Kotobukiya's Frame Arms SA-16 'Stylet'
Has anyone picked up one of Kotobukiya's new Frame Arms kits? Any comments on it's design or construction?
I recently got the SA-16 Stylet one and I'm not too happy with the engineering. The poseability is great but the joints are far too fragile.
If you're interested I wrote up a long review with a lot more detail on my site.
The frame comes pre built. You can see all the little marks were it was removed from the runners. For it to look the best painting the frame is a must.
The frame is very pose-able which is great. Unfortunately it's very fragile and likes to fall apart.
And I mean really fragile. Trying to pose the guy will likely cause bit and pieces to fall off before anything actually moves into place.
The rest of the kit is made of standard runners.
I really like the fighter jet styling of the guy. Looks like a classic Transformers.
Most of the joints are plastic on plastic, Kotobukiya as usual. Unfortunately none of the joints are as tight and hold as well as the Armored Core kit I have.
This is one of the more troublesome bits that I had to glue. Trying to bend the piece that goes into the polycap joint causes the pieces that hold the polycap joint to pop apart. Very annoying because you need to remove the armor of the thigh to put it back together. The part that attaches to the rest of the upper leg is held on with a lip.
I was actually very interested in these. Epic scratch building to be had :D
Bandai is probably cowering in fear seeing this...kukukukuku..
Ok, I just read your review and I agree...IT SUCKS....pre build kit, poorly enginnered joints, paint required, what in gravy home's name is THAT?! I'd say for meticulous mecha lovers, never buy that kit unless your'e skilled. I myself won't rosk that kit because I have no skill and picky on kits.
"paint required, what in gravy home's name is THAT?!"
...you DO know that not every company makes full color kits, right? Seriously, I don't get why some "Hardcore" mecha fans complain about painting their kits.
well, because some of them wanted to enjoy everything according to what they seen. you'll understand..
Preordered this sometime in September, hoping for it to pop up. It looks quite nice, of course, when the paint is all on. And who wants to leave it in such a blue colour?
Also, if the joints are loose, grind up the part runners, mix it with model cement, and spread it inside the joints. From personal experience, it works, but the inside of the joints look and feel wierd.
Do I have to worry about it solidifying? How did you grind up the runners?
Just leave the piece out of the rest of the kit and let it dry for about an hour to make sure it doesn't stick to anything else, even if cement dires in five to ten minutes.
Depends on what you have at your disposal. Crushing the part runners can be done by scratching at it with a large, flat file for a long time, so patience is a must. It ends up with a thick powder. Not sure it it'll help with this kit in particular, but that's what I did with my MG F91 Gundam after I played with it for too long.
I was about to order this from amiami along with Figma Aegis, but then switching to a Nendoroid.
May be I'll just buy the basic frame only, it's cheap anyway :D
I don't get why the frame comes pre-assembled. I'd prefer to build the skeleton myself, that way if there are any issues I can fix them straight away or make a fix/replacement.