MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.3.0 [WIP: Hyper Bazooka]

With the holiday season in full swing, my hobby activities seem to have come to full stop. Inertia has set in but not in a bad way as I find myself enjoying other hobbies instead such as PC gaming and watching the English Premier League's insane schedule of football fixtures over the festive period. Thankfully I still had some photos of previously completed steps to upload and write about, although such backup hobby content is rapidly dwindling as I remain inactive for the third straight week. Well enough with the negatives; here then is the RX-78-2 Gundam Hyper Bazooka in all its glory.  

Master Grade RX-78-2 Gundam Version 3.0 Work-in-Progress: Hyper Bazooka

RX-78-2 Gundam Hyper Bazooka (angled, rear view)

As has been the case for the RX-78-2 Gundam's previous weapon (i.e. the Beam Rifle), the color scheme for the Hyper Bazooka is fairly boring but functional. It looks good enough in dark greys, whites and a thin ring of red at the muzzle. Add in the parts which I decided to paint in metallic silver and gun metal as well as the strategically placed sticker decals, and the Hyper Bazooka actually takes on a pretty cool look. One nice thing about having the weapon come in a myriad of different parts was that I could paint them separately without having to mask anything (see below).

Parts of the Hyper Bazooka: painted; before assembly and before decal application

Assembly of the Hyper Bazooka was straightforward and easy. Thanks to Bandai's brilliant design, all the parts snap-fitted securely into place without the need for glue at all. That's a great attribute for a model kit to have, especially for a modeler like me who always paints the individual parts before assembly. As you should well know, glue and painted parts are not a good combination. 

Start of assembly process: painted and decaled pieces of the Hyper Bazooka all laid out

Most of the Hyper Bazooka's sub-assemblies are completed at this stage apart from the barrel

Hyper Bazooka's barrel is attached to the trigger sub-assembly; while rear sub-assembly is done

Hyper Bazooka of the RX-78-2 Gundam, fully assembled, painted and decaled

Simple as it is, the design of the Hyper Bazooka looks really cool to me. The ratio of rounded edges versus sharp edges leans more towards the former, a design style which I personally prefer. However, as much as I like the aesthetics of this weapon, I'm still not completely sold on it. At least until I see how it 'performs' with the RX-78-2 Gundam e.g. can it be attached to the hand easily and securely.

Hyper Bazooka of the RX-78-2 Gundam (side view, from the right)

Hyper Bazooka of the RX-78-2 Gundam (side view, from the left)

In terms of size, the Hyper Bazooka seems to be more than twice as big as the Beam Rifle, if not more. Meanwhile, the greys on the Hyper Bazooka comprised a lighter mix then the ones found on the Beam Rifle. Having learned from my mistake with the Beam Rifle, I added more light grey to the overall paint mix in order to get a much lighter dark grey, one that I was finally happy with.

Size comparison between the Hyper Bazooka (top) and the Beam Rifle (bottom)

Hyper Bazooka is roughly twice in overall size compared with the Beam Rifle

So the year is at an end or near to the end anyway. I don't know if it's just me but as the years roll by it seems harder and harder to find the time to hobby in. All this could just be psychological as time always seems to fly by faster as one gets older. To add insult to injury, I seem to be adding more scale model kits to the to-do pile rather removing them from the completed pile. As such, in the spirit of the coming new year I hereby declare that I will finish more projects in 2020. And as I remove my tongue-in-cheek, I leave you with yet another quote from the Rick and Morty animated series ... Break the cycle Morty. Rise Above.Focus on science, said Rick Sanchez to grandson Morty Smith.