Review 024: Strike Freedom ver MB (Dragon Momoko)

UPDATE 2017-04-21: Fixed some typos.

Introduction:

It felt like a celebration when I got the kit along with the Destiny [Heine Westenfluss], but it was also a challenging one. I’m sure other builders who take kits from their clients or customers have several occasions where they also want that same kit. I also had few thoughts why would I put all the effort in that model if I can use all my ideas to my own. Well you just have to do your best to put all of your skills into the model you really like even though it’s not yours. And this issue happened to me a lot especially here in Strike Freedom ver MB. I love the model so much that it actually hurts me like it was a kryptonite. LOL

But I am glad because I can finally review the kit and it was a “solid kit” indeed. I haven’t tried building Daban Model’s version so I can’t say who has the upper hand in terms of overall quality. I will expand the word “solid kit” here on each part like I usually do. Of course there are still issues and there is no smooth build from start to end within Dragon Momoko’s line, unless there were kits that don’t even have the tiniest issue.

Again, I am still bad with photography and some of the pictures were blurry even though I took a lot of shots to get the best result out of the many. I am not that good in English so there might be some several typos I forgot to fix. As for terminologies, please do correct me because I am just using all the information I know so far. If there are information written, I always state that it isn’t mine.

Unboxing:

We have been familiar with Dragon Momoko’s boxes and they are usually white with the finished model standing on the left or right side of the box. But in this particular model, Dragon Momoko decided to make a sudden facelift on their box art. It now has this design that you usually see in Bandai. The name of the model is there but without the word “Gundam”. You can even see the Akatsuki Gundam in the background with the same design from their released model kit.

But if you look behind the box, you will see the close-up finished model of Strike Freedom. I’m not sure if this was already painted because the gold inner frame seems to be shiny compared to the gold sprues inside.

The model with its gimmicks and other features are seen on the sides of the box. So yeah, the box art was the only thing changed here by Dragon Momoko.

After removing the brown box inside, I noticed that they are still packing 4 sprues in a single plastic bag. But it was neatly packed, compressed to be exact, so there were no parts scratching on one another. Here are the contents of the kit.

There are 13 plastic bags, 2 of them are small where the beam shield effects and decals are packed. Let’s take a quick look at the construction manual first.

The front page is showing the finished Strike Freedom and you get to see the rear view of the model on the last page.

When you open the first 2 pages of the manual, you will see featured action poses and gimmicks for the model.

And on the two to three last pages of the manual, more of Strike Freedom’s dynamic poses can be seen. This is also the first time Dragon Momoko included the WoL or Wings of Light feature for Destiny Gundam in the same manual. I think it was just alright since the first manual for Destiny doesn’t have images for its WoL.

The next images will be the sprues and other contents out of their plastic bags.

Sprues:

I took some pictures of the list so you can check them.

Sprue A (x1)

Sprue B (x1)

Sprue B (x1)

Sprue C (x2)

Sprue C1 (x2)

Sprue C2 (x1)

Sprue D (x1)

Sprue E1 (x1)

Sprue E2 (x1)

Sprue F (x2)

Sprue G (x1)

Sprue H (x2)

Sprue I (x1)

Sprue J (x2)

Sprue K1 (x2)

Sprue K2 (x1)

Sprue L1 (x1)

Sprue L2 (x1)

Sprue M (x1)

Sprue N (x2)

Sprue O (x1)

Sprue O1 (x2)

Sprue P (x2)

Sprue Q1 (x1)

Sprue Q2 (x1)

Sprue R1 (x1)

Sprue R2 (x1)

Sprue SB1 (x1)

The color of the yellow sprues isn’t bad, but it is not that good either compared to the gold-plated parts of Daban Model’s Strike Freedom. Although, this is far better than the TTH Strike Freedom and the Daban Model PG Strike Freedom. The yellow sprues have a nice glossy finish or coating similar to the first Destiny MB they have released before.

As I recall, the parts for the body is supposed to be dark blue. But you get black sprues for all of those parts including the wing. I also love the glossy finish and smooth texture of the parts in the white sprues.

Not a big deal for me, but it’s kind of embarrassing for me to see this embossed text on the sprues’ label. You will see the model name but also the phrase “Made in China” as well. LOL

Instead of the usual launch pad, they included the white pedestal with this nice detailing.

The kit also includes a huge amount of foil stickers and I will use them on the beam cannons or DRAGOONS. Plus you get two sheets of waterslide decals where one of them features a metallic finish that looks really cool.

And you get the wobbly thin plastic effects for the wings. I would like to remind you guys that I will not include any pictures of the Wings Expansion kit or WoL pack in this article and I will put them on a separate post.

Pedestal/Action Base:  

Here are the parts for the action base. Yes, you will not see the word “Fighter” here which is a nice move from Dragon Momoko. Not bad for parts separation and detailing looks amazing.

For some odd reason, I can’t seem to find the pictures I took for the finished model of the Pedestal/Action Base. What I can tell about it is that there’s a button of some sort that can be pushed on the left. And when you do, the male peg will move on the right side and you can push it again. This mechanism allows you to lock the main male peg where you can attach the connectors for SF or the clear parts for the DRAGOONS’ mechanical rods/arms.

Here are the main parts for the mechanical arms. You will have to build eight of these and I only added two on them in this picture. The joints are very tight and the quality of the clear parts isn’t that good and it’s quite fragile.

Here’s what it looks like when finished. The mechanical arms will be in a circular pattern when attached on the racks. You may need to adjust the mechanical arms once you have completed the model in FBM (Full Burst Mode) to get the correct angles.

Head Unit:

The parts separation here is average in my opinion and you don’t get a separate part for the CIWS or the parts for the vents on its cheeks.

I love the detailing though and you can see the panel lines on the back of its v-fin. Maybe a little gold coloring could do some good here.

Instead of applying the foil stickers here for the eye sensors, I used my Uniball Signo Gold and Uniball Signo Black. I love the outcome after drying the ink. :D

There were no snap fitting issues here and everything fits perfectly fine. I also used my Uniball Angelic Blue on those forehead sensors.

I’m supposed to use my mechanical pencil here but the plastic is quite smooth or glossy, so the lines were not that good. I don’t want to use the 0.05 pen because it looks too thick and I don’t want to ruin the model with too much black panel lines. I don’t think using a 0.03 pen would be a good option either.

Body Unit:

Nice parts separation is featured here in the body and I am already wondering in Daban Model’s side. I wanted to add some extra detailing on the yellow inner frame parts but the panel lines or engravings aren’t as sharp as I expected it to be.

As for issues here in the Body Unit, just a few tight pegs here and there. These parts for the body are quite tight. The encircled section shows that you will have a difficulty inserting male peg A to female peg B.

Another issue I encountered here that could be an isolated case is the seam here in the abdomen. I pushed the part just enough to fit them together but it seems to slide back. I don’t have any idea what’s causing the problem and I just let it be since the seam isn’t that big.

That’s about it when it comes to its issues and everything is fine. I love the detailing of this model and I am looking forward in getting a Daban Model version of this.

The articulation of the body features good range. First is that you can move the main male pegs for the arms outward. This gives you extra length and movement range for dynamic poses.

The second one is the abdomen which is a common feat among Master Grade models. You can tilt the body sideways or bend it forward and backward.

And third is the collar that can be tilted left and right.

The body doesn’t have any cockpit hatches and that means less gimmicks here in the body.

Waist Unit:

Unlike my review for PG Strike Freedom, I didn’t include the rail gun parts here. There are no inner frame parts on the front skirts so you are looking to a not-so-remarkable parts separation.

Same with Destiny ver MB, you also need to build this along with the body unit. Yes, the waist unit is locked into place and connected to the body unless you need to correct some errors or paint the model after a quick snap build.

I would like to remind you guys to check the polycaps in this section because they are molded to lock into place on their corresponding pegs or joints.

So here’s the Waist Unit and it doesn’t feature any visible yellow parts. I will add some gold detailing here later.

The articulation here is not bad and it makes up for the lack of detailing. You can lift the front skirts this high up. These front skirts are also separated into two parts and you can spread it wide as seen on the image.

The back skirts can be lifted this much which is way higher than the front skirts.

Just like your usual Strike Freedom, it features a gimmick where you can pull down the back skirts. This will enable the rail guns to move behind and you can attach the beam rifles on the sides.

There are no loose parts here and you just get few tight parts. It’s very quick to build without any issues.

Arm Unit:

So here’s the finished arm Right Arm and the exploded parts view for the Left Arm. The parts separation featured here in the arms felt like a HG kit. It was few in my opinion but is alright if you want to finish the kit quickly. You also get to paint fewer parts as well.

Before I show the articulation, here are the issues I have encountered. They are not totally issues related to the arms but it can make the building process a problem. If you still recall what I said on PG Unicorn about Dragon Momoko’s construction manual having wrong information, then this is section has two.

Exhibit A

I followed the manual carefully and I saw that this gray part doesn’t fit well but the manual does show it's supposed to be like this (A).

Exhibit B

Then I found out that the position of that gray piece should be like this (B). What a lazy move for DM not to check the manual carefully . :/

The second one is this part of the wrist. If you rely too much on the construction manual, then you might end up disassembling it here. Please take a look at the picture and remember the encircled part on the manual.

Here, you will have to do this twice.

Now when you look at this part of the manual for the Left Arm, it has the same drawing for the Right Arm. The part H1 will not fit because it’s supposed to be on the other side. Well it is kind of my fault to follow the construction manual “by the letter”, but it is not the builder’s fault too when he/she doesn’t understand that something is already wrong in the manual. :/

This clamp is also fragile and you can’t avoid having stress marks here once you attached the gray flap here. I am not sure if it is advisable to sand the peg before attaching it here but extra caution is needed.

 Another factor I wanted to point out here is the lack of parts separation. Before this was released here in the Philippines we got images where Daban Model’s boast good parts separation. If you look at the image above, Dragon Momoko managed to mold this tiny yellow piece (A) yet they didn’t try doing the same thing for these parts (B). Instead, Dragon Momoko wants you to apply foil stickers which is really lame.

So here are the finished arms. I removed the MX-2000 piece so you can have a better look.

As you can see, articulation is great with or without the MX-2000 beam shield part. The wrist can be bent this much and bending the whole arm doesn't pose any problems.

Upper Body Unit/Shoulder Armor:

Parts separation here is average in my opinion and it doesn’t feature any good gimmicks compared to PG Strike Freedom.

The only issue here are those blue and yellow parts (encircled) because they were quite tight and you might get some stress marks here. Applying a thin layer of super glue would do the trick if and only if the pieces get loose or you don’t need to paint this.

The finished Upper Body Units looked plain if you are not going to use the gold foil stickers. I used my Uniball Signo Gold here instead.

Same with the Destiny ver MB, the Upper Body Unit features excellent articulation that can extend the range of the arm’s movement.

So that’s about it for the arms and we’ll move to the next.

Leg Unit:

Here are the parts of the Left Leg and along with the finished Right Leg. The parts separation isn’t bad but it’s not that good either to highlight the gold or yellow inner frame inside.

There aren’t any major issues here and you will just encounter the tight pegs here and there when building the parts for the Inner Frame. But for the outer armor, it’s a breeze and everything fits nicely if you have built the Inner Frame without seams.

I would like to share another reminder here. This polycap for the ankle is different from the other ball-joint type polycaps you will use. The common ones, doesn’t have an opening at the back and this could lead to errors. If you can see in the image, there’s some sort of ribbing inside that will hold the ball-joint peg.

This part is also tight and you might want to scrape the female peg of this part (A) a bit to insert it here in the PC (B).

And because you are greeted with foil stickers here and I don’t like using them “as much as possible”, I have applied some gold on these parts using my Uniball Signo pen. I will dry it up and clean it with my nail buffer.

Another thing that kind of put me in dismay is the lack of gold parts for the inner frame. Here I had to carefully add some gold detailing.

Here are finished legs and I am sorry if they are blurry. :v

Anyways the articulation here is good and you can see in the image in their limits when you try bending them.

Also, can someone please explain the use of this part? LOL

I keep on seeing this on several kits but I still don’t have any idea what it is for.

Aside from your common movement, the thruster flaps behind also features a unique gimmick. If not pulled down (A), the flaps are higher. And when you pulled it down (B), the thruster flaps are almost near the foot. There’s probably a change in movement range when you do this.

So yeah, I consider the legs to be an easy and smooth build.

Weapons:

Rail Guns:

So these are all the parts for a single rail gun including the beam saber. It was kind of disappointing that it lacks detailing and I expected some inner frame gimmicks here or at least a few more gold inner frame parts. Still, the panel lines are great and you can add some gold here for extra detailing.

The articulation is also great and the rail guns are divided into 3 sections which is kind of same with the Freedom. I don’t know why Bandai made it to look like this instead of the usual 2-parts but it was still cool and blends perfectly for Strike Freedom’s physique.

The beam sabers is still attached to the sides of the rail guns without any issues.

Another reminder for you guys to take extra cauition when attaching the rail guns on the sides of the waist. The clamps were tight and mine got visible stressmarks after attaching the weapons.


Beam Rifles:

The parts separation here is above average probably because of the gimmicks it can feature.

As for the gimmicks or feature on the beam rifle, the first one looks like this when all parts are slided out. The upper sensor (A) can be pushed down. This little piece (C) can be rotated so that you can clear the slot on the back end.  The frontal parts can be pulled to extend its length. As you can see, the nozzle (B) and the lower part (D) are pulled out to add length.

The second rifle or the Left Beam Rifle also features gimmicks but not as complex as the Right Beam Rifle. Only the rear part is pulled out to extend its length. it is divided into 3 sliding parts as you see in the image.

The issues here were just minor in my own opinion. The first one is that when you connect the two beam rifles together, this small piece from the front rifle tends to hit the nozzle of the rear rifle. The other issue is that when you pull the rear part of the Left Beam Rifle, a visible seam tends to happen.

Same with any usual Strike Freedom, you will get a really long beam rifle once they are connected together.

So that's it for the two rifles and the backpack is next.

Backpack Unit:

These are the parts for your backpack unit along with the 2 connectors that will hold the wings. They were quite few but the detailing makes up for it.

I didn’t encounter any big problems here aside from the tight pegs. The backpack doesn’t have much gold to show off so I applied some using my usual gold pen.


On the thrusters, I applied some metallic blue on those ridges and I love the outcome. I also applied the same blue on the vents of the rail guns..

The backpack features 2 thrusters and they are articulated so you can move them to a certain angle. The lower part can be move this much.

The larger upper thrusters can also move up and down to a small degree.

The connectors don’t have any snapfitting issues and it’s a smooth build. The main male peg can move almost near the 180 degree, probably a range of 177 to 178 degrees.

Once done, the first impression bumped into my head is that the color scheme is somewhat similar to Unicorn Banshee. :v

Good news that you can rotate these connectors (Left and Right) without any problems.

Beam Cannons/DRAGOONS:

Looks like you won’t get bummed in building 8 of these because there are only less than 5 pieces to build in each Beam Cannon. There are 4 small Beam Cannons and 4 larger ones.

Here’s a comparison of the two Beam Cannons with their alternate nozzle-like parts.

Yes there are two types of nozzle-like pieces that you can use. The first one is the same blue color of the Beam Cannons and the other is in a clear blue or semi transparent mold. Of course, I picked the clear one. :D

There were no issues here but the lack of detail and parts separation was a real disappointment. Well you can add some gold detailing here and there but it’s not enough to make it less plain.

What’s worse is that I need to use the foils stickers to add some detailing. I wanted to use my gold pen but because the vents are too bare, I fear that I might touch it accidentally and spread the ink on the body.

The good news on the on other hand is that the kit includes beam effect parts. You just need to remove the nozzle-like pieces to attach them.

So that’s it for the DRAGOONS or Beam Cannons.

Wing Unit:

The wings are also divided into two sizes; the large and the small wings. The smaller one is seen on the front and the larger one is on the back.

So here are the parts for the large wings. The finished piece is on the right and you can see all the pieces needed here in the right. Parts separation is so-so and it still lacks some good amount of separated parts here.

I needed to use the gold foil stickers again to add some detailing.

Articulation isn’t bad and you can stretch the wings this much.

You can also move the upper part of the wing and move it like so.

If you noticed the clamps (encircled), try to be cautious when attaching the beam cannons or removing them again. The yellow inner frame seems to be fragile and tends to break after removing/attaching the beam cannons several times.

Here’s what they look like when the beam cannons are attached.

Now this is your small wing unit and the exploded parts view on the right side of the cutting mat. Just a little change in size but the parts are similar to the large wing unit.  

The articulation is the same where you can stretch the wings and the upper part.

After attaching the beam cannons, the design is the same with the larger wing unit.

One of the gimmicks here is that you can slightly lift the beam cannons to show some of those gold or yellow inner frame parts. There were no bothersome issues and you will just have to bear with the tight pegs here and there. Everything is okay here in the wings unit. :)

Decals:

I love the metallic waterslide decal sheet and it suits the Strike Freedom ver MB. You get to use two designs or fonts for the beam cannons and there are also extra logos that you can use.

The other waterslide decal features some of the markings already seen on the metallic one. Of course I will use the metallic markings so you can improvise where to use the rest. I would like to point out that these caution markings doesn’t have any copies in the opposite direction (encircled). All of them are pointed to the right. Surely, you can use them as a seal for any left or right part, but the problem is that they don’t have another left or right set of markings/seals to use. :/    

I also got a small gift from dad and he bought these tweezers for me. :D

The battle continues and I still have lots of markings left on the sheet.

I you remember what I did on the PG Unicorn, I used several markings  to combine them and create a new marking. I will place this on the right shoulder armor.

Here’s a closer look on the markings I am going to use. The sheet has a “Strike Freedoom” and I thought it would be nice to use the text by simply removing the extra “o”.

I’m finally done with the decals and you can see the result of the improvised marking on Strike Freedom’s right shoulder armor.

Extras:

Just like the Destiny ver MB, you also get a set of fixed manipulators that can be used on different poses.

I will count the beam saber effects as part of the extra as well. LOL

And the beam effects for the DRAGOONS which is cool once you set the model in FBM or Full Burst Mode.

Completed Model:

Without the wing unit:

With the wing unit:

Articulation Test:

Range of movement is satisfactory for my taste. The arm can be move this high up with the shoulder armor attached.

You can bend the arms like this without any problems as well.

 

The polycaps on the ankle isn’t tight so balancing the Strike Freedom with just one leg is really difficult. I used my empty buds container to show the range of movement for the legs. As you can see, the articulation is great even though the front skirt is in the way.

And these are the rest of the pictures I took. I would like to apologize if some of them were blurry or out of focus. I don’t have a mini tripod and I am just trying to hold my cellphone as steadily as possible. :/

Again, I will not post any poses where the Wing Expansion kit is attached or featured.

So here are my ratings for the Strike Freedom ver MB of Dragon Momoko

Design based from GDC card

Plastic Quality: 8/10

Dragon Momoko never ceases to surprise me with their good quality even though it’s a bootleg brand. I didn’t encounter any flashes at all and everything is smooth and glossy. There were no bad moldings or factory defects here or maybe it was just a lucky pick on the box. Some of them are undergated which also adds a nice feat to the kit.

The yellow sprues or parts however were not that good. It seems they were quite fragile or “chalky” and tends to break so easily. Even though they have a bad quality, I am still giving this an eight. 

Assembly 8/10

Only the Inner Frame parts were quite troublesome because they were tight. But I mentioned this on the other articles that this issue is considered to be a minor problem. It is a common issue among bootleg brands.

Then why the high rating you say? It’s because if you know how to handle a common tight male-female peg issue, then the rest is easy. Plus, the outer armor fits perfectly without the need to push them hard. I had to use super glue on some parts but that doesn’t mean snap fitting is bad. I was just being cautious and the model is planned to be a straight build anyway. For me, snap fitting is good for this kit and it deserves an eight. :)

Detailing: 7/10

It’s in Metal Build design so there’s no need to question the detailing here. Although the model could have been a lot cooler if Dragon Momoko added the same parts separation like Daban Model did. I’m supposed to give it an eight but the lack of parts separation, not to mention the huge sheet of foil stickers pulled it down in terms of detailing. 

Articulation: 9/10

For me, the movement range is far better than I expected. It can do a lot of dynamic poses as seen on the construction manual. Even with the wide rail guns and skirts, the leg’s movement range is impressive. The arms may not be able to do the things Perfect Grade can do but having to hold the two connected rifles without problem is already a plus on my rating.

You get a lot of movable parts on the arms and on the body that makes it really fit for extreme movements. Just do not force the limits of its articulation as it may risk breaking any joints or parts. So yeah, this section also deserves a good rating for the articulation.

Gimmicks: 6/10

It was quite few in my opinion but there was no need to add more if the focus here is the cool detailing and physique of the model. But it could have been great if there were any added gimmicks to the body like a cockpit hatch.

Weapons: 7/10

I think the rating here is just fair considering all the weapons of SF we already know. I mean there is no need to expect any extra weapons. I just put the detailing factor and gimmicks here because it also affects a weapon’s uniqueness. The rail guns were cool because of the 3-fold mechanism. The beam cannons can use beam effects on their tip which I consider as part of the gimmicks. What I really like is the beam rifles that show a lot of movable parts to make it look awesome. :D

Extras: 5/10
I am giving it a 5 simply because there wasn't that much to add as part of the extras even though we get the assorted fixed manipulators and beam effects for the DRAGOONS. Or maybe I am expectign too much again because this is one of the mobile suits I really like. :v

Patience: 5/10

There may be a lot of beam cannons here but there were few parts for each unit, thus making it easy to finish. If I weren’t that busy or if I was just burning my time, I could have finished the model in two or three days. There are Pros and Cons with this matter. Of course it is nice if you can finish the model quickly and display it on your shelf for friends to see. But there are also other builders out there who wanted to build because of the challenge the kit can offer. For my side, I do like a little challenge and I didn’t got that factor in this kit to be frank. But at some point, this is a good kit for beginners or any builders that wants to get their model done as soon as possible.

 

Overall Rating: 8/10

There may be some negative factors but I will admit that I enjoyed building this kit. First of all, this was easy to build and I had no problems with snap fitting. Second is that I love the articulation this kit features especially when I try to move the arms and legs. And third, there were no problems cleaning the nubs because most of them are undergated. Actually it’s not “most” because it was like 90% of the parts were undergated if I recall the sprues correctly.

Of course it can’t be avoided to complain that it lacked a little detailing because of the few parts but this is a good test to try out some detailing techniques you might not have done before. Masking may also be an option here for those who want to hone their skills in painting.

If someone asked me if this kit is recommendable for beginners, I would say YES only if that builder already tried building at least 1 or 2 Master Grade kits. But I see no problem if this is to be your first 1/100 MG kit as long as you’re careful and already know the basics about common bootleg issues. Just try to think “out of the box” so you won’t get any problems with the issue of wrong drawings on the manual and other problems like that.

This is a great kit and I am looking forward what Daban Model has to offer in their version of Strike Freedom ver MB. I just hope I have the funds to get one because it still pricey here in Philippines. :/

I can’t remember if I have missed other factors in this kit and any builders who will read this review can share their experiences on the comments section below. I will be honored to edit the article and place your tips and concerns related to the mentioned kit. :)

The next article will be the Destiny ver MB [Heine Westenfluss] but I will not feature any exploded parts view.

I have a couple or projects in line again thanks to my friend and client. The 4 kits on the left are from him, and all the Bandai kits are mine. I got this back August 2016 and still I haven't started any of them. I am supposed to sell them too due to a financial crisis on my side. Fortunately, I received some help from close friends. So yeah, that means I need to get some extra time to build and feature them in my blog.

  

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