Backpack center section assembly diagram.
Dragoon assembly diagram. You build a total of 8.
Wing assembly diagram. You build a total of 4 sets.
All 4 sets of wings are identical in composition, differing only in 2 joint parts.
There's a frame in the backpack center section as well.
The frame detail is pretty simple though.
Backpack center section from various angles.
The frame is designed to be visible through the gaps between the armor panels like that.
All the main connection points on the wing side are secured quite firmly using a gear-type gimmick.
The wing rotation joints also use a unique gear-shaped polycap.
The special gimmick of this PG Strike Freedom!!!
Pull the wing out and a whole cascade of internal gimmicks link together, popping the Dragoon mounts up.
A close-up look at the linked gimmick from inside.
It's a bit hard to follow from photos alone.. but anyway, when you pull the wing outward,
it's well designed so that everything links together in a smooth chain reaction.
Anyway, the bottom line is that it's a linked gimmick that pops the Dragoon mounts upward.
And just like the MG Strike Freedom, it has a linked gimmick that automatically spreads the wings open.
When the front and rear wings connect, they interlock in a cross shape like shown above,
so when you move the rear wing, the front wing automatically spreads open too.
So in the end, the idea is to automatically link the wing-spreading gimmick like shown above..
When you lift the rear upper wing up, the rear lower wing automatically spreads open in response,
and the front upper wing automatically spreads open as well — that's the linked gimmick.
In the photo on the upper right, the red arrows indicate the direction you manually rotate by hand,
and the blue arrows indicate the parts that automatically spread open in response.
A close-up photo to get a better look at the internal workings of the linked gimmick.
The left photo shows the linked gimmick before activation, and the right photo shows it after —
You can observe how the position and angle of the internal gimmick changes depending on the wing position.
There's an important note of cautionhere.
When you rotate the rear wings upward, there may be a point where they oddly seem to catch on something and won't go up smoothly.
This happens because the linked gimmick is supposed to smoothly operate and automatically spread the front upper wings open...
But something gets stuck and blocks it.
If you try to force the rear wings further up in this state, you risk breaking them.
So if the rear wings get stuck partway through like this,
you'll need to manually spread the front upper wings — which should have opened automatically via the linkage — by hand, and then rotate the rear wings to get them all the way up.
It ends up working more like a semi-automatic gimmick rather than a fully automatic one (-_-)
A lot of people have already broken that part by forcing the wings too hard right from the start,
so please take it slow and handle the wings gently without forcing them...
The wings fully deployed after all that trouble.
The size is just massive -.- They completely overflow the 55cm wide photo studio.
Anyway, when fully deploying the wings, be careful not to break the front upper wing sections — Watch out! Watch out!
Even with just the frame exposed, the detail is great — it looks pretty cool in its own right.
Wings neatly folded in.
The DRAGOON internal system in action.
The spring tension keeps the rear verniers in shape,
but when something pushes inward, they fold inward in a peculiar way along three internal rails.
The folded-in gimmick parts lock into place by catching on the pins indicated by the arrows.
This internal gimmick can be folded in two stages,
and the photo above shows the interior with everything pushed in as far as it'll go.
It locks in that state when fully pressed flush against the wing.
To attach a DRAGOON, you insert the pointed peg into the hole on the inside of the DRAGOON.
The connection is quite solid, so the DRAGOONs don't come off easily.
If you want to fix the DRAGOONs in the default position fully flush against the wing,
it's recommended to push the vernier section inside the DRAGOON inward and lock it first before attaching it to the wing.
If you don't do it this way, getting it to sit completely flush will be a real struggle..; (you'll know what I mean once you try it)
The DRAGOONs fully pressed flush against the wings.
Also, even when you press the DRAGOONs flush against the wing, there's often a gap left like this.. Hmm..
The wing's movable gimmick.
As you can see, there are two different positions the DRAGOONs can lock into after popping out.
To get the DRAGOONs to extend further out like on the right side of the photo above, just press the switch on the wing section.
A comparison of the two DRAGOON lock positions.
Anyway, the gimmick itself is pretty nice.
Wings fully deployed with the DRAGOONs attached.
The sheer presence that comes from the massive size is something else..
The biggest problem with the 8 DRAGOONs is...
getting them to stay fully locked flush against the wings is an absolute pain T_T
Even the slightest bump causes the spring tension to send them going *boing~~* and popping out slightly like you see above.
So keeping all 8 of them neatly flush at the same time — not just one, but all 8 — is really tough.
When one pops out, the impact sets off the surrounding DRAGOONs too — *boing boing boing boing* — chain reaction. ;;
What a nuisance this thing is.. OTL
When fully assembled, you'll end up applying quite a lot of gold seals all over the place.
The clear parts at the top tips of the wings have gold seals applied to the back to create a shimmering effect.
