Kit Review
Straight build + Panel lining
You remove some of the outer armor from the existing PG Astray and swap them out with the clear parts from the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set.
The outer armor pieces removed to be swapped with clear parts
The clear parts...
The PG Astray's outer armor comes in red, white, and black —
and everything except the red portions gets replaced with clear parts.
It seems like the clear parts were originally intended to cover only one side...
but some runners include parts for both sides, so you can apply some
clear parts to the right arm and leg as well.
The areas where this is possible are the shoulders, back of the hands, and thighs.
PG Astray with clear parts swapped in.
Clear parts on the head.
Almost everything except the red pieces can be swapped out.
Both shoulder armor pieces can be swapped out with clear parts too.
Clear parts on the torso.
The black clear parts have pretty low transparency, so they don't really look all that clear...
Clear parts on the lower body.
One of the beam saber handles is also swapped out with a clear part.
All the white parts on the left arm get swapped out with clear parts.
Due to the way the clear parts runners are structured, some parts of the right arm runner can also be done in clear.
Only the shoulder and back of the hand can be swapped to clear though.
All the white parts on the right leg are swapped out with clear.
Bonuses included in the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set besides the clear parts.
The black sections and the visor area of the shield can be swapped out with new clear parts, but...
the transparency is pretty low, so it's not that noticeable;;
Along with the clear parts, the biggest bonus of the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set is
the addition of a sword called the Tiger Pierce.
For this, a display stand is included to show off both the Tiger Pierce and the Gerbera Straight that comes with the PG Astray.
The one on top is the Gerbera Straight, and the one on the bottom is the Tiger Pierce.
The display effect looks pretty nice..
The Tiger Pierce's overall shape and mold are almost identical to the Gerbera Straight,
but the molded color of the red sections is noticeably darker.
The black band on the handle has also been changed to black clear, but...
again, the transparency is low so it's not very obvious.
And if you look reeally carefully, the molded color of the gray handle section is slightly different too.
A comparison of just the blades.
If you look carefully,
the Tiger Pierce's blade has a more yellowish tint.
The coating color difference is surprisingly quite striking.
The wave pattern engraved on the blades is different too —
the Tiger Pierce has more ripples.
If you look closely at the collar on the handle, the kanji names engraved there are different too ^_^
This is a part that's left over with no apparent purpose in the PG Astray.
It's actually a mounting pin included to additionally secure the Tiger Pierce from the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set.
In other words, it's a part that only makes sense if you have the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set.
You attach the extra piece to the peg on the Tiger Pierce side like that,
then slip it into the middle of the Gerbera Straight's mounting pin.
They cross over each other like that and slot into the inside of the left side skirt.
Two sword handles — pretty unique, right?
One more thing.
Some of the anti-slip rubber stickers from the PG Astray are left over...
it seems like they were intentionally left for use on the Tiger Pierce's scabbard from the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set.
In various ways, the PG Astray really does seem to have been designed with the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set in mind. (Meaning you kind of need it??)
The Gundam Astray Special Custom Set also lets you build an additional beam rifle as shown above, but
officially the beam rifle is designated as leftover parts.
The runner that contains the beam rifle is officially there for the Tiger Pierce's handle parts — that's the story, anyway.
(For reference, if you look closely, the molded color is subtly different.)
The reason a perfectly good beam rifle gets designated as leftover parts is partly because you don't need two beam rifles, but...
it's also because the polycap part that secures the rifle's foregrip isn't included.
It's not left over from the PG Astray's polycaps either, so you'd have to build it without that section regardless.
As a result, the foregrip ends up loose and pretty much useless anyway...
The LED lit up in the eyes.
Since the whole head is clear, the light doesn't concentrate in the eyes — instead the entire face just lights up brightly... ;;
Dual-wielding Astray, deploy!
Official poses from the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set manual.
As you can see, with just a little creativity you can easily pull off a look with a sword on each hip like this.
For the Gerbera Straight, you just remove the middle mounting piece (to match the height of the Tiger Pierce)
and plug it straight into the left hip...
For the Tiger Pierce, you assemble the mounting pin in reverse
and then plug it straight into the right hip.
Simultaneous draw pose
Dual-wield action..
Making good use of both swords, you should be able to pull off all kinds of varied and dynamic action poses.
Even though it's classified as leftover parts,
you can still do a dual rifle action pose like this.
The leftover rifle from the Gundam Astray Special Custom Set also lacks a polycap for the foregrip,
so it wobbles around.
And... normally both sides of a rifle handle have a palm peg hole,
but the PG Astray's beam rifle only has one, so holding it with both hands isn't really ideal anyway...