Author: Falldog

Falldog’s Space Battleship Yamato Model Collection
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Falldog’s Space Battleship Yamato Model Collection

For the longest time I’ve wanted a 1/350 scale Space Battleship Yamato from Bandai. For those who hadn’t heard of it before, think Perfect Grade quality gimmicks to the max of 2007 model technology – lights, sounds, and best of all, motorized turrets. I remember seeing one in a local hobby shop many years ago, back before Bluefin became the de facto US distributor for Bandai, and on sale for what must have been a crazy cheap price. These days they regularly go for over $700 – which is a key reason I never got one. read more

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Kotobukiya Ace Combat 1/144 X-02S and XFA-27 Model Review

I wanted to take a quick minute to write about the new Ace Combat 1/144 scale models from Kotobukiya. There’s not too much to say, and depending on how you look at it, that’s a good thing.

For those out of the know, Kotobukiya recently released two 1/144 aircraft kits from Ace Combat. There are two fighters, the XFA-27 from Ace Combat: Infinity and the X-02S Strike Wyvern from Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. There are two versions of each release, the first is painted, and the second is a gray “For Modelers Edition” ready or paint. Each kit comes with decals, different sheets for each aircraft, but thankfully the same both in the painted and unpainted releases. read more

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Completed Build – Blue Destiny Unit 1 Exam vs. Efreet Custom
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Completed Build – Blue Destiny Unit 1 Exam vs. Efreet Custom

Look at me, I finished something from my backlog!

Back in November 2017 I ordered the Efreet, officially kicking this little diorama project off (no idea when or where the Unit 1 came from right now). I built the two kits, picked out poses, and put them back in the box and on the shelf until a few weeks ago… when I pulled them out, confirmed I liked the poses, built the base, then tucked them away yet again. It’s only this past Monday that I decided I should use my free time this week to get them painted and the project finally checked off. read more

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BSC 1/35 Zeta Gundam Bust – Short Review
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BSC 1/35 Zeta Gundam Bust – Short Review

Welcome to my short review of the 1/35 scale Zeta Gundam bust from BSC. This is the third kit from BSC I’ve built and reviewed, starting with the 1/35 Unicorn Bust and the 1/35 Sinanju. The latter being one of the best third party kits out there and easily the best bust kit available.

In comparison, the Zeta Gundam bust is disappointing. But before I become a Negative Nancy, let’s start with the good. FIrst off, it’s a fantastic design and looks great. It’s a smart take on the Zeta with just enough colour separation and a lot of external and internal detail. More so than the previous busts – this one is a detailers dream. There are are a few panels that open up to reveal detail or make the kit look like it’s being worked on. Would’ve been nice to have had some 1/35 scale figures and wires to hold them up over some of the other gimmicks. In addition the cockpit opens up to reveal the pilot. BSC, if you’re reading this, maybe have an optional head piece without the helmet so we can detail paint up Kamille’s face for display. The wings and the rear nose piece also fold up, though there are no lights on the extended wings which would’ve been nice. read more

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Steel Legend Metal Build 1/100 Kshatriya Review
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Steel Legend Metal Build 1/100 Kshatriya Review

The Steel Legend Metal Build Kshatriya is a third party/bootleg figure. At 1/100 scale it’ll look fantastic with all your MG kits (MG or RE Kshatriya when?!). Who would’ve known that a Metal Build kit out of China would be, not only the best third party piece of Gundam merchandise, but better than any Unicorn official merchandise from Bandai/Banpresto?

As you should already know by now, I’m a sucker for all things Gundam Unicorn (even though the Jesta Schezarr Type Team B & C is stupid is fuck – why the fuck are you using your mechanical eyes to look at a flip down mechanical eye which is pointed at an even larger mechanical eye?). When I see a 1/100 Kshatriya, I jump. Even if it’s a bucket of mess like the Elyn Hobby version. When I saw that someone was making a MG sized figure I had to have it, even if getting a pre built metal frame toy from third party folks in China is a questionable concept. Shout out to my crack dealer Samuel Decal where I picked this up for roughly $200 plus shipping. read more

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Nillson Works – PG Astray Grayscale Review
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Nillson Works – PG Astray Grayscale Review

The Nillson Works “PG Astray with Backpack” isn’t exactly the fanciest name, but it’s clear someone wants to avoid the International Bandai Banhammer (IBB for short). I’m going to refer to it as the Astray Grayscale on account that the kit is 99% gray and white, with only a bit of silver and clear green accent pieces. I picked mine up from Sameul Decal for roughly $90 plus shipping.

The Astray is 1/60 scale, and called PG by Nillson, but a lot of the build is more like an upscaled MG than a direct copy of the official PG. It’s an interesting mix from both builds, along with a good helping of new design elements that help set it apart. As mentioned the kit is pretty much all shades of gray, and surprisingly, it works really well. Despite the lack of pizzazz it looks really nicely and there’s just enough shad separation to make it look nifty out of the box. The gray and general simplicity of the build will make it an easy go-to for folks looking to paint it up in custom colours. Personally I think it’ll look stellar with just some gold accents here and there. read more

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Max Factory PLAMAX 1/20 Macross VF-1 Super/Strike Gerwalk Valkyrie – Dry Fit Review
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Max Factory PLAMAX 1/20 Macross VF-1 Super/Strike Gerwalk Valkyrie – Dry Fit Review

Welcome to my dry fit review of the Max Factory minimum factory 1/20 PLAMAX MF-25 VF-1 Super/Strike Gerwalk Valkyrie. Just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it?

In simpler language, this is a 1/20 scale Macross VF-1 kit from Max Factory. It comes with the Super Strike package and is limited to Gerwalk mode. No transforming here. Oh, and it’s fucking huge. It’s about 20″ tall, amost 28″ deep, and up to 28.5″ wide when the wings are extended.

This is a dry fit review, as in everything is put together without glue. And, subsequently, held together with tape. Now unlike Mecanicore’s Deep Striker kit, the tape isn’t a bad thing. The kit is designed to require glue to hold everything in place. It’s in the manual over and over again. Thus I can’t really complain about bits being loose. I do have plans to eventually glue and paint this kit… but the goal is to -dramatic drum roll please- wire her up with custom LEDs. Seeing as I’ve never done that before, I’m going to get a practice kit or two under my belt first. But I digress. read more

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HiRM 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame Review
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HiRM 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame Review

Allow me cut to the chase. The Hi-Resolution Model Astray is an astounding “meh.”

The Hi-Resolution Gundam Astray Red Frame (first in what may be 1000x variants if they sell well enough) is my first from the HiRM lineup. I didn’t pay much attention to the first two HiRM models due to a general disinterest in the design and avoidance (at the time) of After Colony kits. At some point I forgot that HiRM kits come with a pre assembled inner frame which Kotobukiya started, not very successfully at least at first, nearly a decade ago. It wasn’t until I opened the box that I realized the Astray was in the same vein. Thankfully nothing is wrong with the inner frame, or the rest of the kit for that matter. For the most part it’s a pretty stout, and posable, release. The very thing you’d want out of an Astray kit. What dampens my enjoyment is the design of the kit itself. read more

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Dimension Studio & Eastern Model 1/6 Ultraman Review
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Dimension Studio & Eastern Model 1/6 Ultraman Review

I’m going to start off this review by saying I don’t know who exactly made this kit. I got this kit from Samuel Decal (I don’t always buy third party kits, but when I do it’s usually through him). He’s referred to it as being from E-Model and Model Principle. The product itself says it’s the result of a collaboration between Dimension Studio and Eastern Model. There’s also “Kokoro Link” mentioned all over the place… based on context maybe that’s something to do with this version of Ultraman specifically? I’m also unsure whether this is official or not. I’ve seen sites selling them as officially licensed, and there’s copyright marks for Eiichi Shimizu, Tomohiro Shimoguchi, and Tsubaraya Productions all over the place… but that the same time this came out of China, the manual is in English and Chinese, and isn’t one any of the 100% legit sites (eg HLJ, AmiAmi). Assuming it is unofficial, it’s one hell of a nice original kit. read more

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The Great Gunpla Census of 2018

 

While I’m fairly opinionated about many things, including Gunpla, I always wondered what the general consensus was about the best and worst kits of the line. I can answer pretty easily for MG and PG kits, but because I’ve decided to focus my collection with those grades I can’t say much about HG while most of my RG thoughts are all second hand. Thus became the impetus behind the Great Gunpla Census of 2018. While planning things out I decided to add a few more questions to get a general idea of what the franchise fan base was thinking. After a few weeks of being called out on r/Gunpla and r/Gundam the census was completed as best possible by 839 fans. While parsing numbers and fixed answer questions is easy, trying to produce simple takeaways from open ended questions not so much, so I didn’t want to go crazy and find myself with a 15,000 collection of answers to sort through.  read more

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