#hattersmodelbuilds

[madhattersez]

Model Kit Build: "Cup Gunpla RX-78-2" by Bandai and Cup Noodle

It's time to get... noodly?

Yup, it's an actual, officially licensed Cup Noodle container with a tiny Gunpla inside to build!

These were special Gundam 40th anniversary promos.

Oh my god. This is everything! The sprues, the instructions, and the stickers.

It's so goddamn adorable!

Everything is miniature up in here. Please notice how small the eye sticker is. Thankfully, I've got these razor-sharp tweezers in my kit!

Torso shot! It only took about 10 minutes to get this far, and I was taking my time. :P

And here it is in its full, itty-bitty glory, complete with Cup Noodle logo on the shoulder armor. :)

This was definitely a fun little kit to snap together. An entry grade entry grade, if that was a thing. One step above a gacha toy.

I just imagine a cool little kid in Japan getting a surprise with dinner one night and getting to put together a Gunpla before bed.

Or maybe it was some grown-ass otaku like me instead who went out and bought every possible variation and spent a night putting them all together in a row while eating multiple cups of noodles.

Posing it on top of the cup here so I can show the size comparison.

Super neato. :)

For more of my model kit builds on Tumblr, click here:

[madhattersez]

Model Kit Build: "Transformers Furai 11 Devastator" by Flame Toys

This was my first Flame Toys kit, and I have to say... Not my favorite.

Don't get me wrong, I love Devastator. He's one of my favorite Transformers of all time. My dream is to have a G1 version, even just a reissue.

So what made the experience all goofy? ... Pretty much everything, hah.

First of all, the instructions. Holy shit.

Where Bandai would have separated the above image into 4 or 5 different steps, this book would often combine so many small steps into one box, which was sometimes confusing and easy to get lost in.

There was also an entire missing step at one point, like they skipped a few pieces by accident. I eventually reverse engineered what was missing, but... Really?

Most of the print was ridiculously small. Like "I have to take my glasses off and hold it an inch from my eyeball" small. This is a photo of my pinkie, y'all. The words in the lower right hand corner are especially way too fuckin' smol.

Aside from the instructions, some of the design choices were also iffy - The plastic used was noticeably harder than your average Gundam, and the parts were laid out in weird positions sometimes, which meant lots of jaggies.

I don't know if it was due to the heavier plastic or less-than-perfect design (or both), but I had to use extreme physical force to get several pieces to snap or fit together. My hands were beat to shit when I was all done.

You know how each Constructicon has a windshield in vehicle form? This kit had red, shiny stickers for each, which was cool... but they completely missed a few windshield pieces on the sticker sheet, leaving some plain plastic sections that look off. That's a crazy thing to overlook on a model this pricey.

You may also notice that the purple and green colors on the model itself do not match the ones on the box or the instructions or the original character. That kinda sucks.

Still, my love for Devastator pushed me through.

After some turmoil and more stress than you would expect from a favorite hobby, I completed the big guy. All building faults aside, he looks pretty damned neat.

This one's definitely a big ol' fella. Here is a size comparison to a High Grade Gundam:

The issues with this model are disappointing - Mainly because Flame Toys has already made several other incredible-looking Transformers kits, including a new Arecee model coming up from the new movie.

The poor experience during this build kinda has me spooked, though.

Just so you know - Not that Hobby Lobby deserves your money - but they have Flame Toys models (and Gundams, too!) on a half-off sale quite often. Might be worth the try at that price.

For more of my model kit builds on Tumblr, click here:

[madhattersez]

Model Kit Build: "GF13-050NSW Nobell Gundam (Berserker Mode)" by Bandai

You may remember the last Nobell Gundam I built, who had a beam weapon that was a rhythmic gymnastics ribbon... Haha. Well, it's time for another installment of "Lady Gundams!"

This is another Nobell, which is basically the Gundam version of Sailor Moon. Unabashedly.

This model's different from the last one for a few reasons:

This one has a different color scheme, including soft pink pieces of main armor rather than white, purple and pink armor colors instead of blue and red, and orange hair instead of yellow.

You'll also notice a completely different hairstyle - This one is huge and fans way out behind her. In the anime, this is a system that lets the heat dissipate better than the standard configuration.

If you were around a few weeks ago, I actually built this much on Tumblr Live! It was pretty fun to share the building steps with folks that have never put models like this together.

Also, this shows just how tiny she is.

There is just something so fancy about these hands compared to other Gundams, haha.

Wow, I really, really love this color scheme.

And here is that crazy-ass hair I was talking about. It's a really good thing this model comes with a stand, or she'd be doing backflips all day.

It's attached to her head with one vertical and two horizontal joints, connected together at three different points itself, and is held up by two more pieces just to make it work.

I only mentioned this before, but didn't illustrate it - The Nobell Gundams feature a unique hip and chest swivel not seen in other Gundams, just to pull off cute and sexy poses... Yes, it's ridiculous, and yes, I'm here for it.

The final results? Wonderful!

Again, I absolutely love the garter. Cracks me up.

I went with the very-Sailor-Moon peace sign hand on this one, and a saber in place of a "Moon Stick."

I'm really happy with how these Nobells turned out, and it seems like they're helping turn my (now second) model shelf into a lady's night:

Hell of a party.

For more of my model kit builds on Tumblr, click here:

[madhattersez]

Model Kit Build: "The King of Fighters XIV Nakoruru" by Degenerator Industry

This one was interesting. To start with, I had no idea these models were even a thing!

I went "Christmas money" shopping at HobbyTown USA for some new kits to put together. I had already picked up the Devastator model from my previous post, but this Nakoruru one caught my eye immediately (even though it was stacked up high and pretty much out of sight).

I am an absolute Neo Geo freak and I love pretty much anything SNK-related, so I started flipping out. I think I took a look at the front of the box, then the side, then I just hugged it for several seconds. What a crazy, cool kit to stumble upon!

Interesting to see nature's protector here with her trusty hawk suddenly turned robotic. Nakoruru is also sporting some sort of mecha skirt, but... Okay. I was down no matter what.

I asked the people behind the counter if there were any more in this series, and they had no idea - Said a guy just came in and ordered it through them because he was gonna put it together and display it inside one of his anime rides at a car show, but then he never picked it up. My score, I guess!

By the way, there -is- a series, including Mai Shiranui, a transforming Metal Slug tank, and more.

I got home and opened the box... My initial reaction?

Holy hell, why the fuck are there so many sprues?! This looks like what you get in an MGEX Gundam kit, haha. Wow.

So, how does Degenerator Industry stack up against Bandai when it comes to instructions and quality?

Not great, I'm afraid.

While the instructions were far better than my experience with the Flame Toys kit, there were a couple flaws.

First, as seen above, there were a lot of the "your choice" icons, much like you see in Bandai kits.

This usually means that there are two or more styles for the part you're working on. However, unlike Bandai kits, there were no pictures of the differences between the two versions anywhere to be found. How am I supposed to pick if I don't know the changes between them and have no image to guide me? I didn't design the damned thing...

This led to me taking multiple pieces apart and switching to a different part when I later realized the actual functions of each option many steps later.

Just about the only "your choice" part that made sense was when I got to the "breast unit" step:

I would be terrified, too, honestly.

Well, after building both units, I had to choose between "smaller, rocky gray boobs that don't match the outfit" or "bigger, rounder boobs that match the rest of the figure.

After trying both out and consulting a Wikia to see that Nakoruru was now at least 20, I went ahead with the better matching, larger dodonhonkeros.

Another hidden problem I found in the directions and even the initial photos on the outside - I figured out just why there were so many damned sprues in this kit: There were nearly two complete sets of everything in the box. Why, you may ask?

Well, there are no pictures of this on the box or in the instructions in a completed state, but you can basically build a "more accurate to the games" version of Nakoruru, or choose to craft a "wacky cyber armor version" because reasons. Surprise!

When I got the model, I had no idea this was even an option.

There are separate directions for making this version of her, which makes sense, but there are two versions of Mamahaha (that's the falcon) - an alternate white and red motif and a basic Samurai Shodown brown motif - but only one set of instructions.

You see, they use the same sprue letters and instructions for both colors... That wasn't obvious until I'd already built the white and red version, but that's okay - I wanted to match it to her anyway.

So, you know how I said there's almost two copies of everything in the box? Well, the only thing preventing you from building both versions of each model is that there is only one torso for Nakoruru and one head for Mamahaha. If they would have included pieces for a second set of those, then there wouldn't be so many wasted parts when you're done.

I mean, if you don't plan on changing out the parts often, which... I imagine not many people would.

But, whatever, check out the finished product:

She's got an attitude because of the troubles I'm about to mention.

These both came out looking super cool, even though (much like the Devastator kit I built previously) it took a lot of physical force to fit some of the parts.

I even had to soak the head in boiling water for a bit to get the neck joint to pop in! Pretty annoying.

Aside from all that, the sprues had thick sections connecting to the parts instead of thin or precise ones, so I had jaggies on literally every single piece I snipped. It took a long-ass time to fix those as I went along.

I guess no one can beat Bandai at their own game, huh?

Ah, well. They are both done now! Nakoruru and Mamahaha look really rad.

One more mention of waste - With double the parts and such, check out how much bigger the box was than the model, lawl:

For more of my model kit builds on Tumblr, click here: