Thursday, December 25, 2014

1/72 Algebra Soluh Barbaroi by Kotobukiya

It's time for a new gallery/review, this time I took two sessions of photos, the first one I was trying a more dramatic result with more yellows and reds and deep shadows, but as good as they look, the details don't pop, also this is the fist time I added photoshop to some pictures, on some of them I added lens flare. The first 3 are wallpapers.



Well what can I say about this model kit? I'm really surprised by Kotobukiya's Armored Core kits, I bought this, the Project Magnus, and another still on the box Armored Core Kit as an experiment, Project Magnus was on sale, and turned out to be a looker, I had my eyes on the other kit and this one for a long time and, they turned out to be allot of fun to put together.



 



I´ll take the negatives out of the way first.
I don't like when the weapons come in two opposite parts that snap together, and these ones are like that, so now, I start the build with the weapons, because ending the kit working on them, takes the edge of having builded an awesome mech, because they lack complexity. and you'll have to work allot on them to make them stand out.





Also this kit comes only with 3 weapons, a missile launcher, a shotgun and a heavy machinegun, that's a bummer, but the worst part is that none of the them stands out, the machinegun is ok, but the shotgun it's just a classic shotgun, it doesn't feel right a giant robot carrying a shotgun that you could find in a barn, the missile launcher looks like a fog light, so, I would recommend to you if you get this, spend a little extra and buy this guy a little firepower.



This kit also has almost no gimmicks at all, one off the few it has, have some minor problems, the doors which you can open to reveal a thruster need to me modified, the ones on the top are too loose, they'll flap around unless you tighten the door hinges and the door bellow, don't close because the thruster get's in it's way, so you'll have to reduce the walls on the door if you want it to close properly. 





Another problem, maybe the biggest one for me is that some joints are very fragile, specially after applying the top coat, but, if you loosen the joints before and mask them when you're top coating, you should have almost no problems.



Another thing that, is not a problem but it bothers me, it's that this kit comes with no decals, the only one is the one on the shoulder, but that's it, the rest you'll have to buy them, and at least for me, decals add allot to a kit.





The rest of the kit is pure awesomeness.



This kit is a looker, and while it might look small compared to another kits it will stand out thanks to it's aggressive design and great combination of colors.





The articulation is ok, enough to squeeze some awesome action poses without sacrificing any looks or proportions.
The details are sharp and great looking, they scream at you to paint them to stand out. which makes the lack of decals more important.



The kit does not come with the weapon holder, so, I made one from leftover parts.





With those big feet the balance is great, Kotobukiya could have added some extra movement on them  to allow extra posability and balance without sacrificing any looks, but, for some reason, they didn't do it.




My overall impression is that this kit is awesome, it looks great, it has decent posability, great colors, great details. The lack of aggressive weapons, poorly fitted gimmicks, weak joints and no decals, stop this kit from being pure awesomeness.
I'll give it an 8.5/10

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