope that paint and some simple joint tightening will fix the issue.  Also the arm can only hold the shield up in certain ways, otherwise it just gets dragged down.  There's probably a reason most of the promo and box pics of this guy show it with the sheild on the back.

Sorry to end this post on a somber note but at least the shield weight is the only real issue I've found with the kit.

That's all for now.

MG MS-14A Gelgoog 2.0 Work in Progress 3

Getting right into the legs. The manual has you build all the mirror parts first before switching between left and right.

Just like the rest of the kit so far, nothing too complex but there is a high level of detail molded in.

All the 2x parts from the manual.  More detail.  More pistons.  All great.

Once it's done you'll have the better part of the legs complete.  The bend at the knee is anything but spectacular but the Gelgoog is a bulky suit intended to be boosting around in space.  It was never really intended to be a ground pounder or able to pull off awesome kneeling poses.

The left and right sections in the manual are basically identical. 

There's a really cool layered armor effect going on on the frame around the thrusters.

Detailing this frame is going to be fun thanks to stuff like this.

With the feet on we have some very beefy legs.

As you can see the articulation isn't bad, it's just limited.  Sadly I believe it will only get more limited once the outer armor is in place.

Moving on, the waist is the only part of the main kit left.

Not too many parts but the thrusters and engines will take a bit of time to clean up.

Decent amount of parts and not too difficult to assemble. 

The caged effect looks great and blends well with the legs.  Aside from the thruster engines and the cages of the skirts there isn't too much detail to be had though. 

The skirts have little teeth that will let them rest flush or they can move pretty much wherever.

If you can make it out you can kind of see the teeth I was talking about.

Alright, now let's see what the complete frame looks like.

The completed frame looks great.  The only master grades I've built that have a better looking and engineered frame are probably the Nu Gundam Ver Ka and the Sazabi Ver Ka.  I said before that I would put the detail level slightly above the Zaku 2.0's inner frame and I still hold to that.  One thing I really appreciate on this frame is that there's no real visible 'peg kibble' where the outer armor will attach. It looks like a fluid frame.

But how does it move?

The short answer is that it moves ok.  Truth is it moves great considering how the design of the Gelgoog itself limits it's own articulation.

I have been curious since building the legs as to if this thing could kneel convincingly or not.  The answer is...

Kinda sorta.  It's not so much kneeling as it is crouching.  It doesn't look bad, but it's Zaku 2.0 brother definitely has it beat in this regard.

One thing to note after playing around with the frame.  Getting the skirts to lock together and sit flush can be a pain sometimes.  I do feel like having the outer armor on will remedy some of this though.

Next to the 1.0 Gelgoog with its old paint job.

Wow that things dusty. Anyway, the proportions have been tweaked on the 2.0.  I wouldn't say that the 1.0 had bad proportions but I do like the 2.0's better.

I would compare the frames here but the 1.0's inner frame is almost non existent.  Just the lower legs and some random spots here and there.

Comparing any other aspect of these two is kind of a joke.  The 1.0 is as loose as can be and can barely stand up straight.  The 1.0's skirt armor is completely static as well.

Side note and preview:

Hey bro, need a backpack?

One thing the 1.0 has that the 2.0 doesn't.  The backpack which makes the high mobility or B-type Gelgoog.  Well...

It happens to fit in a polycap on the back perfectly.  A little bit of detail work and I think this'll look great on the finished kit.  The one quirk I've always been kinda eh on the Gelgoog's design is that the standard 'googs have nothing on their backs.  It's just a flat place to stick the shield or the twin beam sword.  Well this backpack solves that for me so yay.

Ending the look at the frame with some size comparisons.

Next to the standard sized Zaku I and Blitz Gundam.  As you can see the Gelgoog is pretty big.  Excluding mobile armors and the Zeon I think it's the largest Mobile Suit fielded during the One Year War.

It's not that big however.  Late UC suits like the Sinanju here will still be taller. The old Zeon proportions are present though so the Gelgoog wins out in bulk even to the Sinanju.

Unfortunately I don't currently have an RX-78 to compare it to.  I recently sold my 3.0 and my 2.0 is long since gone.  I do plan on getting a OYW version RX-78 in the near future so I'll have that comparison sooner or later.  I feel it's an important comparison as the Gelgoog is basically Zeon's Gundam.  It was the first MS that Zeon produced that even compared to the Federation's White Devil.  The S and B type Gelgoogs even surpassed the Gundam spec wise if I remember correctly.

Well that's all for now.  I haven't decided what I'm gonna do next on this kit.  I've planned on a custom color scheme since the beginning but I'm not sure if I'm gonna dry fit the armor as-is first.  Also, I do plan on painting up the details on the frame.  Decisions.

Til next time.