Bandai -/- Star Destroyer 01

I was really surprised to hear the news that Bandai had taken the Star Wars licence away from FineMolds. And I was again surprised to learn that Bandai was coming out with smaller Mech kits. Happily surprised I might add.

I've built several of their Yamato 2199 mecha kits and loved ever minute of building them. Lately Bandai have also come out with Macross Mecah kits that equally look appealing. But lets dive into No.01 of their new Star Wars kits. 

This is a kit Star Wars fans (like my younger brother) have been wanting for a long long time.... but bigger... still he was thrilled with the news of a Star Destroyer his favourite ship in the Star Wars universe.

straight out of the box it looks really great. The details are clean and well defined, molded in a light grey so you don't have to paint it.

Nice display stand included, with what looks like a spot for a name plate? A quick sticker would have been quite nice.

Yeah, with the detail on this the MPC kit can suck it!

If you've got a youngster, whose into Star Wars and you want to introduce them to modelling, this is a great kit to do it. They are a bit pricer than other Bandai Mech kits - 600 Yen compared to Y340. But it's worth it. Simply taking this kit building it straight from the box unpainted and perhaps a wash and you'd have a fantastic looking model. Can't wait for Bandai to make a Y-wing and Snow Speeder!

Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit

Hi everyone, this is a bit different. For those of you that don't know, i'm Rebelsatcloudnine's little brother, Das Wolfgarde or simply Wolfgarde. He's been asking me to post pictures of my models on his blog for a while now and well here they are, well at least one of them.

Unlike my brother, I prefer to paint more fantasy and sci-fi based miniatures compared to his more historical or modern models. I mostly prefer to build models form Games Workshops Warhammer 40000 and Warhammer fantasy, and a few others, but I mostly build Warhammer 40000 or Warhammer 40k miniatures. And this is one of them.

This is the Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit. (older edition.) I built this one years ago, only it had a different paint scheme, red, an off black and a light grey colour scheme. I was never fully happy with it and my skills weren't at the level there are at now. So years later I took it apart and and decided to repaint it. And i'm very pleased with the redesign, I was able to add more detail and highlights then I was able to do with the original paint scheme. I went with a dark green, almost a dark grey base coat, then added a light grey highlight to that. For the green I used a an almost olive green base coat, then used a light green as a highlight. For the orange markings I used a bright orange  as the base coat and then a light yellow/orange for the highlights. As for the metallic parts I just used a silver base coat and added a black wash on top of that. Added a pale blue for the sensors and lights. And after that I added some brown paint on the base and some grass and called it done.

I am really pleased that my skills have developed to the point I can make my oldest models look better. Hope you enjoy. 

Paints Used: 

Formula P3: 

Quick Silver. 

Meredius Blue.

Cryx Bane Base. 

Cryx Bane Highlight. 

Ordic Olive. Wurm Green. 

Khador Red Highlight. 

Heartfire.

Citadel:

Shade: Nuln Oil

Airfix 1:72 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate"

I was thrilled when late 2014, Airifx announced a new Japanese model kit to their 2015 line. I was even more thrilled when at long last I finally had one in my hands. I was less than thrilled when the project went south and botched up.......

I admit the face that my model was ruined left me quite upset, and I decided to place it back in the box until a time when I felt like restoring it again. I have a Revell 1:25 1968 Bullitt Mustang, and several years a go I tried to paint it, without the correct shade of green. A few years later I got the exact color (Highland Green) and decided to try using oven cleaner with the kit, sealed in a bag for a few weeks. This method worked perfectly! And I was able to save the kit, for a later date.

I decided after this success that I would try it out on this kit too. And it didn't work out as well... I partially blame it on the Humbrol plastic being quite soft, especially compared to the Revell sytrene. However after a day of mulling over the kit I decided to try sanding it down, and I was thrilled to get it back to basically it's original format. I rescribed some of the main panel lines and began the restoration process.

I decided this time to build the Pearl Harbour attack version, and at this point I had a new detailing airbrush and thought it would be a fun challenge. I also decided on using a lighter green for the splotches Tamiya Nato Green, which I think worked really well.

I'm really thrilled again, that I was able to save this kit. And I'm really happy with how it turned out. I wasn't however able to completely restore the canopy, some of the paint from the previous work slipped through the tape, and it's on there pretty tight. I really enjoy looking at this kit as I walk by, a wonderful kit from Airifx, I'm definitely going to be ordering a second on and soon.