GK-013 Mugen - Completed OCT 2013

MG 1/100 Duel Assault Shroud

Just to give a little review of the base kit that I used; the MG Duel AS is a very solid kit indeed; I picked this kit simply because of the sheer bulk of the suit itself and the extras that came with it. There is only one issue, the frontal skirt for the assault shroud is very annoying to attach; I even had to change my design completely because of this. In the end, only glue and putty can fix it so it's quite easily remedied.

Initially, this kit was meant for a different project altogether; the main reason for the change of plan was when a good friend of mine and another skilled modeller called PrimaryMH entered his Duel in the North American GBWC regionals. I was really inspired by his heavy Duel and rightfully so as his entry won the 1/100 category. Since he made a heavy duel, I had to completely redesign my concept and wanted to build a lighter, more agile, close combat type MS. The biggest feature for the duel is obviously the assault shroud so I did not want to simply strip this apart. I wanted for the shroud to stay on my duel but only covering minimal amount of the primary armour. As you can see, I only used the torso unit, skirts and the back pack assault shroud. With the mention of the back pack, I absolutely love its design, its one of the most unique back pack designs and is almost signature in SEED suits having a more angular look.

Supplementing the close combat theme, I took away the stock weapons and gave it some new teeth so to speak; I wanted my Duel to have swords and not just 2 but 4; the concept of the weapons is very simple; I wanted them to be paired up and joined by the hilt to create a spear like weaponry; thus covering both medium range and close range combat. Since the theme is "light" I wanted to give the build an extra "oomph"; I added a rear booster unit, same concept as Gundam Dynames but only this time with close vented thrusters. I also attached 2 tiny boosters taken from the Tactical Sword of my ABF since it wasn’t being used. This gave the back detail with a more speedy and aerodynamic look.

The head unit has been remodelled, I extended the frontal and rear camera hoods and made them sharper; I also added extra fin like antennas to give it a more streamlined look. Since I wanted the head unit to stand out even more, I installed ultra-bright SMD's to give it more depth; green is definitely mean and I love how it brings out a sturdy presence. Wiring this though was a different story; I used the same concept with my DSH project which has the battery installed in the cockpit and sacrificing the pilot. Since I don’t plan to open the chest anyway, it was a no brainer for me. Again, I installed a switch located on the upper back skirt for easy access. This way, I can turn it on and off at will. Since I didn’t want the articulation to be affected, I made sure that the wires are flexible enough to handle dynamic poses. 

Not much else to say really, overall I felt that I achieved my initial design draft; still needs improvement though; onwards and upwards I guess. Peace for now.