Kit Review

Straight build

Kämpfer straight build

Kämpfer fully armed form straight build

Size comparison with the universal reference — a cigarette box

You can add a bit of extra armor and weapons to the basic Kämpfer to make the fully armed form.

Kämpfer front view (with seals applied)

Rear view

Action~

SD Kämpfer - The chain mine and shoulder-mounted shotgun added during the '99 reissue. Feels like there's a bit less bonus co

The chain mine and shoulder-mounted shotgun added during the '99 reissue.
Feels like there's a bit less bonus content compared to other reissue kits.

The chain mine is made up of 3 parts and can be bent in either direction at 2 points.

You can bend it into all sorts of shapes like this.

SD Kämpfer - The missiles are supposed to fire from the two Giant Bazs... but the firing power is so weak they only fly about

The missiles are supposed to fire from the two Giant Bazs...
but the firing power is so weak they only fly about that far before dropping ;;

Fully armed form front view (with seals applied)

Fully armed form action.

Together with the MG Kämpfer.

Together with its rival, Gundam NT-1

SD Kämpfer - Together with BB Senshi No. 40 Kämpfer. The colors have changed quite a bit. The chain mine and shotgun were add

Together with BB Senshi No. 40 Kämpfer. The colors have changed quite a bit.
The chain mine and shotgun were added for G Generation.

Here's the SD Kämpfer — one of the most iconic Zeon suits from 0080, and a design that people often say looks more like a Patlabor mech than a Gundam (which makes sense, since the designer is Yutaka Izubuchi of Patlabor fame). It's based on BB Senshi No. 40 Kämpfer with a chain mine and shotgun added, and the molded color has been changed to blue as well.

Since the original design is already that vivid blue, the SD version is molded in the same bright blue, and thankfully (?) it manages to capture the feel of the original suit pretty well even without much color separation. Seam lines show up here and there, the details are a bit soft, and it has that chunky, cute volume — all very typical of an old-school SD kit. That said, the original design is already quite rounded, so even with that vintage SD look, it doesn't feel all that dated. There's a certain charm to it ^^;

The added chain mine can be bent at 2 points into all kinds of shapes, and you can attach two extra armor pieces to the face and torso to build the fully armed form. (Probably not something from the official specs — just something they threw in for the SD ;;) Slap on the Sturm Faust on the side of the legs and the shotgun on the rear, and it ends up looking pretty loaded and cool in its own way.

Since the Kämpfer never got a proper BB Senshi upgrade kit, being the only SD Kämpfer out there is definitely a point in its favor. Even as an old-school kit, the distinctive design means that with just a little cleanup and some paint, it could look really sharp — and since the color scheme is simple, painting it is relatively easy too, so it might actually be a great kit for painting practice :-)

SD Kämpfer | 1999.6 | ¥400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.