Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

The bow kind of gives off a whale vibe..

Detail shots

Underside

The thrusters on the front underside are swappable to recreate the open mode.

The 42cm main cannon "Isolde" is swappable to recreate the stowed mode.

EX Model LMH-BB01 Minerva - The beam cannons "Tristan" mounted on either side can have their barrels folded inward

The beam cannons "Tristan" mounted on either side can have their barrels folded inward by disassembling and reassembling them.

The wings can be fully spread out or folded like this.

Wings folded mode

The "Tannhäuser" mounted at the front is also recreated via swappable parts..

Detail of the Tannhäuser with the cover removed.

EX Model LMH-BB01 Minerva - Recreating the launch catapult is a bit involved — you have to fully disassemble everything from

Recreating the launch catapult is a bit involved.
You have to fully disassemble everything from the beam cannons to the covers and then reassemble.

You also need to attach the separate top and bottom parts of the launch catapult.

With the launch catapult attached (right) vs. without (left)

There's also a feature to spread the wingtip flaps out a bit further.

The Minerva includes 1/1700 scale Force Impulse / Destiny / Legend Gundam figures.

1/1700 Force Impulse Gundam

1/1700 Destiny Gundam

1/1700 Legend Gundam

Force Impulse and Destiny on the launch catapult in launch pose

EX Model LMH-BB01 Minerva - Already the third Gundam SEED warship kit! The Minerva is on the larger side, though it's not qui

Already the third Gundam SEED warship kit!
The Minerva is on the larger side, though it's not quite the chunky beast that the Archangel is.. ^^;

The Minerva, the warship from Gundam SEED Destiny, has now gotten the EX treatment.
The color scheme is a bit drab overall.. but the basic base colors do have color separation done, so it should be decent enough even for those who just do a straight build.

The overall proportions are pretty solid — the compact, distinctive lines are well captured. The stowable beam cannons and main cannon, the swappable Tannhäuser and thrusters, and the fully articulated wings are all faithfully reproduced. In the anime it felt less like a drawing and more like a heavily CG-rendered model, but once you build the kit, it actually has a surprisingly good sense of three-dimensionality. ^^;

That said, one thing that feels a little lacking about the Minerva is that the molding feels somewhat softer overall compared to other EX warship kits. It might just be because the other warship kits are so sharp and crisp, but relatively speaking the precision feels just a notch lower. On the flip side, all the bumpy and irregular structures scattered across the hull are very faithfully represented.

Anyway, if you're a fan of SEED Destiny, or if you've always had a soft spot for the Minerva, this should be a solid pick. To get this level of quality out of a kit like this, it really had to be an EX model, don't you think?

EX Model LMH-BB01 Minerva | 2005.11 | ¥4,000 | 1/1700

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.