1/72 Rayleonard 04-Alicia Unsung by Kotobukiya (Gallery Updated)

Since April 22 I have not completed a kit, I was a little burnt, the VF-1 was one of those kits that take a toll on, I didn't enjoyed that one at all, after that, the fiasco with the VF-0D. It took me 3 months to complete this kit, but at the end of the road thanks to it, I regained a little of my lost love for the hobby and some of the trust on my skills.

I wanted to do the Alicia Unsung since I started on this hobby, I remember my first order from japan I bought the VF-27 and the Armored VF-25S I was all about macros and stayed that way for a while, but this design was always on the back of head, and that changed almost a year ago when I finally purchased this plamo, and I must say, I'm not disappointed.

On terms of looks, this kit is amazing, the best looking kit on my shelves so far, it is an eye catcher, with aggressive almost menacing design it looks like nothing else, it feels massive and strong, but  fast and agile at the same time, it's like the baby from a marriage between a Tank and an F1 race car.

But the looks are not for free,I spent allot of time gluing, sanding, removing excess plastic and seam lines, test fitting, filling gaps, painting, re-painting, doing some mods, it was truly a work of love, one that I would gladly do again.

It looks impressive even without a pose, it feels massive even if he's not the tallest or bulkiest kid on the classroom.

I spent weeks adding waterslides and decals, some of them were leftovers from other kits, I also did chipping, dry brushing and washes for the weathering.

I said it before and I'll say it again, the lack of waterslides is a minus on the Kotobukiya brand and I used most of my extra waterslides on this model.

The weapons as always were a pain, to complete, those things are no fun, tree or four parts sandwiched together and that's it, no color separation, almost no gimmicks on them, on the plus side Kotobukia includes an extra weapon not mentioned on the box or on the manual, but that's not a problem thanks to the boring engineering on the weapons, you can figure them out without the need o a book.

Talking about weapons I took the picture with the Project Magnus to show the other weapon.

It looks tough, but it isn't, a complex design such as this one requires lots of tiny fragile pieces, posing it it's a nightmare, nowhere to put your fingers without the risk of breaking something, which I did.

I did a few modifications, I added the back fin from extra parts that come on the box, also did a few extra details on the thighs, and extended the neck.

If you don't modify the neck the head will be sunk on the gap, hidden under there with just a millimeter or so to move from side to side, that's why I extended the neck, now it has better movement and higher profile, now you can actually see the head.

Overall, this kit have his chips on the winning number, the looks, impressive, paint and glue are a must, just a few gimmicks, no waterslides, poor movement, very fragile, but even with all those cons on its side, the complexity of the build very fine details and outstanding looks are the trademark of this model, so this is a winner on my book, one kit that I would not recommend if you're new to the hobby, but, if you have some experience, you're looking to improve, you want to try something new and impressive, the Alicia Unsung it's a must for you.

7/10

Finally!!!!

I'm proud to say that the Alicia Unsung it's done, it took me some time, but I think it's one of the most impressive kit´s I have builded, tomorrow I'll take the pictures for the gallery so you can expect to see the gallery/review in just a few more days, I'm super exited to show this in detail, that's why I posted this pre-gallery pics.

Evangelion 3 + 1

A new striking image from Evangelion 3+1 has been released, this is gonna be epic!!!

This is taking forever!!!

I promised to myself that my next post would be for the finished Alicia Unsung kit, but it's taking me allot of time.
when I ordered this kit almost a year ago I planed to do every single detail, and i'm doing that, this is one of the most complicated and time consuming projects I have done, I wont lie, I have taken a few days off from this kit to meditate how I will do certain things, trying to plan ahead, and taking my time has paid, I'm in love:

the design of this mech is simply awesome, and you have to give allot of credit to the engineers that turned this complex design into a plastic kit, 

shure there are problems, allot of them, but the end result is so good that once you finish a piece you'll forget about the problems it gave you.

I'm decaling the hell out of it, and that's taking time, i was planing on doing chipping on the paint, now i'm not so sure, i love the way it looks so far.

also i have made a few modifications like the one seen bellow, I'm making the neck larger in order to see if the head looks and moves a little better.

N-WGIX

On the last few months my interest for Armored Core model kits have peaked, and as I´m giving the final details on the Alicia Unsung (decals, weathering and Top coat) I have found awesome stuff online, I even got my hands on some discontinued kits for a reasonable price. Most of the stuff that catches my eye is from AC4 and AC For Answer, on AC5 and AC Veredict Day the mechs look very much alike, the weapons are awesome though. on the opposite on AC4 and ACFor answer, the Mechs from each faction have a very distinctive look, but weapons were not as impressive or detailed, anyway, the only AC that really stands out in the ACVD game, is this one, the N-WGIX

This was the winner of the 2014 kotobukiya contest, the AC itself its based on the White Glint but as you might expect it is heavily modified, this had to take some serious skills to do, I'm no expert, but I think this is the best AC scale model I have seen. 

This is one of those designs that I have never undestood why they have not been made, I get that they focus on the "hero" stuff, but the game has no heroes!!! so why not make the best AC available? only the Kotobukiya guys knows why. 

As time passes by it's more difficult that kotobukiya decides to do a kit, it is a shame, as well as the diminished interest on the AC kits from the brand, I guess a new game could reignite the interest, but there are no AC games announced for the moment.

The future is not very bright for those of us who like to build Armored Core Kits, the one Kotobukiya is releasing this august looks good, but very expensive for what you seem to get, so I guess it wont sell very well, and that will reduce our chances of one day having this awesome mech in our collection, I hope I´m wrong.

Anyway if you know who made this and his/her site please let me know so I can give credit, also bear with me, I promise I'll upload some new stuff soon, work has been crazy and the kit itself is taking me more time than I anticipated, thanks for watching.