1/100 MG GP-02a Physalis - Part 2

This One's Got Some Thrust!

One of the Physalis's most distinguishing features, of course, would be the massive pods on it's shoulders.  As I said in Part 1, I thought they looked really stupid when I first saw them just hanging down off the shoulders.  But when I saw the Mobile Suit in action in Stardust Memories and saw the pods flip out and the machine take flight, I realized just how cool a concept this was!  However, I think there are some flaws in the design which I will discuss in the last posting.

Starting on the pods:

There is a lot of inner detail on the pods.  I know most of this will be hidden from view most of the time, but I just had to hit it with ink!

Plane vanilla...

Drizzled with dark chocolate!  See why I couldn't let this go?

Here it is, the ugly pod for the left shoulder.

Flip it up

The inner thruster and the one on the end have a linked mechanism.

Push the outer most thruster down and the inner one comes out with it.  Very cool

The back thruster also swivels down.

Like so, and now the transformation is complete.

Using the arm and an eraser to balance it all, this is the completed arm unit.

Here's the left arm; very basic assembly.  It's going to be difficult to NOT paint those hydraulic portions on the forearm silver and gold.  I may end up doing that in the end anyway.  Thing is, I don't think they are actually pistons, I think they're just part of the armor...

Oh these hands!  I HATE THESE HANDS!  The old style of MG hands, no pegs to hold the weapons and the thumbs are so loose they hinder rather than help when it comes to holding things.  The bazooka is attached to the shoulder, so that won't be an issue, but the MASSIVE shield will never stay in these hands.

Pretty decent elbow range for a kit of this age.  The wrist even moves up and down to help with the bazooka.

That's all for the arms, the right arm is basically the same thing. It just has an extra space for the bazooka mount.  This kit is already assembled, I'll most likely just move onto painting for the next post instead of dismantling things.

Until Next Time:  Happy Building!