HGUC 1/144 Dra-C

First bought in late November, and later mentioned again last month, I have left the Dra-C lying half-built for quite some time due to procrastination and other actitivites. Time to review one of the more unusual looking Zeon MS in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam universe!


Front

Notable features of the Dra-C are the lack of a proper right arm, those huge shoulder thrusters...


Back

And the lack of proper legs, which are replaced by propellant tanks for it to manuveur in space. Serving as recon as well as hit-and-run, the Dra-C is pretty much a hybrid between an MS and an MA (which is indeed the case as it uses parts from the Gattle fighter-bomber of the One Year War).


The Dra-C is pretty much blue in all places except for the joints, and as that looks a bit plain to me I decided to colour the chest plate grey just like the Zakus (more specifically the Zaku II F2) that they are originally based on.

It's perhaps worth mentioning that this guy has no waist joint, but for something that has no legs it's not an issue really.

The head can look up to a pretty high angle, and has a special neck joint on top of the normal polycap joint to help it do so.


The pelvic joint is pretty much the same as the newer 1/144 Gunplas, except that the legs have been replaced with very long propellant tanks instead. Those tanks can go pretty far back (up to 90 degrees), but can't go up front other than being aligned with the torseo.


The stand that comes with the kit is based on HGUC 1/144 Asshimar, and it has 2 axis of rotation.


The shield has some pretty good details on the inner side. A beam sabre can be seen just behind the left hand.


The Dra-C's default weapon is the 30mm vulcan, which is pretty much the whole of right arm itself.


Beam Sabre in use. It's interesting to see that the Dra-C does not have to hold the beam sabre in order to use it, which is not common with most mobile suits except for the very elite ones.


A nice bonus and optional armament is the gattling gun, of which the 30mm vulcan has to be exchanged with a new right arm and right hand. This particular weapon is said to be used only from UC0090s, but there are some MS that use gattling gun before then, such as the Gouf Custom from 08th MS Team. Due to the weapon's large size there is a slot in the grip for the right hand to fit in snugly.





A few more random action shots


Other weapons such as the Zeon's 90mm machinegun can be equipped. However, if the weapons do not have a slot in the grip it may not fit in too well in the hand.


Comparison with HGUC 1/144 EFSF's captured Zaku F2. Those propellant tank legs sure are long ^^;


And one last picture showing off two Dra-Cs in combat flight.


The Dra-C is an unusual fella, having features not seen in other MS, but backed with interesting background info for its reasons of such appearance. It's an interim solution of using salvaged parts to develop a relatively capable combat weapon in spite of lack of resource for the rebellious Delaz Fleet, which retreated from battle near the end of the One Year War so it would return to seek its revenge for Zeon 3 years later as featured in Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. It also made small appearance in Gundam Z as well as in Gundam UC OVA. Speaking of Gundam UC a pink variant of the Dra-C with decorated sleeves and a modified arm for gattling gun is also released recently as a web shop limited item.

Overall the Dra-C is pretty easy to build, but the hands seem to pop off a bit too easily. Maybe it's not the coolest MS out there or fans' favourite, but it surely is an unusual one.