[kamen rider Q]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShiShiLeo

Looks great, I suppose you had to cut out the sticker?

[ShiShiLeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamen rider Q

Looks great, I suppose you had to cut out the sticker?

Yep, I am a fan of mutilating the stickers. I do it all the time with SO-DO. I use a a "spudger" tool and pointed tip cotton swabs to help apply stickers.

[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShiShiLeo

Heh, I did the same thing with my Ghost Driver. Really strange that Bandai didn't even give an option for a separate eye sticker.

[ShiShiLeo]

Long time no post.

I've built both the Onitaijin and Daizyujin & Dragon Ceasar minipla. I'll just give some quick thoughts.



The Mini-pla line continues to be great. Onitaijin is big, bulky, and really grabs attention. The articulation is excellent and the stickers are very serviceable. Mini-pla kits in Japan are something like $20 and for that price, they are some of the most fun model kits you can buy. By the time they get to the west they look more like $40, for which the recommendation will have a few caveats. But if you like the suit, they are absolutely worth getting.

So let's move on to the Zyuranger mecha.

What can I say, the Daizyujin robo is perhaps one of the most iconic giant robots in history. Side by side with the Super Robot Chogokin release, the proportions start to look really off.



That chest piece is really massive, and right behind it is a somewhat skinny looking frame. I also find the SaberTiger's head to be too long- it sticks out way too far, and I wonder if its to better hide the long fore legs.

Still the engineering on the kit is very impressive for the size. You just will never find a combining mecha at this size with this articulation.

Yes the stickers are still a bummer, but you know what, the original DX toys had stickers too, these kind of toys aren't meant to last forever. That's just part of the charm.

If you're wondering how I painted the kit. For efficiency's sake, I actually take out all the silver runners and spray paint them with some Tamiya Silver. I keep all the parts on the runners but remove as many runner points as I can. You want to try and remove the ones that will show, and keep the ones that will be hidden on the kit.



This saves a bunch of time and ensures a somewhat even color consistency across all like parts. The downside to this is, unless you cover some specific parts, the paint makes them ever-so-slightly thicker, resulting in very tight joints. This may actually be a good thing, but on my kit the joints ended up being so tight, I was worried I was going to stress the plastic.



As for Dragon Ceasar...



This is clearly a premium product. The parts separation is much better than your average Super Mini-Pla, and even some of the gold parts are nicely plated.

For this kit I got to try out the new Gundam Marker EX Yellow Gold. The result are amazing! The original Gundam Gold marker has always been kind dull and dark, and this new one is a great match to a lot of the gold paint used on Bandai kits. We finally have a good gold marker!

In the end, are these kits still worth getting? I think so. Despite the flaws the kit is still one of a kind for the moment. Out of the box, the kit is great. With some paint and detail work, it's even better. I would have liked to see alternative hand parts.

So what did I paint?

For Daizyujin:
Gundam Marker Black paint on the head's "cheek armor", various small areas on each of the mecha, the wheels on SaberTiger.
Tamiya silver paint on all silver parts.
Gundam Marker EX Silver on various small areas of each mecha, triceratops feet, saber teeth.
Gundam Marker Blue on the waist piece, middle of the chest.
Gundam Marker Yellow on lower chest area.
Gundam Marker EX Yellow Gold on the sword.

For Dragon Ceasar:
Gundam Marker EX Yellow Gold on gold runner parts, each tail segment, should hinges, green knee pad parts.
Gundam Marker Black on various areas: upper thighs, gold arm pieces. The guide area for this is embossed so the paint is a little sloppy.

[MrWilliamGraham]

Thank you for sharing these! I picked up Daizyujin pre-owned/pre-built but unpainted, so I appreciate your breakdown of your approach. While I agree the sabertooth foot looks a bit off, I actually like the wide chest. It makes it feel more robotic and less of a stunt suit. I wish I had gotten the chance to build it, but I did have fun snipping off the nubs the first owner left behind

By the way, can you share if this new EX Yellow Gold is similar to the gold paint on So-Do Gaim?

[ShiShiLeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWilliamGraham

By the way, can you share if this new EX Yellow Gold is similar to the gold paint on So-Do Gaim?

In terms of the paint that's already there, I think EX Yellow Gold is a good match for the gold on the head. SO-DO Gaim already has some gold on the legs which are little more dull than the head ornaments. So EX Yellow Gold might actually be too bright and shiny.

If I were to do it again, I would probably paint the shoulder feathers in Yellow Gold but keep the other gold areas as I have them. OR I would paint all the gold parts with Yellow Gold and repaint over the prepainted gold on the legs.