MG RB-79 Ball ver. Ka

Background information

The RB-79 Ball is widely considered the weakest, most ineffective mobile weapons to ever be fielded during the One Year War. The ball earned the moniker "Mobile Coffin" or "Spherical Coffin" after the battle Star-One where over 1,000 RB-79s in conjunction with Magellan and Salamis-class warships were tasked with pushing the Zeon back from the Earth. 

Despite the poor reputation the Ball had with pilots, it had several distinct tactical advantages over contemporary Mobile Suits. The smaller form factor of the Ball made it a more difficult target to hit over its larger contemporaries. The Ball weighed in at 17.2 tons, less than half the weight of a GM at 41.2 tons. The weight savings provides the ball with better acceleration characteristics (.96G) to that of a GM (.94G). The Ball cost considerably less than contemporary MS of the era, the production cost of the vanilla RX-79 GM was four time greater than that of the Ball. 

The Ball did have several short comings: the armor of the Ball was notoriously weak, the directed solid explosive thrusters used for quick maneuvering had an extremely limited number of uses, and the ball lacked any close range combat weapons aside from the manipulators.

Modeling

The paint scheme I chose for this kit was a homage to the periwinkle color of the ball in the original MSG. I also decided to pull inspiration from the RG line by painting certain panels In a different darker color. 

Painting

Exterior:

The main color is white with a touch of grey and blue. 

The darker main color is the same mix, but with more grey and blue. 

Some panel colors are in neutral grey

The hatch and side details are bright red

Interior:

The interior is Alcad's magnesium or Neutral grey, these areas were lightly dry brushed with an enamel silver to bring out the detail.

I also painted enamel, red, silver and gold to highlight panels throughout the frame.

Decals

The decals used on this kit are from the MG RB-79K Ball (the orange ball from 8th MS Team) and from the EFSF decal set DX-04. The decals from the 79K were all modified to remove the K from any labels, I included the "arrow through the heart" from the DX-04 for a little variety.

Enjoy the photos!

Interior

Armor on

Detail

Size comparison