Star Wars Stormtrooper - Bandai 1/12 Scale Model Kit [Review: Part 3 of 3 - Poses, weapons & final thoughts]

In this final part of the Stormtrooper model kit review, I tested the flexibility of its joints as reflected in the poses he can adopt as well as painted some of his weapons to increase realism. Once completed, the Bandai Star Wars Stormtrooper 1/12 scale plastic model kit looks great and will easily take a place of pride in any collector's display area. Here then is Part 3 of the review.      

Bandai Star Wars Stormtrooper, 1/12 scale plastic model kit [Completed]

To bring out the details in the weapons, I painted the E-11 blaster and DLT-19 rifle with a combo of black and metallic paint, topped off with a black wash. Nothing too fancy as per details that I could glean from the original trilogy. I left the smaller SE-14r light repeating blaster alone in its original plasticky glossy black state as most of the pistol-like weapons looked like that in the movies.  

Painting the E-11 blaster and DLT-19 Assault Rifle

Comparison between the painted E-11 blaster and the original gloss back plastic (left hand)

Firstly, I tried a few standard poses with the weapons. There are options to place the weapons on either his left or right hand with the index finger on the trigger. In the poses below, I placed the SE-14r on his right hand while the iconic E-11 on his left. But it should be noted that you can place any weapon on any trigger hand, based on your preference. I chose the left-handed option for the E-11 blaster as there seemed to be a disproportionate number of lefties in the Empire. Don't believe me? Go watch all three movies in the original trilogy. So if you're a lefty, the Empire needs you.  

There seems to be a disproportionate number of lefties in the Empire ...

... as seen here in a scene from Empire Strikes Back, and in many others throughout the original trilogy

Halt! Who goes there?

A Lion King moment ... that song is in your head now isn't it?

In addition to the pair of hands holding weapons (trigger finger hands), the model kit came with an additional two pair of hands namely two in an open palmed position (left and right hands), a pointy finger (left hand) and a clenched fist (right hand). These non-weaponised hands allowed me to pull off quite a few dance moves from 70s and 80s. Flexibility of the joints were great, limited only by the armour design. This gave me a new sense of appreciation for the Stormtroopers' movement in the original trilogy - that almost clumsy-like gait which I'm sure was due to both the helmet's limited viewing angle as well as inflexible armour design. At times, they seemed to waddle into battle.

Dance Move 1: Saturday Night Fever

Dance Move 2: Break dance

Dance Move 3: The Robot

Dance Move 4: The MJ Crotch Grab

Overall this was a simple yet extremely fun kit to put together. For the amazing end result, the assembly process was surprising easy. As a display piece, this model has tremendous potential with its myriad of possible poses. Moreover, the simple two-piece base firmly anchors the Stormtrooper thus allowing for complicated poses such as the first one seen in this blog post. As I've said before, I simply love this model kit. So much so I'm tempted to get a few more of these Bandai Stormtroopers together with Lord Vader himself - budget willing of course - to do a mini diorama. 

You have failed me for the last time TK-421

While Bandai provides both stickers and water decals to spruce up the model, I would recommend using a combination of water decals and paint for this purpose. Some parts are tiny enough that you would be better served painting it while in others a water decal looks just as good as a paint job and with less work too. For which parts I painted and which I used decals, you might want to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the review. If you are going for a realistic look, stickers are definitely out as they have the tendency to come off after a while, especially in warm weather. And as for how Vader felt about an elite soldier of the Empire pulling of dance moves, well that last shot says it all.