GOGO MG Kampfer Kai - Review

Good day Plamo fans! Today I'll be reviewing the latest product from GoGo Model - the MG Kampfer Kai!

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Build

Since this kit is a plastic reproduction of a resin conversion kit, I thought I'd run into a lot of fitting issues. I was pleasantly surprised that construction was really straightforward. You can build this kit with nothing more than side cutters. I managed to snap it together in about 7 to 8 hours total, which is pretty fast considering it's size. This speaks a lot about the quality of the mold. Some pegs needed trimming, and a bit of flash had to be cleaned from the PC bits, but no major surgery was needed.

This kit has a lot of small verniers that just slot into the armor. A dab of cement should keep them from popping off and disappearing into another dimension.

I did find an error in the manual though.  A part on the B runner was marked as C. Not a big deal.

Look and Feel:

The blue and white armor pieces were very nicely molded and have a satin/matte feel to them. The colors are vibrant, and I didn't find any warps or sink marks. There's a ton of details in this kit compared to the original Kampfer. I'd recommend re-scribing some of the details though if you intend to do a panel line wash, so the paint makes sharp, solid lines. The internal frame isn't much of an improvement from the older TT hongli Zaku, but there are zero fitting issues, and most of it gets covered up by armor anyway.

The internals that are exposed look good. I love mechanical detail like this on a kit, especially when it actually works. If you like to paint hydraulics and cogs and stuff on your kits  you'll have a blast with this one.

Now let's talk design. This thing is massive - just like the Hi Nu Evo from the same company - but it still looks really sleek and agile, almost like a Ver. Ka re-release. This is one lean and mean machine!

I'll have a hard time finding ways to improve the look of this model, simply because I like it out of the box already. The Kampfer Kai comes with  a big sheet of water-slide decals, 2 shotguns, 2 leg rockets, 2 bazookas and a chain mine (which I was too lazy to build). You also get a bunch of fixed position hands, which for some strange reason are a lot smaller than the articulated hands...

Articulation:

It's pretty decent I think, unless you want to pose him doing advanced yoga. The shoulders, elbows and wrists have a good range of motion. The hip joints benefit from the lack of skirt armor. The thruster assemblies on the back of the legs prevent the thigh from folding closer to the lower leg, so kneeling is out of the question.

Another thing - the power cables running around the torso is made of stiff plastic, taking away the back and forth movement at the white segment of the waist, effectively locking it in place. I'd replace these with a spring type cable like those on the Sinanju, or just use a braided hose similar to the original MG Kampfer to get that movement back.

Issues:

If you haven't noticed already, this thing has a LOT of nub marks. Many of them are on a curved surface, making cleaning all the more difficult. GoGo's engineers may have been overcautious in making sure nothing fell off the runners during shipment, because the parts were attached to the runners at more points than necessary to keep them in place. I put off the nub cleaning for another day (or week in this case) so you can see what I mean.

Verdict:

GoGo did a really good job of converting this resin design into a full plastic kit. I wanted to give the Kampfer Kai a really high score, but my enthusiasm started to wane as I got further into the build. By the time I was done I thought my model had chicken pox. Still, I give it a solid 8/10 because nub marks - no matter how many there are - can be dealt with...and I know it will be well worth the effort. Here's a painted version of the original resin conversion kit by Lee Factory, a glimpse of what it could look like if given enough love.

*Kampfer Evo by Lee Factory. Credits to the builder.

This kit just looks awesome right out of the box, and with a proper paint job it could hold it's own standing next to your Sazabi or Nu ver. Ka. Not many models can do that without looking like cannon fodder!

This review is brought to you by Neo System Hobby.

...now to decide whether to paint it a matte light blue, or some shade of candy purple. Maybe I'll just pick up another one and do both! Till next time, keep building plamo!