- MZ-007 Great Sabre
Number of Pieces: 194 | Number of Frames: 11
Great Sabre was the second reissue kit featuring featuring a previously made design with new weapons. It wasn't a let down, and the aesthetic is fantastic. Painted parts look nice (mostly) and the black armor is a very deep, semi-gloss glass. The red is very bright and the silver is a moderate color with marbling.
There are good and bad points. Great Sabre carries over the original issues from Saber Tiger and even a couple of his own. The legs still have issues falling off but a clear coat should fix that right up. The weapon rack falls off constantly and is still a pain to attach (more so). Unfortunately the super glue I used had a horrible reaction with the plastic that melted it beyond repair, and even then the rack did not stay on securely.
When it comes to new issues there aren't many, but neither of the wings above the back stay in well. The left one on my tiger falls off if it is bumped. The other is that the parts are extremely stiff. This isnt' an issue I had with the original and may be due to the added paint. The jaws, 'elbows', and the mid section of the rear legs are the problem areas.
The painting issues are a bit strange. They painted the inside 'wheels' of the legs red. This appears to be a thick hand painting, where you can even see brush strokes. There is a layer of white underneath that is clearly visible on the edges and kind of ruins the effect. This was likely done to give the red a brighter base.
Pros:
-Very high quality with many pieces
-Accurately painted pieces add depth, and attached in areas where cut marks won't be visible
-Excellent poseability
-Some additional moving pieces
Cons:
-Very tiny pieces can be hard to hold, and may be breakable
-Teeth tips bend very, very easily
-Very small size for the price
-Legs are not attached very securely
-Hand painted parts on legs make them very stiff and are badly painted
-Does not come with a unique diaroma base
- Box Art
- Instructions
- Battle Story Information
Imperial Army
High speed combat use armored type| Combat beast machine "Sabre Tiger"
[Fuselage Explanation]
The Great Sabre used the Imperial army's Sabre Tiger tiger type as a prototype and, in order to increase its mobility, high orbit aviation wings were equipped and its offensive abilities were also heightened. Compared to its prototype, its efficiency and offensive abilities have been raised 20%.
[Technical Data]
Overall Length: 15.8 m
Highest Point: 11.5 m
Overall Width: 5.7 m
Weight: 90 tons
Max Speed: 240 km/h
[Weapons]
8-barreled Missile Pod
All-weather 3D Radar
All-weather Self-guided Missile Launcher
High Orbit Aviation Wings
High-speed Cannon Gun
High Pressure Concentrated Sulfuric Acid Jet Cannon x2
Large Infra-red Rays / Laser Search Lights
Laser Sabre
Triple-barreled Shock Cannon x1
*Data based on the original setup.
Gimmicks
Cockpit:
Great Sabre's cockpit opens up forward. I'm not sure if I built mine wrong or not but it is very difficult to open, and kinda 'snaps' forward when it does. The eyes are red, not brown, and a crimson Zenebas insignia is on the cheek.
Jaws:
The jaws have a really wide range of motion to accurately simulate the smilodon. The upper front teeth make it very difficult to open once the jaw is fully closed, and the movement is stiff.
Head and Neck:
The head moves up and down, and also turns where it connects to the neck. Because of the cheek floof that stretches backawrds from the bulk of the head the range of movement is very limited. The neck also moves up and down, but is also limited in range of motion.
Legs:
I didn't take many pictures because the range of motion is pretty much as far as you can spin them without hitting the other legs. All four legs are on a peg, which allows them 360 rotation. That peg is attached to a bar that folds into the body normally, but can fold out to allow the legs to tick in under the body a bit without the legs looking terribly disjointed.
Front Leg:
The front leg also rotates at the 'elbow'. You can see in one photo that the unndermost circle of the joint is painted. This was painted bright red to match the body and has a white undercoat, which sticks out visibly at the sounds. The parts also don't go together all the way because of the unevenness of the paint, which also makes the movement VERY stiff.
Rear Legs:
The middle section of the rear leg can fold up and down, but is limited in range by the pipe on the back. You'll see the bright red wheel that is hand painted on the 'knee' part. The lower motion moves as well, but also has a small range.
Body:
Great Sabre's body has very nice range of motion. It can tilt sideways, fold up, and fold down. The main body employs the same rotating bar in between pieces as the legs do, which is a detail I love. When the body folds too far down, these bars are pulled out of the main body, lessening the gap between the pieces to make it look less disjointed. The turning motion is most easily seen in the hips.
Upper Back Radar:
Just the 8-shot Missile Pod is attached to a very secure bar where the back arch normally goes. On its side is this radar antennae which can spin forwards or backwards.
8-Shot Missile Pod:
The missile pod swings forwards and backwards, actually far enough forward to shoot Great Sabre in the back of the head if he's not watching what he's doing. The hand painted details are really nice, the innermost part being black with the missiles painted red.
Lower Back Right-Side Guns:
These guns attach to the side of the equipment on the lower back. They all attach to one larger center gun, which is on a peg to allow a 360 rotation (aside from where it runs into the cables). The gun on the side and top have the same range of motion.
Air Stabilizers:
The wings on the lower part of the back looks excellent. They fold out and have hand painted designation numbers on the surface. Not only do they fold up and out, but they can also rotate up and down. Unfortunately these are pretty loose and don't stay securely in the socket. My left wing is much looser than the right, and falls out of Sabre is bumbed too hard.
Grenade Launcher:
The 3-barrel gun on the top can rotate up and down.
Back Weapon Assembly:
This has a huge design flaw that you'll remember from the original Saber Tiger. The back equipment attaches to a small bar in the center of the back which does NOT stay on for anything. The unit is intended to lean up and down, which it can, but this means that when you're trying to reattach it the bar just folds up, and if the bar is folded up it can't attach to the back.
I also want to mention that I tried using generic super glue to attach this part, because I was already familiar with it from the original kit. The super glue reacted incredibly bad with the red plastic and melted it severely, permanently deforming the kit. It STILL did not stay on worth a darn. So, if you're going to use glue, I don't recommend super glue.
Tail Guns:
The laser guns on the tail can swing up and down. The top armors and silver wings on the top of the tail come off kind of easily but I wouldn't say they're loose.
