Review of Daban PG 1/60 Red Frame Astray

Posting something that I have had a lot of fun putting together. One of my favorite plastic kits from my favorite anime series, Gundam SEED. The Red Frame Astray looks amazing in the series and putting it together was a lot of fun too. So without further ado, lets get into the review.

The box as expected is quite big but not as big as the newer PG kits like Unicorn or Banshee. The packing is not as sturdy as well but does a reasonable job of protecting the runners. 

Comes with the usual two booklets, one giving more details about the suit design and the other about the assembling. 

The Plastic is pretty standard Daban quality, nothing horrible and snaps fit together easily without any major issues. The plastic can get stressed while cutting off the runner so better to be careful about it. 

The finished legs with all the bells and whistles attached. Nice firm snap fit with no loose hanging pieces on it.

The finished waist attached to the legs. Pretty good snap fit and nice detailing on the legs. The articulation follows Bandai as much as I can tell.

The kit comes with an LED for the head which as expected will not last long with the LED on. I personally feel its too much of a hassle to change batteries when they run out but some may actually feel its worth the effort. You need to open the head carefully to pull out the LED and change battery. Not worth it, in my opinion.

Looks great so far, as always no loose pieces and snug snap fit.

Arms fixed and ready to snap on. I especially liked the articulation on the arms.

Finally all fixed together. Missing the weapons now

Since this isnt the kai version, it doesnt come with the second sword. So just one sword, beam rifle and shield. The sword looks very good though

Finished kit. Cheers!!

Review of CubicFun 3D Puzzle: Sultan Ahmet Camii Blue Mosque (321 Pieces)

The last 3D puzzle was a beer house so the next one should be the entirely opposite, a place of worship. One of the most famous landmarks in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the Sultan Ahmet Camii Blue Mosque or famously known as just the Blue Mosque. Lovely ottoman style architecture and comprises of 321 pieces. The box is quite bulky for this series (33 x 22.7 x 6 cm) with nice box art and firm packing to protect the paper and EPS board pieces in the runners.

The instruction manual is of nice quality, nicely printed and has a bit of history about the monument in both Turkish and English languages. Maybe they plan to target a Turkish audience with this kit.

The runners are nicely packed and the pieces are easy to take off. Just that since they are a little fragile, it is better to be very careful taking them off the runners. The pieces are labelled as well so that helps a lot, I think. The snapfit is quite secure and firm. So great job with the kit there. The finished product is quite big so prepared to make space for the kit after you are done.

Definitely recommend this kit to anyone interested in architecture. The kit is on the fragile side compared to a plastic block set. But the kit does things that a plastic box kit cannot do because of the material used.

Review of Daban PG 1/60 Unicorn

Sharing a really old review of a gundam kit, Daban PG 1/60 Unicorn.

The box as usual with other PG kits, is quite big with nice packaging.

 Usual Daban quality and great snap fit. No major issues as far as I can remember. Daban quality has improved significantly over the last year

Behind of the chest piece. Very good quality and no issues with panel gaps

The legs are great snap fit. The plastic quality is very good and the snap fit is easily done without any stress on the fingers. The leg transforms smoothly.

The finished waist and snapped all together. Very nice. Good snapfit.

The finished arms. One complaint is that some parts won't snap together as tight as you would want. But all in all, shouldn't be a problem unless you take it to a real fight 

Arms snapped on and looking very impressive

The weapons with the unicorn. Two Gatling guns, one bazooka, one beam rifle. And the shield

All fully loaded and looking great. No major issues, except some issues with pieces that can be damaged easily while cutting off the runner. Especially the clear parts

Review of CubicFun 3D World Style Beer House (Germany) 42 Pieces

Hi guys,

Doing something different today. The 3D World Style Beer House (Germany) from Cubicfun. It has 42 pieces. Comes nicely packed, about the same as a small folio. Made of paper and foam board.

Two runners with pieces nicely marked and a nice manual as well. Easy to assemble and finished quite fast in about an hour or less. Not a bad kit to start off for newbies.

Review of DECOOL 3360 Race Truck

The first of the "Technic" kits for me....and I shall always remember this one.

The box is not big and is approximately 42 x 30 x 6.5 cm. It has nice box art and is adequate for the price of the kit. This is a 2 in 1 kit, meaning you can use the same parts to make two different vehicles but not at the same time.

Inside the box there is a manual and sticker sheet. The parts are neatly separated and I think they are easier to go through compared to Lepin kits. The manual has instructions for just one vehicle but Decool is good enough to have a QR code clearly visible on the box to download the instructions for the second vehicle.

The fixed chassis, drive train and steering.Quite impressed with the construction. The plastic as expected is not high quality but it does it's job. The instructions are easy to follow except in some places where they used the lengths for the grey shafts. Visually check before proceeding to fix.

The V8 engine..from the looks of it will make a lovely sound at full throttle :-)

Finished model. Worth the time and effort. Was a lot of fun building it. Definitely two thumbs up.  Now to separate the parts and build the truck from it.

Finished truck. Great kit and does what it advertises. Comes with a part separator in case you were wondering. 

Review of LEPIN 20001 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

One of my favourite kits..The LEPIN 20001 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This set comes with a total of 2704 pieces and a drive train. More on it later though. 

Without wasting further time, here we go. Firstly the box is massive...it really is with great minimalistic box art. Approximate box size is 47.5 x 14.5 x 37.5 cm. The Porsche logo is blurred out but it doesn't take great eyesight to make it out. 

Inside the box, the parts are separated into 5 boxes. and again, with what logic? I dont know for sure. The wheel rims and tyres get their own packing so that was a good touch, I think. And the instructions are massive.

Remove the instructions and you find the stickers along with the rubber bands, that look pretty adequate

First of you start with the gear shift mechanism. All good but the mother of all headaches start when you find that the packets have not been labelled so initially you have to go through all the packets to find the right part. Better to separate the parts before you start as well as invest in a block organizer maybe.

Its a nice fun build, not too many loose parts. Atleast nothing horrible. After getting a system to the parts madness, you can enjoy the build part. The gear set up looks very "responsive" hehe.

The steering wheel fits nicely with the drive train and all the rubber bands. 

Front suspension fits on. All parts are secure without nothing loose. Looks like a real treat coming together.

The outer frame of the car kinda fits onto the main chassis. So you need to fit that separately first.

Which then snaps onto the chassis without any hitches

Love the colour scheme..makes it look bumble bee-ish

Both seats in with no where to go.

The body parts are on and looking good so far

Firstly part wrongly exchanged. Instead of orange beam, I got a grey one. And another piece missing which can be easily spotted.

I have to say the satchel is a a nice touch to go along with the whole car.

And it fits in nicely under the hood. Looks great. But when I tried to use the gear drive train..nothing happened. Maybe I was doing something wrong but in any case, the finished thing looks great for display as well.