Messer Type-F01- Bandai’s BIG HG, Part 1: Assembly And Paint

Bandai’s HG Messer is a big kit… quite a bit bigger than most HG Gunpla. And it’s not just the physical size of the model that is big, but also the fun I’ve had building it!

The suit is featured in Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash, and while it has the look of a Zeon suit, it’s actually an Earth Federation model.

I decided to go with a slight color shift for the armor. The original is a tan/red brown/brown scheme. I decided to shift the lighter parts to a more desert pink, and the rest to darker browns. I liked the contrast that such a shift provided.

The Messer Is A Very Nice Kit

The kit itself is one of the nicest Gunpla I’ve assembled. There are very few seam lines to deal with, and it’s a no polycap build. If you’ve ever wanted to do a fixed pose Gunpla, this is the one for you! Just glue everything in place and enjoy the stability.

As large as it is, there aren’t many parts. And what is in the box are generally very large- no fiddly bits here! The engineering is quite clever too, which contributes to the minimal seamlines to deal with. Only the back of the forearms, a line around the head, and on the gun itself need to be addressed. I chose to present the seam on the arms and head as a panel line, so a quick scribe job was all that was needed there.

The only drawback is in its range of movement. If you’re into posing your Gunpla, you might be a bit disappointed, especially if you paint it. There are lots of places that paint can be scratched. Still, a big Gunpla like this generally has a good “shelf presence” simply by its sheer size.

I would definitely recommend this kit to any Gunpla builder!