Buzz Lightyear [Completed: Out-of-the-box build of the Bandai Toy Story plastic model kit, with minor painting]

 Once in a long while, it's always nice to take on a relatively simple project that's not only easy to build but also looks good with almost no work done apart from what is required in the instructions. Such projects can give one a sense of accomplishment, a dose of natural dopamine if you will, in return doing the bare minimum to finish a model kit. In other words, the lazy-ass-projects that every modeler needs once in a while as a hiatus from more ambitious projects, which involve lots of painting. This Bandai Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit involved only minor painting, hence it's already completed following from the unboxing post two weeks ago.

Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear; a Bandai Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit [completed, front view]

Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear; a Bandai Cinema Rise Standard plastic model kit [completed, back view]

 Buzz has only one notable gimmick and it's a good one. The wings on Buzz's back can be folded into the jet-pack, and then at the push of a red button located at the front of the spacesuit, flip open into an extended/flight configuration. I made a short video demonstrating this gimmick as you can see below.

 Below are photos of the main sub-assemblies - the jet-pack, body, helmet, head options, arms, hand options, pelvis, legs, and feet - that were put together prior to Buzz Lightyear's final assembly process. In hindsight, looking at the completed sub-assembles laid out together on the worktable (see below), the one and only thing I would do differently is to paint the three oblong buttons at the front of Buzz's spacesuit instead of applying the colored stickers that were provided with the kit.

Major sub-assemblies of Buzz Lightyear prior to the final assembly process

 Although this project is a straight out-of-the-box assembly, the one essential thing I had to do was paint Buzz's face. It's the minimum effort needed to make the kit look presentable. To show why Buzz's face required additional work, I painted just one for comparison to the other two unpainted faces. What I did was use pastels to apply a rosy blush on his cheeks as well as add shading below his lip. In addition I applied brown panel lining onto the swirl on his chin. Just this a little bit went a long way in making the face look 'alive'. Even looking at the faces now, one extra thing I could've done to make them better was to paint the lips. Something to take note of when working on Woody.

Buzz's face was painted using Tamiya Weathering Master pastels (note: only the middle face was painted, and here it's compared with the unpainted faces on the left and right)

 Another gimmick I thought that Buzz had had was the space helmet. Initially I had thought the helmet could slide open in one smooth action. But there is only two default positions for the helmet per se i.e. fully closed or half-open with the latter being simulated by just removing the front half of the helmet. There are however what I would call 'mini-gimmicks' on the body of the spacesuit itself. I term them mini-gimmicks because they don't really have the 'wow' factor, and don't really do anything. More on these mini-gimmicks later as I touch on the sub-assemblies concerned (i.e. the arms).

Buzz's spacesuit body and the two halves of the helmet (front view)

Buzz's spacesuit body and the two halves of the helmet (back view)

 But I am being a tad unfair in expecting lots of complicated gimmicks for a simple plastic model kit like the Bandai Buzz Lightyear one that you see here. For the one major gimmick that this kit does have i.e. the extendable wings, the spring mechanism for it is housed within the jet-pack (see below). This spring mechanism connects via plastic parts to the red button on the chest. When the said red button is pressed, the mechanism comprising plastic parts and metal springs work in tandem to allow the wings to flip out and extend straight out on either side, in a flight configuration. 

Jet-pack with wings, which attaches to the back of Buzz's spacesuit

Innards of the jet-pack with the spring mechanisms exposed

 Meanwhile, an interesting mini-gimmick consists of a simple thing like a red button on the right arm that can be depressed, but does nothing. Another is a wrist panel on the left arm that opens up to show a 'control panel', which is essentially just a sticker representation of a control panel. And as mentioned earlier, the spacesuit helmet does not slide open hence I do not consider it a gimmick at all, mini or otherwise. It can only be put in place or removed completely.

 And in case you were wondering, you cannot recreate the iconic scene from Toy Story in which Buzz's left hand is pressing on the red button on his right arm. This is because the left hand is too short to reach the red button. There is a box art image which shows Buzz doing just that. So what gives? To me it's just an optical illusion. If you photograph Buzz at a certain angle it would seem as if he was pressing on the red button. However, that's not possible for the reason I mentioned earlier.

Buzz's left hand options and arm includes a mini-gimmick in which the wrist panel opens up

Right hand options and arm; includes a mini-gimmick in the form of a red button that can be depressed

 As for Buzz's pelvis/groin area, legs and feet, everything is pretty straightforward with no gimmicks in sight. They comprise a lovely combination of white, green, light gray, and purple parts that look fantastic even as an unpainted, straight out-of-the-box build (see below).  

Pelvis/groin area of Buzz's spacesuit (front view)

Pelvis/groin area of Buzz's spacesuit (back view)

Legs and feet sections of Buzz Lightyear's spacesuit

 Lastly is the hexagonal clear display base included with the kit. It's a nice enough base to use with Buzz Lightyear. Also included is a cylinder-like peg that connects Buzz to the base. All in all, the base is functional, and serves the purpose it was designed for with minimum fuss. Unless you plan to display Buzz in a dynamic pose e.g. of him flying like Superman, this base should work just fine.

Hexagonal clear display base, together with a peg attaches Buzz securely to the base

 Of course as a Toy Story project, just Buzz by himself isn't complete when considering there is a Woody plastic model kit from the same product series i.e. the Bandai Cinema Rise Standarrd series. So following close on the heels of this project is one on Woody himself. It's a no-brainer for me to begin work on Woody next before I start with any other project. And until Toy Story's Woody is unboxed in the upcoming blog post - stay safe, be well, and be happy.