Hasegawa 1/35 MechatroWeGo Kit Quick-Build Review

By Michael Benolkin

Quick Build Review

And now for something completely different...

In Japan, a company called Chubu Mechatronics developed a series of mechanical armored suits. The WeGo model was designed for elementary school children to commute to school in mountain regions, local travel, and for exploring. There are even custom WeGo mech suits available for obese children.

Of course this full-scale product is fiction and I'm not even certain if this MechatroWeGo is part of an anime series or manga. Whatever it is, there are die-cast models of these robots in various colors in 1/35 scale which are evidently taking the market by storm. You can even find these on Amazon!

Hasegawa has developed three kits of the MechatroWeGo in 1/35 scale and each kit has two mech suits in the box. This is set number two and you can see in the images to the right that they are molded in white, turquoise, black, and clear styrene presented on seven parts trees plus two trees of vinyl joints. Each mech suit is movable/posable and offer several options. Before I go any further, let me make one thing clear:

This kit and the models produced from this kit have numerous tiny parts that are easily removed and could become a choking hazard for small children! Keep away from small children! There are no warnings or recommended ages printed on the box.

Among the features and options in this kit:

• No glue required - very precise snap fit with a few exceptions
• Two complete mech suits
• Two optional figures
• Arms, legs, claws, and feet are all articulating (movable/posable)
• Lower legs have the option of fixed or articulation at the knees
• Front cover is hinged to move up
• Top dome is hinged to move back
• Upper escape hatch is positionable
• Operator platform is positionable up in the suit or extended down to the ground

I decided to do a quick-build of one of the two mech suits in this kit. As with previous quick builds, I used no paint or filler in the assembly of this suit. Heck, I didn't use glue either except as noted below.

The well-illustrated instructions walk you through the process and every assembly is press-fit or snap together with the exception of the heads and arms of the figures. If you're careful, you can also disassemble the suits and swap parts with other suits to get differnt color combinations. In this Kit Two, the turquoise parts are the same between the two suits, but the white and black parts are reversed between the two.

Assembly is straightforward though I took my time as the fit of the press/snap together components is so good that any residual sprue stub or mold flash remnants will adversely affect the fit. I carefully removed each part with my Xuron sprue cutter and cleaned any remnants with a file. There were no fit problems. I opted to leave the stubs on the legs in place to lock the knees (no articulation). The front suit cover was scratched up from being in the kit bag but I used some fine grit polishing pads to remove the scratches.

This is a fun project and is definitely something different than your usual builds. After seeing some of the nice colors and details in the die-cast versions online, I can see that some painting would be in order with these kits. The instructions provide color recommendations using GSI Creos colors for the Milk and Cacao versions of the WeGo. If you want something different on your shelf from the world of anime, grab one (or more) of these kits and have some fun!

My sincere thanks to Hasegawa USAfor this review sample!