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1/12 Bandai Stormtrooper


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I buckled and purchased a Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper. IMHO these are an absolute gem OOB. I noted the seam at the rear of the lower helmet and filled the tiny gap with CA. It has yet to be repainted, but the good thing is the whole thing will just pop off! I was also worried about the ankle joints but they are not too bad really. The front and rear of the arm and leg armour have small mould seams. Nothing that cannot be easily removed with a sharp blade or sandpaper and polished up again. The equipment roll at the rear will need some attention as there is a slight seam and a gap on one end. I think it should also have either black or dark grey retaining straps. Any way after about 3 hours, I was left with this:

B30E95C8-B425-4AF6-BE11-195AE7484906_zps

D4EDD820-FBE1-48A3-B051-CDB1F2ABABA8_zps

37AC9AE2-DEEA-4ED2-A7F6-E02DE947BCD5_zps

He is a bit armless at the moment but he will go through a qualifying shoot before I let him loose on the The Rebellion. He won't be weathered as he has duty on The Death Star, but I have a Sandtrooper that will receive a good dust up to show the results of poor career choice!

Regards,

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looks like you are off to a flying start with your new stormtrooper. are you planning to have him on a wooden base or some sort of diorama?

Many thanks,

I don't know as yet. He may simply stand on the supplied base. I also have the Sandtrooper to do which will be well weathered. I may just stand them side by side for contrast.

Regards,

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Main construction complete. This is one option, you get three pairs of hands as well as a different pistol and the MG34. The beauty is I can now disassemble him and do the touch ups and decals. I think I will spray all the black parts in matt. The weapons will get repainted and weathered a tad:

F5F09C33-878C-471D-81B2-D97C3E003E70_zps

A90B1AD5-D264-4845-9F65-97D81CD1EA53_zps

A81E4474-A2C4-40C2-9142-D125B2EBD4BC_zps

Thanks for looking,

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having completed construction, the next obvious step was to disassemble him. I did this so I could paint the black plastic parts in matt black, hopefully to negate the toylike appearance:

0458A3D7-B99D-49F8-A42E-1193A6418C3D_zps

I had used cement on the torso so it meant a bit of masking to preserve the nice white armour:

8F36C2F9-9DC4-4165-9697-7843C26A48C9_zps

The ankles were treated to some fill in work with Perfect Plastic Putty:

2F59B2FB-3F60-41EA-BE4B-AD773D571A03_zps

Ande here we are at the moment. The matt black looks much better than the shiny version. The blaster has been painted MM gun metal and highlighted with a combination of silver and HB pencils. The kit decals were used on the helmet and went on well with Set/Sol but the little buttons in the front of the armour were painted:

BCE1DA4E-70DC-4041-8BA1-2E152CB37803_zps

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AC4B2A35-9778-4A26-92FE-AC19B97BDD28_zps

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The legs and ankles still need a bit of work and then a repaint and gloss coat:

80F5F046-4345-4180-B18A-A953FB0B1E75_zps

Regards,

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Thanks guys. I hit a small hurdle late yesterday. I had masked and repainted the lower leg as with Tamiya flat white. It gave a good approximation of the original colour. After about an hour I hit it with Testors Gloss enamel as a topcoat. I went away for a few hours to let it dry. When I got back, the parts were a nice gloss but had yellowed considerably! It was literally chalk and cheese! I first thought of masking and respraying, then using a lacquer but as I have the Sandtrooper to come next, I will just swap out the lower legs and feet:

D6D19B95-CE14-4A97-890A-6B7256677C95_zps

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B49CBEFA-A3D1-475B-A5A1-50FBD10DFE35_zps

Regards,

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Finally finished up the build. I resprayed the lower legs Tamiya Flat white and once dry, I applied a coat of Testors Glosscote from the bottle through my Grex. I also painted the base with Tamiya German Grey from the rattle cane and applied one of the kit stickers:

EE262A01-0AF3-46D3-BD09-564294DEA3BF_zps

Thanks for following what has turned out to be an enjoyable, if somewhat educational, build.

Regards,

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  • 1 month later...

Just started working on this kit and I am stuck on how to attach part b36 that goes on the figures left hip. Can you show me a picture of how you attached yours

I am away from home at the moment, is b36 the holster? If so, there is a projection on the inner face, the hole in the holster slides over this. The entire white part then snap locks into place. If this isn't what you are talking about, let me know and I will have a look when I am back home in 10 days?

Regards,

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I am away from home at the moment, is b36 the holster? If so, there is a projection on the inner face, the hole in the holster slides over this. The entire white part then snap locks into place. If this isn't what you are talking about, let me know and I will have a look when I am back home in 10 days?

Regards,

i have actually figured out where the part sits, it goes on his bum, managed to figure it out with some shots of the finished figure at the end of the instruction sheet.

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On this pic it seems the gap is closed, but on the far left side under the drum there seems to be a gap, next to where the pistol holster joins.

http://thefwoosh.com/2014/10/bandai-112-scale-models-darth-vader-and-stormtrooper-big-pics-and-preorder-info/bandai-star-wars-6-inch-plastic-model-stormtrooper-final-large-1

Having bits left over would have me swapping everything over until something looked right, good luck.

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i had another look at my imperial friend's belt and took it apart and removed the holster which i don't really like the look of any way and reassembled the belt... it needed a lot more force ( no pun intended) but it eventually "clicked" into place and looks much better now.

when i get some time at the weekend i will add the decals although from what i have seen thus far a lot of them you don't actually need, e.g. the little black dots on the front of his mid torso region have the black come through from the part you insert earlier. from what i can see just the helmet and the grenade cylinder need decals.

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  • 3 months later...

Seeking advice.

The 1/12 Stormtrooper is my first Bandai kit and I've heard that the plastic used in some Bandai kits can react badly to thinners, washes, etc.

I'm happy with the glossy white look that his armour has out of the box but I don't really want a spit n polish Death Star garrison look. Rather than repainting the armour white I was thinking of just giving it a coat of MIG satin varnish to protect the plastic and then apply weathering over that. I don't plan on weathering too heavily, e.g. not sandtrooper grunge, just the more general wear and tear common to soldiers on field operations.

Does anybody know if that would or wouldn't work?

Thanks

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Avoid enamel washes if at all possible! If these kits are anything like Gundam kits it kills them unless you are very very and i mean very careful. Others get away with it but I have had nothing but trouble using enamel washes and bandai kits.

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