#hitekkai

[runawayspirits]

Ginkei – Kagari Hitekkai • Joe Gloria

[kairogc]

斑鳩 Ikaruga - Shinra Hitekkai

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Pm1Bgn

[reversemoon255]

Kotobukiya 1/144 Hitekkai Ikaruga (White)

This was purchased purely because it’s in my scale. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played and actually really like Ikaruga, but I didn’t get the game until after I preordered the model kit. And even then, I still haven’t managed to beat the second boss. Speaking of bosses, when I started building this kit I couldn’t help thinking how cool it would be to build a 1/144 Eboshidori to go with it. Now, after finishing this kit, I’m not so certain I’d be up for that...

Caution: This is not a Gunpla. This is the type of model kit that requires tweezers, glue applied on the tips of toothpicks, decal solution, and a ton of patience. I did not know that going in, and feel it is important to know that.

The Good: This is an extremely detailed model kit. Like, the amount of small pieces would make a Real Grade Gunpla blush. It has a couple joints in the wings (8 per, I think), you can move the plates around a bit to expose some inner workings, and it has a few spare parts (extended landing gear, a plug for when not displayed on its stand, and a mysterious double ball joint):

The Bad: There were many a time where I questioned why something was two or three pieces, when it could have easily been one. It felt like pieces were sized for difficulty. Also, even though those wings are articulated, I do not want to move them at all since the point where they connect together and to the main body is held together entirely by glue with no attempts to use friction to connect them at all. It feels like a “build it and never touch it again” model kit.

The Details: I did not do a lot, yet at the same time I sort of did? For the most part I just panel lined everything in typical black, but the panel liner I’ve been using (a GM-301P) died on me, and the replacement I had on hand (a GM-20) sucks. I got it to work with a couple pass-throughs in most places, but had to apply black paint to the kanji on the wings and clean it. The biggest thing I worked on were the wings. I am not good at applying water decals, actually tearing three while trying to apply them, so I opted to paint the wings instead. The left wing (pic3) is as close as I could get it to the given decals as I could, and the right wing was my own attempt at creating some asymmetricallity in the design. I think they both turned out nicely, though pale in comparison to the original’s detail work.

And just for some fun, here’s the official artwork of the Ikaruga’s wings:

The in-game model:

and mine, again (at least I was closer to the real thing than the game):

Overall, this is not for the faint of heart to attempt. After finishing it, I don’t think I was at a high enough skill level to even attempt something like this. But at the end of the day, it’s a cool looking model kit from a pretty fun game; just prepare to get frustrated if you attempt the build.