The MS-14A Gelgoog was the Duchy of Zeon's final mass-produced mobile suit of the One Year War, being deployed less than a month before the final battle of the war. It was the only mass-produced Zeon mobile suit capable of wielding beam weaponry and was technically superior in performance compared to the Federation's RX-78-2 Gundam. The Gelgoog failed to have a large impact on the course of the war, however, due to it's late entry and Zeon's lack of capable pilots by the end of the war. Only 165 units were produced and most only saw action during the final battle at A Baoa Qu.

The Gelgoog was the first Master Grade I ever got, bid on it and won it on eBay. I remember being shocked at how huge the box was (the only other Gundam models I had ever built were old Gundam Wing High Grades, which is good a place as any to start I suppose). I choose the Gelg' for three reasons: the bid was low, I love the skirt thrusters (which can also be found on the Dom series) and because I think the name 'Gelgoog' is just so much fun to say. Starting in on this first Master Grade for me was, from a plastic model perspective, an eye-opening journey into wonder. Or something like that anyway. But seriously, I was amazed at how much detail there was in the thing, especially in the innards of the leg and in it's head. Also, I had never messed with a plastic model that felt so sturdy when it was done. The building itself took me a few nights, there were no major problems during the process. One minor complaint is that you can't move the pink mono-eye without taking off the head armor, but since the 'Goog has such a squinty eye-slit anyway, it's not too big a deal. The only painting I did was the silver on the hydraulics under the leg armor. The little black panel lines were mostly done with the sharpie technique, which is a really useful technique if you don't have a fine tip Gundam marker (or equivalent). The sharpie technique merely involves taking a normal sharpie and drawing over the panel line (obviously making far thicker a line than you want). Then go back over the line with an eraser, this'll remove the excess sharpie leaving a very fine, dark line in the grove. The downside is that it takes the shine off the plastic (which you might like better depending on your preference) and that it obviously won't work in tight spots, like nearly anywhere on the head. The shield, which isn't pictured, was my only major screw up. It's modeled in dark blue/blackish and yellow, but the back of it is supposed to be black, so I took some old crappy model paint to the back of it, resulting in a very glossy, uneven mess. Lesson learned: cheap glossy model paint sucks. The cockpit door is actually the whole square that the circular hatch is on, it opens downward and for that reason you've got to make sure that the upper torso hangs over it a little to keep it closed. On a side note, the insignia on the shoulder is that of the Zeon Home Defense Force, which defended Side 3 (as the name implies) during the One Year War.