Star Wars Bandai Kit Thread

[MULTIPLEX]

I have two Phasma's on preorder from CDJapan. Unfortunately, they are sold out. I had a feeling they wold be overpriced once the movie came out.

I haven't completed Boba yet. I actually intend on converting him to the ROTJ look when I do get to him. Vader is complete and one of my best works I think. I will post up the Vader kit next. Stay tuned.

Regarding the Clone Wars figures. Yes they have terrible articulation but they are just so damn unique. I actually really like the figure stands. Never have I seen such a well made and large stand. One of my favorites is Mace and Dooku. They captured them perfectly and showed their true powers. Grievous too.

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@Ricardo

I decided to take out my Boba kit since you mentioned it. I've been dreading the work involved in giving him the "worn in" look. I decided to give it a whirl.

To my surprise, the "cloth" pieces of his outfit were easy to weather. I used Tamiya X-19 Smoke to add that dirty look. But the Smoke paint alone was way too glossy as you can see below. Take a look at where it says 1/12 on the rack. Notice how it reflects too much. I applied the X-19 Smoke alone to that test area. Directly below it I used X-19 Smoke with a few drops of X-21 Flat Base added to remove the reflection. What a difference So I used this formula to do the whole rack.



And here is a direct side by side comparison. Even straight from the rack, it's just too glossy for my liking.

Left painted --- Right unpainted


I am really happy how this is turning out. I may try to paint the rest tomorrow.








And the completed rack

[wedge1021]

Looks great, that makes a big difference. I'll have to try something similar for mine.

I'm about two-thirds done my 3PO. It's about as much as I can do without paint, so I'll have to get out and buy a few colours now before finishing him off.

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^Can't wait to see your final product.

Here's a teaser of the Boba kit helmet being held by my Black Series Boba.. I built the figure already. WOW! I am really impressed with this kit, although I tweaked the colours a bit more to my liking. Can't wait to start adding the battle damage. Oh and btw, I'm painting it ROTJ colours instead of ESB



Reference Image of kits with no stickers applied.

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The Build

This set has probably one the best Vader head and body sculpts around. The likeness and body proportions are perfect IMO. The build was fun and satisfying. The best part was the helmet and how glossy it is. Just like the movie. The accessories are great too but more on that later.

The biggest downsides to this set are the cape and the stickers. The cape looks good but is impractical. It hinders posing greatly. Plus mine actually broke when I tried to take it off the back pegs. One of the pegs snapped. The stickers are very frustrating. Many of them are too tiny and are not cut the proper size leaving them hanging over the edges, especially the fine button detail work on the chest plate and the belt. The lightsabers had zero stickers and are cast in black. WTF! Because of these reasons, I would highly recommend you add the painted highlights yourself. It doesn’t take that much effort.


Paint

Colour Palette (Tamiya Acrylic Paints)

Gun Metal X-10 for mask pattern (see reference picture below), and shoulder pads
Semi Gloss Black X-18 for collar accents, should pad accents. X-1 Gloss would have been better.
Clear Red X-27 for eyes, accents on lightsaber hilt and lightly applied to head scar/ears
Gloss Red X-7 (chest buttons)
Light Green X-15 (chest buttons)
Royal Blue X-3/White X-2 mix (chest button)
Gold Leaf X-12 for circuit chips under helmet but I probably will darken them a little more
Flat Aluminum XF-16 for lightsaber hilt, belt and mask accents, plus circuitry accents on top of helmet with dome taken off

The skin on the back of Vader’s head is exposed with some scars when the dome is taken off. To achieve that pasty skin looks I mixed a bunch of colours together. If I recall correctly I used a mixture of XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan, XF-18 Medium Blue and probably some XF-2 White as well.

The tooth pick method I described earlier was used a lot. Just safely scrape off the excess paint and it looks professional.









The best part of this set was I learned something about Darth Vader I never knew before. In Episode IV his face mask is actually not all black. There is metal on it and in a weird pattern. I had to rewatch Episode IV over and over to convince myself I wasn’t going crazy.






The Cape

Bottom line, it sucks. Mine broke. It’s not functional. So I put the black series Vader cape on The Bandai kit. Much better! Just need to paint the chain black.




Verdict

Most impressive. I’d give this set a solid 9/10 once all the finishing touches are added and cape swapped.

[wedge1021]

Nice! Looks much more accurate than the Hasbro version.
One other thing about Vader I only noticed once I got the Bluray release and a HDTV - Prowse's eyes are visible in some close up shots (particularly in the TIE Fighter scenes).

[Richardo]

Very cool Multiplex! While I appreciate the sculpt on Vader, the finicky stickers and poor cape design are deal breakers for me... I'm sticking with the 6" Black Series.

Boba looks really cool too, but I don't have the patience to paint/weather. That's why C3PO was a no brainer to buy.

Thanks for these pics though! Let's see Phasma when she ships.

[MULTIPLEX]

Originally Posted by wedge1021

Nice! Looks much more accurate than the Hasbro version.
One other thing about Vader I only noticed once I got the Bluray release and a HDTV - Prowse's eyes are visible in some close up shots (particularly in the TIE Fighter scenes).

Originally Posted by Richardo

Very cool Multiplex! While I appreciate the sculpt on Vader, the finicky stickers and poor cape design are deal breakers for me... I'm sticking with the 6" Black Series.

Boba looks really cool too, but I don't have the patience to paint/weather. That's why C3PO was a no brainer to buy.

Thanks for these pics though! Let's see Phasma when she ships.

Thanks guys!

My ratings are based on my satisfaction with the final result and my opinion of how it compares to the source material. So the scores really only mean something to me and this Vader ticks all the right boxes for me.

Speaking of Black Series Vader. I have seen pics of people swapping the Black Series head with the new Walgreen's Vader head sculpt and painting it. Looks really good.

I'm working on Boba right now and this figure is quickly turning out to be my favorite.

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For anyone who is attending OCC, there is a dealer as soon as you walk in on the left that is selling Bandai 1/12 kits for a very reasonable price. I just saw C-3P0 for $40. Had others too.

Edit: it was The Toy Trove

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Anyone interested in Bandai 1/12 Captain Phasma?

Saw this today. Never used them but I hear they are reliable.