Honestly, I hadn't seen the Mars Daybreak anime before but this kit caught my attention when I was in Mandarake's massive complex in Nakano Broadway. I loved the mech's sleek design as well as the color scheme; the use of mint green, purple, and bits of yellow and red was intriguing. I recently finally painted the kit (many MANY years later), but before I showcase my work here are a few pictures of the kit right out of the box and the initial snap fit assembly.
Box
I purchased this kit used as it is quite old and already out of print. The kit originally retailed for 2000yen. The box was a bit bent but contained all the kits' contents and was in great shape when I opened it up.
Manual
The manual is straightforward, contains some painting guidelines and pictures of a completed kit. There are also stills from the Mars Daybreak anime where the kit is from. It's a mecha/science fiction storyline set on a terraformed Mars completely covered by a large ocean, so that explains the sleek design of the mech along with it's lack of "feet," in exchange for something that would allow it to propel more smoothly through water. The series' mechs are called round bucklers, similar to how mobile suits are the general term for the robots in Gundam, but the name of this mecha is the Kibougou, or vector of hope in the English version. It's easy to confuse the name of the kit for round buckler because those words appear in bigger print, and in English, on the box.
Runners
Vector of Hope is molded in two colors: white and purple, plus grey polycaps and joint connections. There are few parts to this kit despite it's size: most sections of the kit are comprised of a few pieces. This also made it a pain to paint as masking is a must. Few parts also spell out few articulation points, another drawback of the kit. A sticker sheet is included for the details as well as for the markings and emblems.
Straight Build / Snap fit
Yyou can tell that this kit would need a lot of work before it could be displayed on the shelf: it might pass with stickers but I never put mine on (blasphemy!). Bandai thankfully placed plenty of panels lines on the kit where they mattered and the large parts had few obvious or problematic seam lines. It's a great build with lots of detail but requires a lot of paint to look nice, so I can't really recommend it for beginners or fans of the series who want a quick, fun build right out of the box as a tribute to their fandom.
The display base (included) is also a nice addition as the kit cannot stand on its own, and the finished kit is a fairly good size (about Master Grade size). Unfortunately, the kit is nearly devoid of poseability but the detailed cast makes up for it. Take this one on if you're up for a (masking) challenge.
I will post up pics of the paints product soon!
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Chris
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Chris
