Bandai Razor Crest

 With the explosion of popularity that is the hit show The Mandalorian, there was a huge lack of merchandise as Disney was focusing on the newest and last film in the trilogy The Rise of Skywalker.  Unfortunately for Disney they didn't expect The Mandalorian to be as popular as it was, and fans were screaming for anything Mando to stock add to their collections.

For us modeling fans we were expecting news from Bandai with a new kit announcement. But we didn't get anything for over a year. 

Finally in 2021 Bandai announced a Razor Crest and 1:12 Mandalorian buildable figure. There would be 2 versions of each; Silver Plated to recreate the Beskar Armour, and a standard kit molded in silverish plastic. 

There's a lot of resentment towards Bandai with this kit, as many find the smaller scale off-putting. And I can agree with many to an extent. But the reality is... I love Bandai, and despite the size I know I'm going to have fun with this kit. 

I didn't expect to get one of these, except to order it out of Japan. But this past week, a new stock showed up at my local comic book store, and I quickly pestered the store to put one aside for me (thank you again). Well today I got it, and it's everything I was hoping for!

Sadly no decals as usual with the smaller Bandai kits, but I'll be painting these markings on.

This is a great-looking kit, it's a shame that it's taken this long to get a Razor Crest model kit onto the market. 

For those who aren't impressed because of the scale don't worry as Revell Germany and Round 2 under the AMT brand are each coming out with their own Razor Crest in 1:72nd scales later on in the year or early 2022.

I'm eager to see this one done and I'm going to work on it as soon as this is published. It will be fun to see this next to my 1:144 X-wing and Millennium Falcon. 

Bandai 1:144 Death Star Turret

"But what about that tower"? - Wedge Antillies

 I got this turret as compensation for building the Bandai 1:72 A-wing for my brother. This Death Star Turret comes with the A-wing kit as an added bonus. It's 1:144th scale, and is a really nice addition for have. Personally I wish that I had a few more of these, it's a really great kit and adds a bit more to the scene.

This is a really simple kit, not much to it. And everything is on one sprue. The Laser Guns will hold the colored blaster beams, but this isn't mentioned in the instructions. On a side note these should be Green as they are Imperial.

I used Army Painter "Brush on Primer" This provided great coverage, and helped add some of the different shades of grey I needed for the panels.

Next was to add different Grey's to random panels. I began with Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey

I wanted to add a bit of color to they grey structure to help it be less drab. I used XF-68 Nato Brown, and XF-84 Dark Iron. I tried to keep these colors very random and limited. As too much and it quickly becomes distracting.

Masking was very easy. I placed Tamiya tape on the surface, and then traced around the panel. Taking a sharp hobby knife I easily cut around each panel.

The overall color was Vallejo Mecha Color White Grey (69.002) These are airbrush ready paints. And if you need a basic white grey sci-fi color this is a good one to have in a hurry.

Tamiya XF-77 IJN Grey, was lightly painted on the tips of the barrels to simulate burnt areas.

With the maskings removed and painting completed I was now able to begin weathering this model. First I would add a few layer of Future. This will help protect the existing paint, and make weathering much easier.

I used various artist oils and cleaned them with Mineral Spirits. I wanted to create some streaking effects going down the turret. I dabbed a bit of Burnt Umber on the underside of some of the raised squares. And with a damp brush, I pulled the pant downwards. I also applied random streaks of black in the middle sections just to help dirty things more.

One thing I did not expect, on the few squares that I left as the primer, once the Mineral Spirits were added the primer was instantly removed. This did not affect any of the other acrylics, only the primer. I was really surprised by this effect, so I'll pay attention to this in the future.

I really enjoyed this mini kit, if I can call it that. This is a simple and sweet kit, and I had a lot of fun adding a few extra details to it. The details on it are great and I love seeing this next to my 1:144 X-wing.