Gunpla - #10 - HGUC GM Sniper II Review

My first GM kit (if Jesta's not put into account, that is), as well as one of my favorite GM designs. As the name implies, this GM unit was designed solely for one main objective, long range sniping and killing, one shot one kill. According to the box art, this guy came from the anime "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080 : War in The Pocket". Honestly, I've never watched the series, hence I don't know what was GM Sniper II roles in the show. I just hope it's not just a cannon fodder as ordinary GMs of other series : the first one to get destroyed in battles LOL. I mean, look at the sleek design, the color scheme and weapons. It's not just an ordinary GM, is it ?

One of the coolest box arts in HGUC line ;-)

OK, I'll start from the box. It showed two GM Snipers and a DRAKEN-E mobile suits commencing in a battle, in the downtown, at night.  IMHO it's one of the coolest box arst in HGUC line. There were 10 runners inside. Wait, did I say the box art also showed a DRAKEN-E unit ? Yes, the kit also included one DRAKEN-E unit as bonus, as shown on the first picture of this review. Some people said that Bandai should gave another accessories instead of this little guy, but for myself, DRAKEN-E was not bad as a bonus. 

The scope looks bad ass and illuminates in the dark!

So, what differentiates the sniper GM with ordinary GMs (other than sniping purpose) ? Firstly, I would like to highlight the scope device on the head. It's totally cool, and could be used for sniping poses. If you pose the GM sniper under the right light setting, you could achieve cool effect where the scope looks glowing :-). Second, the hands. Usually, you got only one trigger hand, but GM sniper has two, and one of them was designed specially for handling the sniper rifle. The other trigger hand was used for the ordinary beam rifle. But the most special thing about this kit was the articulation. It was designed to hold sniper rifle on the kneeling position. IMHO, not so many HG kits have this feature.

This pose was one of the reason why I bought this kit :-D

As I mentioned above, this kit include a sniper rifle and a beam rifle. As for the close range weapons, It had 2 beam sabers which mounted on the rear skirt armor. There are 5 sets of hand: 2 close hands, 1 open hand (left only), and 2 trigger hands (right only). And now, the stickers. What irritated me the most was the sticker for the scope. It's so small and difficult to put inside the scope. Finally, I just took off the sticker from the scope because it looks ugly. I also dislike the original number "3" sticker on the left shoulder, and put the number sticker from Jesta on the shoulder and shield. IMHO it looks better than the original one :-)

From the beginning, I was imagining what it would be looked like if I provide this guy with bigger sniper rifle. Then I found this kit while wondering on a gunpla forum :

Hohoho .. I was so excited that I immediately went to the shop just after my office works finished. The assembling process took several hours, but finally, the rifle's finished. And this was what I got after combining GM Sniper II and the strong rifle (yes, it's the rifle's name) :

Lock on !!

Overall, GM sniper II a great kit and one of my favorites. The design, color scheme, articulation, and accessories were quite amazing, especially for a HG kit. In addition you'll get a DRAKEN-E, that IMHO is a nice bonus :-)

Beam saber and shield action

With beam rifle

GM Sniper II, Jesta and Jesta Cannon

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RGM - 79SP GM Sniper II

Pros :

• Specialized articulation for sniping poses
• Head scope FTW
• Nice accessories, and a DRAKEN-E unit as a bonus

Cons :

• Troublesome stickers, especially on the head and scope
• Plain detail, as expected from a HGUC GM design

Meteo #1 - Data Radar dan Satelit Gratis Untuk Aplikasi Meteorologi

Data spasial adalah salah satu tipe data terpenting yang paling sering digunakan untuk analisis meteorologi. Memang bagian mananya yg penting ? Contohnya begini. Misal anda ingin melakukan analisis curah hujan untuk suatu daerah, sebut saja A. Kebetulan data stasiun cuaca terdekat dari daerah A berada cukup jauh dari daerah A tersebut, misalnya jaraknya 5 km dari A. Lalu apakah anda bisa menggunakan data dari stasiun cuaca tersebut untuk menganalisis curah hujan di wilayah A ?? 

Perlu diingat bahwa atmosfer itu dinamis, alias selalu bergerak (karena udara adalah fluida). Oleh karena itu, karakteristik cuaca di suatu tempat, belum tentu sama dengan tempat lainnya, walaupun perbedaan jaraknya tidak berjauhan. Pernahkah anda kehujanan ketika berkendara di suatu tempat, dan ketika anda berpindah ke tempat lain yang jaraknya mungkin hanya 2-3 km dari tempat semula, daerah tersebut kering kerontang ? Kondisi cuaca di suatu tempat dipengaruhi berbagai hal, tidak hanya iklim  namun juga faktor lain seperti topografi, vegetasi dan lain-lain. Dalam kondisi seperti ini, data point (titik) seperti data stasiun cuaca, kurang bisa diandalkan, meskipun terdapat beberapa metode yang bisa digunakan untuk analisis, seperti poligon Thiessen, kontur dan lain-lain.

Data spasial merupakan data yang diperoleh baik dari pengukuran langsung (in-situ) maupun dengan penginderaan jauh (remote sensing), dan yang akan saya bahas pada tulisan ini adalah tipe yang kedua. 

Saya nggak perlu bicara definisi seperti di buku-buku tentang remote sensing, meteorologi dan lain-lain lah ya. Buat saya, yg terpenting adalah pemahaman dibandingkan definisi teoritis. Secara sederhana, data spasial bisa diartikan sebagai data titik yang tersebar pada suatu luasan tertentu. Jadi, dalam satu data spasial, terdapat banyak data titik, misal titik X, Y, Z dst. Posisi tiap titik umumnya mengikuti aturan tertentu yang disebut sebagai koordinat. Singkat cerita, komponen utama dari data spasial tidak hanya nilai dari besaran yang terukur, tetapi juga posisi dari titik yang mewakilinya. Titik-titik inilah yang umum disebut sebagai piksel atau grid points.

Kembali ke masalah analisis curah hujan di daerah A tadi. Misalnya yang akan digunakan adalah data spasial, maka daerah A akan diwakili oleh beberapa titik yang tercakup dalam daerah tersebut. Berapa banyak titik yg tercakup akan ditentukan oleh jarak antar titik ke titik lainnya. Makin rapat/dekat jaraknya, jumlah titik pada daerah A akan makin banyak, demikian pula sebaliknya. Ukuran kerapatan antar titik ini lah yang biasa disebut sebagai resolusi. Makin banyak/rapat titik di wilayah A, makin tinggi resolusinya, akan makin banyak pula data yang bisa dijadikan sampel untuk analisis. Dan makin banyak sampel data, akan makin baik pula keakuratan dari analisis yang dilakukan. Kesimpulannya, data spasial sangat baik digunakan untuk analisis yang sifatnya keruangan, area, kewilayahan (atau apapun yg berada dalam dimensi ruang), karena sampel datanya lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan menggunakan data pada satu titik saja.

Ok, saya nggak mau cerita panjang lebar tentang pengertian dan definisi, ntar keburu ngantuk, karena saya buat tulisan ini pas tengah malam :-P

Data spasial tersedia untuk berbagai bidang keilmuan, tapi yang akan saya bahas adalah data spasial yang umum digunakan dalam bidang meteorologi. Umumnya data spasial meteorologi diperoleh dengan menggunakan penginderaan jauh seperti satelit atau radar. Parameternya juga beraneka jenis, namun umumnya tidak jauh-jauh dari parameter cuaca yang lazim seperti temperatur, kelembaban udara, curah hujan dan kawan-kawan. Kenapa yang umum digunakan adalah data spasial dari satelit atau radar ? Alasannya karena dua alat tadi memiliki cakupan pengamatan yang luas, bisa ratusan bahkan ribuan kilometer. Masalahnya sekarang, gimana caranya kita memperoleh data tersebut ? Secara gratis tentunya, karena yang gratis-gratis itu selalu menyenangkan. Apalagi buat mahasiswa tugas akhir yang nggak sengaja nemu tulisan saya ini ;-) 

Ok, dilanjut gan. Saya mau bicara fakta saja. Sebenarnya data spasial gratisan itu banyak, dan anda bisa akses dengan mudah di internet, misal data spasial curah hujan. Paling nggak kalo Googling anda bisa nemu satu atau dua lah. Tapi jangan senang dulu, data-data ini umumnya memiliki banyak keterbatasan, yah wajarlah, namanya juga gratisan. Keterbatasan yang dimaksud misalnya untuk periode data. Tidak banyak penyedia data yang sudi memberikan data spasial terkini. Biasanya data yang diumbar ke publik adalah data historis yang bukan diperoleh dalam waktu dekat, misal data 1 hari sebelumnya, 1 bulan sebelumnya, 1 tahun sebelumnya dst, nyaris tidak ada data real-time atau near-real time. Selain itu, resolusi data juga umumnya akan "dilucuti" dengan ketelitian yang "apa adanya". Anda protes ? Ingin data resolusi tinggi dan near real time ? Silakan luncurkan satelit atau buat radar sendiri.

Namun dengan berbagai keterbatasan ini, bisa dibilang data-data spasial gratisan sudah layak digunakan untuk kepentingan analisis, terutama untuk kalangan akademik dan peneliti. Berikut beberapa link yang bisa digunakan untuk memperoleh data-data tersebut. Data saya kelompokkan dalam beberapa parameter cuaca yang umum digunakan. Kalau anda menemukan sumber data lain yang belum saya tuliskan, silakan dikomentari, atau lebih baik lagi bila informasi tersebut di-share untuk para pengunjung di sini.

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1. CURAH HUJAN

Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission - NASA
TRMM merupakan data spasial curah hujan yang paling populer digunakan pada banyak analisis dan karya ilmiah. Data yang tersedia umumnya memiliki resolusi spasial 5 - 0.25 derajat, dengan resolusi temporal tertinggi adalah 1 - 3 jam. Produk TMPA NASA juga menyediakan data hujan harian dan bulanan. Format data yang umum digunakan adalah NetCDF, HDF dan plain binary. Beberapa produk data juga menggunakan format teks (ASCII), walaupun terbatas.

Produk : 

3A11, 3A12, 3A25, 3A26, 3A46, 3B41, 3B42, 3B42RT, 3B43, 3G68.

Official Website :
http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Data Links : 

ftp://trmmopen.gsfc.nasa.gov/

ftp://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/data/TRMM/

http://1.usa.gov/160KBBs  <--- (shortened link)

Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) - JAXA
My personal favorite. Pada dasarnya data GSMaP JAXA menggunakan data yang sama dengan TMPA NASA, sama-sama berasal dari TRMM. Perbedaannya hanya pada sisi resolusi dan format data. Kelebihan utama GSMaP adalah mampu memberikan resolusi spasial data yang lebih tinggi (mencapai 0.1 derajat, per jam) dan menggunakan format plain binary yang relatif mudah digunakan. Selain itu beberapa produk mampu diperoleh secara near-realtime. Walaupun gratis, anda perlu mengajukan permohonan kepada JAXA (tujuan penggunaan data dll) untuk memperolah data GSMaP.

Produk :
MWR, MWR+, MVK, MVK+, TMI, NRT.

Official Website :
http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP_crest/

Data Links :
ftp://hokusai.eorc.jaxa.jp --> username & password diberikan oleh pihak JAXA
http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP_crest/html/data.html
http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP/index.htm  --> Image saja

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Gunpla - #9 - HGUC Jesta Cannon Review

Jesta's definitely one of the best grunt unit designs in Gundam history and of course, one of my favorite designs of all time. Then, here it comes, Jesta Cannon, the heavy assault version of the original one. Jesta Cannon is a perfect example how a good design became better. I just bought this kit last week, and I couldn't wait to build it any longer, to the point that I brought it with me during my business trip LOL. Finally, I finished building it in two nights (4 hours for each night, 8 hours in total).

Basically, Jesta Cannon is a normal Jesta with enhanced armors and armaments, thus the model number is no different with the normal one: RGM-96X. The main features of this unit are the beam cannon and multi launcher attached on the backpack, which became its namesake. The additional armors surely give much more bulky appearance and add an extra "oommph!!" factor to the design.

Looks more menacing than the original Jesta, doesn't it ?

As I mentioned above, the building process was quite easy, I suppose it's because I have already made the original one before. This kit came with 10 runners in total, including the beam saber and polycaps. There are a pair sheet of clear sticker and foil one. And guess what ? There were extra parts from the original Jesta included. Hence, we could switch the parts to normal version if needed. It's just like an extra bonus for me :-)

And now, the accessories. This is where the fun begins. If the original Jesta is equipped with a beam carbine, then Jesta Cannon has two beam carbines ! And one of them is really big and badass. You will also get two beam sabers (with only one hilt), a shield (same as original Jesta), 7 sets of hands and spare parts for grenade, shield etc. as I mentioned above.

The articulation, well, is quite limited due to the bulky armors. No need to worry though, this guy still looks badass with his standing pose only (just look at the picture in the beginning of this review). Despite the limited articulation, Jesta Cannon still could do several basic and cool poses. However, it should be better to provide action base (system base should be much better) for it.

Overall, Jesta Cannon is a fantastic kit and a nice addition for my GM collection. If you plan to buy Jesta variants, I recommend you to buy Jesta Cannon, because it includes several parts of the original one, hence you'll have more build options.

"Thank you, sir, for buying me ..."

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RGM - 96X Jesta Cannon

Pros:

• The cool bulky armor and cannons FTW.
• Many accessories and decals. The assault riffle is badass !
• Includes some spare parts from the original Jesta

Cons :

• Seamlines on the armors are exposed much
• Stickers, especially on the collar. It sucks.
• Hand joints, especially the trigger hand, was quite loose.

Gunpla - #8 - HG 0 Raiser Review

I have to admit, that I bought this kit only for the add-on of my previous 00 Seven Sword/G (007S). According to many reviews on internet, I noticed that 00 models compatible with 0 Raiser, of course with the same scale. After some efforts, I finally found one and bought it online as soon as possible. I did this, because this kit is quite rare in Indonesia.

The price, of course, was much cheaper than any normal kits. I didn't remember the price tag on the box, but I supposed it's around 800 Yen. There were maybe only 2 or 3 runners inside the box, hence I didn't spend too much time in order to built it. I finished building 0 Raiser in two hours only, and finally docked it with my 007S. The docking process itself was simple and I quite amazed by how this kit was perfectly compatible with my 007S.

Completed model. Boring stance since it's just an add-on

For an add-on kit, It's quite detailed, with few panel lines and gimmicks. Too bad, there are no decals for this kit, even I hoped at least Bandai provide few decals since 007S didn't have them. On the other hand, this kit has 'bonus' as an add-on. The first, is GN Shields. It's quite small compared with other 00's massive arsenals. I prefer to attach them on the 0 Raiser wings than to put them on 007S. The second is, GN Swords connector. You could use it to combine 2 GN Swords II into a GN Dual Bladed Staff. Sadly, the connector is not compatible with 007S GN Sword long and short, hence I could not combine them. The last bonus, is a stand for 0 Raiser. You could use it for either 0 Raiser, 00 variants or any kits with peg hole base connector. Of course, it's better to use the stand for 0 Raiser since the size is much smaller than ordinary action base.

Final words, If you have 007S, it's better to have this kit as an add-on to make 00 Raiser + Seven Sword, It's much much cheaper than buying another 00 variants only for the weapons.

Combined with 00 7 Sword/G. Badass !

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GNR - 010 0 Raiser

Pros :

• Perfectly compatible with 00 variants
• Provides GN Shield, GN Sword connector and an action base/stand
• It's cheap (of course), and it's quite detailed for an HG kit

Cons :

• It's boring for posing this kit alone. If you don't have 00 variants, or you have already 00 Raiser, forget this kit
• The GN Sword connector did not work with 007S GN Sword II Long and Short. 
• No decals. Bah.

Update:

I just recently found that the connector could combine seven sword's GN II long and short sword by removing the pegs on each swords that is very easy to do. My bad LOL .

Gunpla - #7 - HG 00 Gundam Seven Sword/G Review

The fifth of my collection and ... damn, I love this kit. Not only because of the design, but also the weapons it got. I will go straight here, 00 Gundam Seven Sword/G (007S) probably has the most melee weapons than any other gundams ever had. You'll get two GN beam sabers, one GN sword II long, one GN sword II short, one GN buster sword II, two GN katars, and a GN sword II blaster. Hence, practically 007S has 8 swords in total. And to mention that this is a HG kit, it's just like a treasure if you are short on budget.

007S is basically the same kit with original HG 00, of course with addition of tons of weapons. Hence, this kit will be compatible with the add-ons/weapons from the original 00. 007S could be combined with HG 1/144 0 Raiser to become 00 Raiser Gundam + Seven Sword/G .. and it's awesome ! It's also much cheaper than to buy two 00 kits together IMHO.

The articulation of this kit is superb. 007S's joints is so sturdy as it could support weights from its massive weapons (especially the GN Buster sword), hence provides so many posing option. My complaint come from the hand joints. It seems that the weight of the weapons could makes them loose by time, thus it's better not to replace between open and close palm so often. But the most annoying thing is the sticker for the V-fins. I don't know the reason why Bandai did not paint them instead, but IMHO the sticker is ugly :-/

Overall, 007S is a fantastic kit and one my favorites among Gundam universe. If you don't have 00 kit and want to have the first one, I suggest you to buy this kit because it could be combine with 00 add-ons such as 0 Raiser, as I described on another post. :-)

With GN Sword II Blaster  (Sword Mode)

With GN Sword II Blaster (Rifle Mode)

With GN Buster Sword II (Sword Mode)

With GN Buster Sword II (Shield Mode)

With GN Sword II Long (Sword Mode)

With GN Sword II Long and Short (Sword Mode)

With GN Katars

With GN Beam Sabers

Combine 007S and 0 Raiser ... and you will get THIS !!

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GN-0000GNHW/7SG 00 Gundam Seven Sword/G

Pros :

• Tons of cool weapons FTW
• Superb articulation for cool poses
• Compatible with original 00 add-ons

Cons :

• Ugly sticker for the V-fins. Bah.
• Weak hand joints and loose GN Sword II Blaster peg
• No decals, only stickers