Under-gate
The Hyaku-Shiki, decked out in gold plating, has been released as an HGUC. As you can see in the runner photos above, "under-gate" refers to a technique where the connection point between the runner and the part is routed to the back side of the part rather than the side. With plated kits, you generally skip painting, and while the plating looks great, gate marks left after cutting were always a pain to deal with. Thanks to this under-gate technology, though, once you remove the part from the runner and clean up the connection point on the back, the gate marks are completely hidden from the outside.
That said, the under-gate isn't applied perfectly across the board — there are a few spots, like the bicep area on the arms, that couldn't be molded with under-gates. Still, once it's all built, the dazzling gold reflections are enough to make your head spin @.@ On the flip side, even with panel lining, the shine makes it nearly invisible in photos — that's a bit of a downside too.
The Hyaku-Shiki was always a pretty popular suit, and the compact 1/144 HGUC Hyaku-Shiki was, at the time of its release, the best Hyaku-Shiki kit ever made in terms of quality, proportions, and style. The leg articulation is pretty decent too (though in practice, the skirts limit movement quite a bit...) and the overall proportions and look are really well done. The one downside is that, as is typical of HGUC kits where seam line removal doesn't always get enough attention, seam lines show up in several places like the top of the feet and the arms — which feels a little at odds with the gold-plated nature of the kit.
On the other hand, the MG Hyaku-Shiki released afterward surpasses the HGUC in every way, with improvements like more refined under-gates, a slightly richer and more yellowish gold color, and seam line elimination. (Well, that's the natural difference between 1/100 and 1/144...)
Anyway, between the gold plating, the near-perfect color accuracy, and proportions that hold their own against the MG, this compact little kit has plenty of collectible appeal in a lot of ways. ^^
HGUC Hyaku-Shiki
1999.9
¥1,500
AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.
