Review: Strike Noir (Dragon Momoko)

Here's another kit coming from Dragon Momoko. Yet another version of the strike. Don't get me wrong it looks great and all but what's new with this one.



The Strike Noir is one of the main suits used in Gundam Seed Stargazer. It’s basically a specialized Strike E. with a more melee/close ranged IWSP pack.


For those who don’t know, Dragon Momoko a manufacturer of third party kits. The designs they use are redesigns of Bandai so the details of the details of their kits are different from Bandai’s (more on that later). Did they bring their “A” game with this kit? So with that in mind, here's the review of Dragon Momoko's Strike Noir. 




THE BOX







Again with the same white cover. The same white manual. Even the same brown box that we know and love. It comes with 33 runners, carefully placed in 9 plastic packaging. The manual has another momoko trademark, the unusual, unexplainable names of the runner (like pj2 or xb?? Like what the heck?) Other than that it's more or less the same as the other strike. It also comes with the usual sticker and waterslide decals. 

THE KIT

Sharpen your hobby knives cause yo gonna do a lot of shavin'. The Noir keeps its signature Dragon Momoko tight fitting pegs. Almost all polycaps needed it. Some armor panels (like the back armor, elbow, details on the wing) also like to pop out. Nothing out of the ordinary for a third party kit.

BUT THE DETAILS… Incredible work from DM for the details. Really really nice. It's all I can say about it. Really good job. Aside from that, it comes with 2 bendy wire for the rocket anchor. But I'm not really a fan of that. 

PLASTIC

Good plastic quality. It's not coated so awesome for straight build. Not really daban standard, but really far from hongli. 

POSABILITY

Very posable. Arms doesn't go falling off. Make sure you hear a snap when fitting the legs, so it won't go falling(just like the dm tallgeese). Overall good posable kit. 

MY THOUGHTS

Shoulder armor is hard to snap. Results into stress marks.

Be very careful with the articulated hands. It is prone to tearing when you're not careful. (I lost a finger and the connecting joint to the gunpla gods)

Non articulated hand have problems holding the handguns.

 Super tight fit when changing the hands. 

VERDICT

It's a cool looking gundam. DM really did a great redesign with this kit. The tight fit issue is not really a big problem. Overall, awesome kit. Get this kit! It's worth the moolah.

85/100 

peace

What's the next review? The Dragon Momoko Strike Noir. That's what's next.

Up next. literally fresh from the box. Please subscribe to my blog so you can see any new updates first.

Review: Super Vehicle 001 (Billion Spark Craftsmanship)

Hello guys, I'm the new reviewer for Tabletop Newtype. First of all, allow me to introduce myself, I am Cat_Casval. I have been building model kits for a couple of years now, with my brother. I started my modeling hobby from a bunch third party kits, then got some Bandai and even Tamiya airplane models.


So with that out of the way, I'd like to introduce the Super Vehicle 001 M.S. Evolve by Billion Spark Craftsmanship.






It's basically the tank you ride while playing Metal Slug (a really reaaally old game).


After a quick google search of the company, I discovered something really important. It is very hard to read Chinese if you don't know the language.

Kidding aside, the company is almost unknown, the only thing I found was the slug flyer. The sv-001 original design was copied from the manufacturer "Wave". They say it's a 1/35 on the kit but the original is 1/24. Honestly, I don't really know. It's from a game with deformed characters.

Now onto the box.






It's a very good box.


Inside the box are 13 or so runners that are very neatly packed by two's. A thin manual. Some stickers. And.... screws?


Whenever I see screws I faint.

THE KIT

In all honesty, its a very nice kit. Some tight pegs here and there. An irritatingly loose gatling gun cover.


But overall a good build

EXCEPT FOR ONE THING. I don't know of it's me or the kit itself. There's this one part "C2-3" that always gets in the way of the armor.


You could not put it together with this part. Plus it keeps falling off the frame. So I just threw it away. No harm done to the kit.



Another thing that's nice is the inner frame. It's cool and kinda functioning (some pistons work but are just there for design purpose unlike the barbatos' frame pistons). Why would i need to have a really nice inner frame, you ask? If it's just gonna be covered by the armor?

Lo and behold, it also comes with clear armor! Im not really a fan of clear armor on kits. I would like to think that the inner frame should always be hidden, its just for the eyes of the builder. So I didn't build it. That's just me. But I'll admit, it is really cool.




PLASTIC QUALITY

It's thick but surprisingly good. Not really Bandai good but not t.t.hongli bad either. It's not prone to stress marks. The only bad thing is the plated parts. You need some touch up paint especially for the search light on top of the tank. It's the only shiny silver part that is really exposed. But overall good plastic.




POSABILITY

At first, I thought it would be like a brick. No moving parts, no actuation. But surprisingly it moves.

Well… the parts move. And it has a stand included(this is where the screws are for... *phew*). So posability? Just like a tank.


MY THOUGHTS

Movement: The tracks don't rotate.

Extras: There are 2 weapon cases and a gas can in the kit. But you would need to paint them. The stickers can only do so much.

Assembly: i almost crushed this kit trying to assemble the inner frame. It's like merging a bunch of parts from the right frame to a bunch of parts from the left frame.

The tracks again: you WILL assemble 42 of these individual tank threads. 42!!!




VERDICT

Do you like ammo boxes and gas tanks? Do you like cool cartoon looking tanks?
Do you love the nostalgia that Metal Slug brings? If so get one. If not, still get one. It's a cool little model kit for your display cabinet/office table .

One is enough for me. I won't get two.


Score 75/100

Review: Empire Stormtrooper (Nuclear Model)

Hey there guys. I'm doing something different this day and I'll be reviewing the Empire Stormtrooper model kit from Nuclear Model. It's a new model kit manufacturer that I haven't heard off before.So without further ado here is my review.

Packaging.

So... Apparently this is a copy of Bandai's stormtrooper kit. So just like BL gunpla the box of the stormtrooper looks a lot like Bandai's (minus the bad translations)

Manual.

Okay. Color me impressed. This is one good looking manual especially from a third party company. The colors are bright. The details are sharp. The quality of paper is good as well.

Good job.Nuclear model

The kit proper.

The Stormtrooper is a 1:12 scale model.  It has no true internal frame. So comparing it to gunpla it is a RE 100. Great details but no inner frame. The pegs fittings are firm. Although some require shaving specially in the torso.

Plastics.

The plastic used to make this kit is really remarkable (no bs) it feels almost Bandai like though a tiny bit softer.

Posability

Okay. At first I thought that this kit would be highly flexible but sadly this is not the case. The problem is the kit's simple joints system, armor design and the lack of an inner frame.

To be more specific. The shoulder armor keeps popping out and it hinders arm movement.The stormtrooper's elbow joint also tend to easily pop out.

As for the torso. No problem there.

The waist armor/tactical belt of the stormtrooper also tend to detach when posing the legs of the kit, since they tend to restrict their movement.

Trooper: You are the droid I am looking for!

Gundam: Me? K.

Thoughts:

Plastics: The plastic here is great. Better than the plastics used by Daban. Almost near Bandai.

Fitment: parts are snap fit. Although some pegs need shaving to go in without using too.much pressure.

Posability: lacks posability because of joint and armor design.

Details: details are good. Very good.

Pewpewpew

Proton cannon!!!!

Verdict

I might get me two or more of this kit. I need to make a squad. I wasn't too into star wars kits. Now I'm hooked.

You won't be disappointed.

Get one.

Score: 90/100