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?

Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper [WIP - Blaster Rifle, Riot Shield & Hand Options]

This penultimate post on the Bandai Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper project sees work completed for the final pieces that require a paint job. What this entailed was lots of hand painting of white with a smattering of metallic, red and black hues. Vallejo Model Color was the go-to paint in this case. 

Bandai First Order Stormtrooper work-in-progress: Blaster Rifle and Riot Shield

While the hands were primed using acrylic-based Citadel Chaos Black, the blaster rifle and riot shield components received a lacquer-based primer coat instead. My reasoning was for the Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 (Black) to provide a stronger primer coat for paint to adhere to seeing that the accessory parts would likely face excessive handling. In hindsight, I should've also primed the hands with the lacquer-based surfacer/primer for similar reasons. But I can't change that now.   

Weapons and shield components to be painted were primed with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 (Black)

Blaster Rifle and shield components were painstakingly hand painted using Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints

Wherever possible when painting the blaster rifle I had tried to replicate the real world movie version within the limitations of doing so in the scaled version. In most parts I had succeeded while in specific areas it wasn't quite like for like e.g. the piece (small round white part in the photo below) which replaces the removable stock assembly. In the real world movie version, the horizontal bar-like handle on this piece is metallic while in my version it was just plain white. Plain laziness on my part or intelligent use of creative license ... hmm ... I wonder which one it could be.    

Sonn-Blas F-11D Blaster Rifle with removable stock assembly, side view (right)

Sonn-Blas F-11D Blaster Rifle with removable stock assembly, side view (left)

Sonn-Blas F-11D Blaster Rifle with removable stock assembly, top and bottom view

Painting smooth whites and coating it in a glossy varnish by hand was tedious work to say the least. In contrast to the blaster rifle, next to no work was required for the riot shield. Apart from the assembly process, the shield required minimal painting i.e. the protrusions in its four corners. These protrusions were painted in metallic grey or their tips were. The whites of the shield were kept in its original plastic whites. To me, they looked good enough to be left alone as is without being painted. 

Lightweight composite betaplast ballistic riot shield (front view)

Lightweight composite betaplast ballistic riot shield (back view showing arm straps)

Meanwhile, not all the hand options were used. I decided to paint up only those hand options that I will be using to pose the stormtrooper with. These comprised the right trigger hand, right open palmed hand and left clenched fist. But before they can be used in poses, they had to be painted first. It turned out that significant portions of the hands consist of white leather-like material. So to mimic this texture, I painted the required areas with white and applied a satin varnish to give it a semigloss finish that approximates how the leather-like material looks like in the real world movie version.    

Hands of the First Order Stormtrooper prior to the white parts being painted

A satin varnish was applied to give the painted whites a smooth leathery glove texture

First Order Stormtrooper hands with the white parts already painted

If you've noticed something slightly off from the photos above, then you may be wondering what has happened to the primed riot control baton (second piece from the right on the second photo). Well, I was so put-off by the unpleasantness of painting white hues by hand that I've no intention of reliving that particular nightmare with the baton. What this all means is I'm calling this project complete. So by the next post I should be able to feature the Bandai First Order Stormtrooper in various poses with the blaster rifle and riot shield. Until then though, thanks for reading and take care.

Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper [WIP - Appendages & Waist Equipment]

Feeling pleased with myself, I had no idea this seemingly stroll-in-the-park-project was about to become an excruciatingly frustrating one. But more on that later. First I'll take the easy wins which up until now include the assembly/painting of the First Order Stormtrooper's appendages and waist equipment. So far, putting things together have been a pleasure (i.e. easy and non- problematic) while painting has been a breeze (i.e. just sprayed on a flat black coat). It's a testament to Bandai's design and engineering team that the kit is coming together so effortlessly, for the large part anyway.  

First Order Stormtrooper work-in-progress: Assembly and painting of the appendages/waist equipment

Bandai's model kits tend to be modular in nature (see next six photos below). For someone with borderline OCD behavior, this is a welcome design choice because it makes assembly an extremely structured, orderly and fast process. From a scientific perspective, this design choice makes sense. Our mind is being conditioned to feel a sense of achievement, and quickly too with every completed part. Dopamine is likely being produced in our brains to reward our 'accomplishments' thus feeding our addiction to Bandai model kits and to the hobby in general. Well, that's my theory anyway.    

Bandai's modular concept meant the appendages could be individually assembled piecemeal

Keeping it simple: any parts that had to be painted black received a spray of Citadel Chaos Black

First Order Stormtrooper arms/hand options assembled with a partially complete paint job

As it was with the arms/hands (see above), putting together the legs/feet was easy, almost to the point of being effortless. To avoid a plasticky toy-like look on the appendages, I carried out a series of steps of my own. Firstly, I sprayed the black parts with a matte black acrylic paint. Secondly, I used an extra thin liquid plastic glue to join the white armor parts together to reduce any visibility of line gaps. And thirdly, I was extra careful when removing the white armor parts from the sprue. If damage couldn't be avoided, I mitigated the resulting imperfections with a semi-gloss clear coat.      

Pieces of the left and right leg were assembled, painted and bagged up while awaiting the next step

Similar to the arm/hands, any leg parts that had to be painted black received a spray of Citadel Chaos Black

First Order Stormtrooper legs/feet assembled and paint job completed

Only after the legs had been attached could the waist equipment be fixed onto the belt (see next five photos below). Results are nothing to shout about but they do fill up the waist area and make it look less sparse. It makes sense anyway for the stormtrooper to have equipment attached to the waist. 

Waist equipment is simplistic in nature with the blacks kept to a simple flat matte black

First Order Stormtrooper head, body and waist with the waist equipment laid out in a semi-circle

So before the waist equipment could be fixed to the belt, the legs had to be attached first

First Order Stromtrooper with his/her legs and waist equipment (left side) sans arms

First Order Stromtrooper with his/her legs and waist equipment (right side) sans arms

If you are a Star Wars fan then you would have noticed a major discrepancy between the 1/12 scale figurine so far and the real thing. In fact I didn't notice it at first as I'm more a Star Trek fan myself. Hint: look at the stormtrooper's hands. See it yet? A significant portion of both hands should actually be white in color, especially palm-side. While it has been ages since I painted white by hand, I haven't forgotten how much I detest doing so. I mean really hate, hate. Throw the hand brush to the wall kind of loathing. Turn hulk-green and run amok kind of disgust. Well, you get the idea.

A much belated lunar new year greeting; an example of the figurine's joint articulation

Close up of the First Order Stromtrooper's legs/feet

I shall removeth these restraints and leaveth this cell with the doth'r ope.

And i'll dropeth mine own weapon.

So from here on out things are going to get a bit dicey. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but it's still not going to be a fun process for me. Contemplating what I have to do in the coming weeks namely paint white by hand sends a chill down my spine. To make things worse, it's not just his/her hands. In fact painting white on the hands is the easy part. Painting white on the weapons is a whole other level of arghhhhh. Why didn't I notice the need for painting white in the first place I'll never know. I was probably caught up in the fantasy of a quick and easy build. Hah! So much for that dream. Pfft!