Nilyara's models

A place where I talk about model kits - mostly imported from Japan but not all.

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Frame Arms Girl Hatsune Miku. Hatsune Mechu, if you will. She's designed quite similarly to the other Frame Arms Girls (strictly speaking she's a Frame Music Girl but that's just what Kotobukiya call their Miku kits) with the same sort of hip joints and parts layout, so it's possible to swap parts with other Kotobukiya bishoujo kits like Megami Devices or stuff like Hexagear parts. I feel it's only a matter of time before I make her into some sort of robot warrior monster Miku.

It's also nice that she's not just like the regular Miku, she has Frame Arms Girl design elements too like the look of her legs and the speakers fitted around her waist. I particularly like the effect on her sleeves (though I couldn't get a clear photo) where there are waterslide transfers over clear plastic, which makes a neat floating text look.

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So this weekend I played the demo for Nitroplus' upcoming game Doll's Nest, which I have been waiting for since ... nearly a year ago? It's been delayed a bit whilst they finish it off.

The combat is pretty similar to Armoured Core but more importantly, I would bet money that the lead designer owns more megami devices, frame arms girls, and 30 minute sisters figures than I do (which is more than I will generally admit to owning). I am pretty sure the designs are based on those figures!

I expect I will probably be buying this game when it releases.

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Another Gundam from Witch from Mercury - Elan Ceres' Pharact. As with the other Witch from Mercury kits I've built, the construction of the model is really nice with good solid joints and a nice range of movement.

The model's wings in particular move quite well and can be easily shifted to show them at different angles, with the only issue I've found with posing being a tendency for the forearm sections that house the beam sabres to open up when moving the arms. It also has eight GUND-bits concealed under the wings (just about visible in the right wing in the first photo) which can be displayed outside, but you do need to somehow obtain some of the special GUND-bit bases. As of yet, I'm starting to wonder if the special display stands exist or if they're just a joke!

The clear parts of the model also make the sections which change when increasing the Permet score look really nice by using stickers and shaped detail underneath them, which is a good touch. A very nice kit.

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I don't have any photos yet (and have had to pack the model away as I'm planning to move at some point and don't currently have much space) but it turns out the special GUND-bit bases do in fact exist, and I got my hands on some!

They're fairly specific to each of the HG WFM kits which take them, and have a few different connectors to use depending on which Gundam you're displaying. I couldn't remember exactly how many I needed for all of the WFM Gundams I own, so hopefully I bought the right number of them...

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A customised 30 Minute Sister figure this time, made with parts bought separately. I think the parts here are Option Body A02, one of the Option Hair sets, Stealth Armour, and as for her limbs ... Mechanical Unit parts? Alas, it's long enough since I put her together that I don't remember and I'm guessing based on the list I have of parts that I've bought.

The claws and legs have some cool details like thrusters in the legs which can move, and the parts are really simple to assemble and switch around. As shown by the results with the armour parts (the purple bits came separately to the limbs) they're made to be easy to attach in different places with the standard connectors in 30 Minute Mission and 30 Minute Sister figure kits.

Fun to make and not as pricey as some models (such as Frame Arms Girls) though less detailed than some of the more expensive models. She still has a nice range of movement and the claw feet make her easy to pose stably. As with most of my experience with 30 Minute figures, a great figure to make when not in the mood to make something more complex.

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My second Guilty Princess figurine, this time Underwear Girl Ran. Again the figurine is made from good quality materials and has a really good range of movement, but the design isn't as nice as Kuon. Some parts of the figure - the two back sections of her hair especially - were rather awkward to assemble and required more force than I'd like at some peculiar angles. The back sections of her hair have two ball joints to allow plenty of movement and it took several attempts to get the hair pieces fully into these.

The other details of the figure are nice though, such as the alternate leg options - she has three sets of legs, one wearing kneesocks and shoes, one bare legs, and one set of bare legs which are crossed (though these are a bit awkward to attach). I've also coloured the blade of her sword with a Gundam marker as it looks a little dull with the plain black blade that it starts off with.

Overall I think the figurine looks very nice, though the hair is awkward to deal with (especially if switching faceplates) and some of the general construction means I like the other Guilty Princess figures I have assembled somewhat more.

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Another Gundam from Witch from Mercury - Elan Ceres' Pharact. As with the other Witch from Mercury kits I've built, the construction of the model is really nice with good solid joints and a nice range of movement.

The model's wings in particular move quite well and can be easily shifted to show them at different angles, with the only issue I've found with posing being a tendency for the forearm sections that house the beam sabres to open up when moving the arms. It also has eight GUND-bits concealed under the wings (just about visible in the right wing in the first photo) which can be displayed outside, but you do need to somehow obtain some of the special GUND-bit bases. As of yet, I'm starting to wonder if the special display stands exist or if they're just a joke!

The clear parts of the model also make the sections which change when increasing the Permet score look really nice by using stickers and shaped detail underneath them, which is a good touch. A very nice kit.

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As promised, here are some photos of the core fighter from the real grade RX-78-2 Gundam. Whilst you can fold the wings and tail as well as retract the cockpit (to fit it into the Gundam's torso as shown in the anime) if you want to, I've only shown it with these fully deployed. Folded up, it looks exactly as it does in the anime (minus Amuro sitting in the pilot's seat and complaining).

I've also attached the landing gear, though unlike the wings and tail this doesn't fold in and just detaches if you want to put it inside the Gundam. Even in a real grade kit there are limitations due to size! There are also some stickers to apply details, as with the main model, but I've not put these on due to the tiny size making them very fiddly.

Probably the cutest model plane I've ever owned, what with the boxy design and it being so small. As I think I noted when talking about the main figure, although you can put the core fighter inside the Gundam it does have a blank piece which fits in place of the core fighter if you want, allowing the core fighter to be displayed separately.

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The first of the Witch From Mercury High Grade kits I'm going to talk about - Chuchu's Demi Trainer. In keeping with its pilot's approach to conflict resolution (usually violence) it has more weaponry than the standard version of the Demi Trainer.

In keeping with my experience of other Witch From Mercury kits, I think Bandai have perfected the approach that they're taking with more recent HG kits and so the model is easy to assemble and quite nicely designed, though on this one specifically it can be a bit awkward to get the hands to grip the rifle due to the way that the gun's waist mount can be moved. A lot of the general assembly is similar to other WFM models but without losing their differing appearances, which definitely helps with ease of assembly.

It has a nice range of movement with some nifty joints to match the movements that you'd want, and (as I've found with most of the WFM kits so far, actually) the joints are decently solid and it feels quite nice to pose. It also has a good range of movement in the hips, ankles, and shoulders which I'd usually expect to be a bit more restricted due to the chunky armour, which is rather nice although I do find I can never quite line the feet up to be flat on whatever surface I've stood it on.

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My first Plamax kit and I am blown away by the quality! Maidroid Kuon from the Guilty Princess model series, who I built first because she's a robot catgirl ninja maid and ... well of course I had to build that!

The parts fit really nicely and it was an absolute joy to assemble. The figure also has a good range of motion in the joints without getting too complex (whilst it isn't as realistically poseable as a Frame Arms Girl, the assembly is a lot simpler and easier). This also extends to the tail, which is made up of three parts and looks to have been designed to allow a lot of different poses by clever positioning of the joints.

The waterslide transfer decals were also quite easy to apply as they aren't as small as those on a lot of model kits, though I still applied spray varnish over the top just to be sure - there are spare blank faceplates and waterslide transfers with facial details if you want to customise the facial expressions too, although I haven't used these yet. There are also a good number of accessories as she has three different faceplates along with blades for all of the weapons on her back (two katanas, two wakizashis, and two hooked blades that I can't remember the name of) as well as a giant shuriken and that device with the rotary chopper on the end.

I'm definitely looking forward to building other Plamax kits now and so I think I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a bishoujo figure kit without wanting the difficulty of assembly and painting that comes with some of the more complicated figures like Kotobukiya's Frame Arms Girls and Megami Devices.

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First post - my first real grade kit (that is, a more detailed 1/144 scale kit) and so of course it is the classic Gundam, the RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by Amuro Ray (and occasionally Sayla Mass) in the anime. The internal frame took a little careful work to ease up (top tip, when freeing up joints between parts that come fixed together do not attempt to rotate anything until you have the joint moving easily back and forth) but includes some really nice sliding joints made by having cantilevered sections onto which the armour plates attach - I've included a photo with the knee bent to show this. It also includes partly articulated hands, something I hadn't previously thought possible on this scale. It also comes with the core fighter (which I will put in another post) and can actually fit this into the middle of the Gundam as shown in the anime though it includes parts to keep the core fighter separate (which I have done).

I did have issues with a couple of the stickers, especially on the inner elbows where the sticker has to be bent several times and so due to it being so narrow I couldn't get it to stay on and just painted the golden colouring on the inner arm instead. Most were easy to apply and I've spray-varnished the model (with Mr Hobby topcoat, if you're curious) to avoid any of them coming off, though the decals are a nice quality and go on well. Owing to their size, I would recommend using tweezers to apply them though.

A bit challenging to make but a very rewarding kit if you have the patience for it - certainly not one for beginners but a strong recommendation on this one. The only real issue I've found is that the display stand attaches onto the storage hook for the bazooka, so you can't really display it flying with the bazooka stowed and it can be a little awkward to attach a display stand.