Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper - Bandai 1/12 Scale Plastic Model Kit [Completed]

As underwhelming as this project may have been, the Bandai Star Wars 1/12 scale First Order Stormtrooper is nonetheless complete. Any misgivings aside, you have to hand it to Bandai for designing a scale model kit that looks as good as it does, incongruous to the amount of modelling work required on it. Is the design perfect? No it's not. Especially vexing was the tedium involved in painting the whites of the blaster rifle which was molded (and subsequently primed) completely in black. However it's a small price to pay for a rewarding project that's not too time consuming.

Bandai Star Wars 1/12 scale First Order Stormtrooper [Completed]

While it's was possible to configure the figurine in a myriad of poses, limitations were being imposed by the very nature of the stormtrooper's armor suit. Constraints in limb movement were determined by parameters of an armor suit that essentially doesn't have a lot of give in its joints. This is translated into 'real-life movie' scenarios whereby you would always see the stormtroopers run, walk or move in an awkwardly stiff manner. Even so, there was sufficient freedom of movement for the stormtrooper to strike up the standard movie-related poses plus a few fairly humorous ones.     

First Order Stormtrooper in the midst of aiming his blaster rifle

In this pose, the stormtrooper is carrying a blaster rifle with its stock assembly attached

This firing stance is frequently used with blaster rifles without the stock assembly attached    

Stock assembly of the blaster rifle is positioned away from the head in case of recoil

Back view of the First Order Stormtrooper in this particular firing pose

For stability while firing, the stormtrooper should brace the stock assembly against his shoulder ...

... which should explain the reason why stormtroopers keep missing their shots so much

Removing the stock assembly from the blaster rifle and attaching the riot shield to the left arm presented new options for poses (see below). What's missing was the combination of a Z6 Riot Control Baton (not shown) with the shield. For now at least, I don't intend to paint the baton for use in the stormtrooper poses. The reason for this is twofold. First, I think the baton looks lame. This in turn reduced my willingness to go through the hassle of painting whites by hand on the baton. Admittedly the baton would've made a good test piece for masking liquids but that's an entirely different story.

First Order Stormtrooper with a riot shield and a blaster rifle sans the stock assembly

Without the stock assembly, the blaster rifle can then be wielded one-handed

Wielding the blaster one-handed frees up the other hand to hold a riot shield for added protection

Disadvantage of firing one-handed is reduced accuracy ...

... which is a trade off for better protection with the riot shield

Riot shield looks good even with minimal painting i.e. on the protrusions at the four corners

Stormtrooper's entire torso is sufficiently covered by the riot shield

Riot shield fits fairly snugly onto the stormtrooper's arm via the arm straps

Back view of the First Order Stormtrooper with the blaster rifle holstered and the riot shield raised

After the regulation First Order approved poses, it was time for a bit of fun with FN-1824. If you don't know already who FN-1824 is, then here is an interesting bit of trivia for you. In Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, FN-1824 was a First Order Stormtrooper assigned to guard Rey who was being held as a prisoner on Starkiller Base. That character was potrayed by Daniel Craig who happened to be in the same studio the movie was being shot, preparing for his next James Bond film.  

FN-1824 knew that he shouldn't have eaten that leftover curry from Master Kylo Ren's party

Being a fitness enthusiast FN-1824 was constantly monitoring his heart rate

O where are thou my beautiful Rey of Death Star luminance?

As you can see from the immediate photos above and below, the model kit is flexible enough to be contorted into a variety of light-hearted situations. But if the scaled down armor suit has the same degree of movements as its real life counterpart then it would've been an uncomfortable fit for the many extras who donned the First Order Stormtrooper outfits during the shooting of the movies. 

FN-1824 had always fancied himself as an old school gunslinger who is quick on the draw

If there was ever a de facto pose for a First Order Stormtrooper then this would be it

No pose is complete without one of the stormtrooper falling after being shot

So the year's first project is now complete. A short and simple one to get the show on the road. There will be tougher challenges to be had in future hobby sessions but I sorely needed this 'win', minor as it may be. Now then, it's on to the other stuff on my worktable. Hmm ... where do I even begin?