MG Sandrock Ver. EW WIP 1 + Mini Globaltoy Review

It's been almost 2 months since my last post. I've been busy with real life issues and haven't really worked on Gunpla until a week ago, but I'm finally back! I have to admit, I definitely missed spending an hour or two each day working on Gunpla.

My latest project is the MG Sandrock ver. EW. 

Box Contents

Before I begin, it seems like the pictures of the XA runner didn't upload. Since I'm not at my personal laptop, I'll have to omit it in this post.

There are 2 of these in the box

Parts

Mock Build

Inner Frame

Initial Thoughts

The kit comes with 17 runners in total, 2 of which are the blade parts of its Heat Shotels that comes in silver and clear red. The clear red is a very nice shade; however, the silver doesn't sit well with me. I think it's time I give the Alclad II line a try. On the plus side, I think it's awesome how Bandai included two different set of the blades, giving people the play option to choose between the weapon's regular mode and its "superheated" mode. The kit also comes with pieces that have a nice shade of yellow that's used as accents here and there. It contrasts very nicely with the surrounding white and dark blue parts. Additionally,the shield's eyes part is another plus. Bandai could have just included 2 small red pieces and call it done, but instead they used a clear piece which makes it visually better.

What I don't like is the lack of detail in the arms of the inner frame. When compared with the legs, the arms are uninteresting. Even though the inner frame does exist, it felt like I was putting together a HG while I was working on the arms. I understand the inner frame is used on most if not all of the MG ver. EW Wing kits so there is the cost factor, but a bit more attention to detail would have been great since, after all, I am paying for a MG kit. The verniers on the backpack (pictured below) are dull as well. All 4 are on a ball joint, but they only move ever so slightly. I would've liked to have more detail on the inside and having those ball joints visible is another negative. Then again, I don't think a lot of people really look inside the verniers. 

Mini Globaltoy Water Slide Review

Globaltoy's water slide

I thought I'd give a small warning to those who are thinking of buying from globaltoy. Make sure to compare globaltoy's decal pictures with the actual markings that comes with the kit! The RG Freedom decals I bought from globaltoy was pretty spot on with the original decals, so I assumed he just scans the original and prints them on water slide papers. That was a mistake. While comparing the two, I found several differences. On globaltoy's some of the colors are different from the original, some from the originals are missing completely, there are spelling mistakes, some words are entirely omitted, and he uses different fonts. Here's a picture to show the difference. 

Original markings

Globaltoy's water slide

The "SR" in the original are wider, hollow, and have the words "Gundam Sand Rock" written under it. The ones from globaltoy are solid, thinner, and missing those important words; instead it just says "Gundam." Another example is that the number 38 from the originals (shown in the bottom left half) and any markings similar to it are missing from Globaltoy's. 

It's not all bad though. Globaltoy's comes with extras just in case you make a mistake. 

Lastly, my HG Harute is complete! I'll be posting some pictures sometime this week, but until then here's a couple I took beforehand as a little preview of what it'll look like.

Questions, comments, or advice are more than welcomed!

Thanks for reading!