What I have here is 1/400 NZ-333 Alpha Azieru from Bandai's Gundam Collection line. The line consist mainly of of extremely large Mobile Armor units and ships. They are pre-painted and fully detailed.
The Alpha Azieru's box is the same size as a standard MG kit. According to the box, the kit was released in 2006.
Here are some shots of the front, side and rear views of the whole kit.
And a closer look.
The design and construction of the kit is the same as an HG or NG kit. Very simple snap build and not too many tricks or gimmicks. And because of this, the kit is full of visible seam lines. But the kit is highly detailed compared to a regular HG or NG kit. And since the kit is pre-painted, all the minute details have been professionally done.
Starting with the head and the neck which is full of mechanical looking details. It sits on a ball joint allowing the head to move up and down just a little bit but easily pops off the ball.
Since the Alpha Azieru is capable of transformation, The head can be tucked into the body.
Even though the kit is already painted, there are still plenty of panel lines that can be worked on to add an even higher level of detailing.
The upper body is capable of movement, able to twist left to right, limited only by the back pack hitting the funnels on the back skirt.
For the purpose of transformation, the whole upper body can move forward.
And turn 90 degrees at the hips.
The arms and shoulder offer a large degree of articulation. The arms and shoulder can rotate 360 degrees and the arms can stretch out to the side quite nicely.
The arm can bend at nearly 180 degrees at the elbow.
The shoulders can move up and down.
And forward.
The arms and shoulder are nicely detailed, even on the inside and underside.
The shoulder can also open up from the top, though I don't know yet what the thing inside the shoulder is suppose to be.
The front skirt can move freely on its ball joint and would look even better once panel lined.
The bottom of the front skirt can also be panel lined to improve the paint scheme.
Tucked under the front skirt are the Alpha Azieru's landing gear when transformed.
They are jointed at the hips along with the legs so their range of movement is only limited by the legs and the front skirt.
They can open and close but I don't think they can act like grippers.
They also extend to raise the Alpha Azieru's body off the ground when landed.
The Alpha Azieru has a large single piece back skirt that holds 9 funnels. Its a large rounded surface so there isn't much detail except for a few panel lines.
The bottom of the back skirt holds the third landing gear of the Alpha Azieru that stretches out to hold the Alpha Azieru off the ground when transformed.
The back skirt can also move up and down allowing for more movement at the hip.
The Alpha Azieru has a back pack that stretches upward and folds over the head when it transforms.
The rear of the back pack has a few paint details.
The Alpha Azieru's legs are the simplest parts of the kit since the Alpha Azieru uses large boosters for legs. Even thought they are a simple build, they have a lot of paint details and lot of panel lines that need to be filled.
Since the Alpha Azieru can't stand up due to its legs, it comes with its own base. It is a diorama base that looks like a rock surface or an asteriod.
Along with the base, two painted miniature figures are included. The Nu Gundam
And the Sazabi. Both scaled to 1/400. This shows just how large the Alpha Azieru is in the Gundam Universe.
The Alpha Azieru's transformation is quite simple and when transformed it can be displayed landed.
Or it can be attached to the base.
Despite being only 1/400, the Alpha Azieru is still quite big. Here it is next to a MG Nu Gundam; which is one of the tallest MG Gundams.
And here is the MG Nu Gundam holding the 1/400 version of himself.
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