by Laurence Sutehall

This is Bandai’s 1/144th HG 105 Dagger kit, with custom backpack. I’ve wanted to get my hands on a Jet Striker equipped unit since first seeing them in SEED Destiny. Unfortunately, the only incarnation so far was as a MSIA toy, where the Jet Striker unit was misproportioned. My only avenue was to build one for myself.

In the anime, the units equipped with the jet striker backpack are the Earth Force’s Windams and Dagger L’s. Neither of these kits are available in model form, so I had to find an alternative. The 105 Dagger was an easy choice, for a couple of reasons; firstly the anime’s Dagger L is supposed to be a newer model, based upon the 105 Dagger frame, making a conversion possible without excessive work. Then I watched the episode featuring the attack on Heavens Base, which is known for the cameos by some previously unseen suits. One less-than-half-second scene shows a couple of Jet 105 Dagger’s taking off – I instantly scrapped any plans for converting the Mobile Suit itself, and decided to put my time into designing and building the Jet Striker Pack. Consequentially the 105 Dagger kit was built straight out of the box, with the only modifications being to add some custom decals.

The Jet Striker pack consists of 2 parts – the winged backpack, and the hand-held beam carbine. The lineart available at MAHQ.net allowed me to convert one of Kotobukiya’s excellent ‘Weapon unit’ pistols into a semblance of the beam carbine, using styrene tube and sheet, some brass rod and the barrel and sights taken from another MS rifle.

The backpack unit was harder. I sketched and re-sketched the design, trying to get my head around the many inaccuracies that are inevitable when trying to build an item from an anime. Eventually I wrangled out a design I was happy with, apart for the parts that form the main wing joints. In keeping with the rest of the kit, I wanted the wings to move, as they do on the “real” version. My eventual solution was to make a 2 part joint, with the wing up/down hinge made from brass rod pushed through plastic tubing, and the forwards/backwards hinge made from a small screw and washer set-up, with the nuts buried in the engines. The third set of hinges was made the same as the wing hinges, and then built into the engine pylons. This allows the entire engine assembly to rotate downwards, until the engines are vertical.

With the hinges designed, I could get started on the construction. The connection to the MS wasn’t too challenging – the 105 Dagger is designed to support backpacks, and comes with the Gunbarrel fighter. I used the mounting peg for the fighter and a spare polycap to create a joint that allows the pack to be removed. The engines are styrene tube, with the cones on the ends formed by wrapping styrene sheet into a pre-designed conical form. The spinners are sprue, which I turned down with a Dremel tool. The engine pylons are simple box construction, incorporating the hinges and some “option parts” for engine vents. The wings and central flap section are thick sheet stock, while the vertical fins are a couple of leftovers from a Macross Valkyrie. The rocket pods are from a 1/72 apache helicopter, and the drop-tanks are from a 1/72 WWII aircraft. Both were a hideous fit, and had to be sanded excessively to make them even halfway decent. The finished hinges were blended into the engines with 2-part putty, and then it was ready for paint.

The entire model is painted with Games Workshop’s Citadel acrylic paints. I always use these, as I find them to have a good range of colours, and they are easy to work with. The only exception I made was for the wingtips, which are Tamyia orange. Markings consist of the stock foil and clear stickers and a couple of Warhammer waterslide decals.

Image: Front view

Image: Rear

Image: In flight

Image: Looking down