Hasegawa Idolm@ster F-15E (Chihaya Kisaragi)

By: quadrain | February 3, 2010 on 12:45 am | Category: Figures | No Comments

It’s been a hell of a month since that box arrived at my door step. Amiami was a good place to order from, just the fact of using PayPal was a pain and my package came right when the Spring semester started. This was probably my fourth model ever so it was interesting to see how tough (or easy) this project would be. First thing I’ve noticed when I opened the box was the fact the molds were colored, making it easy to deal with rather than having to buy another can of paint. Also in the box are, the instruction sheet, two HUGE sheets of decals, some clear plastic parts, and some metal parts.

This all started with Bandai/Namco releasing Ace Air Combat 6 and along with some Microsoft points for the XBox 360, you can have your very own IM@S jet with one of the characters from Idolms@ster. One thing I will admit is that this model was just impressive with the colors and design and well guess that’s why many people bought it.

A positive about the kit was it uses silk decals that are a lot nicer in terms of looks after it was applied. It was s fairly simple level 2 build similar to the Revell F-15E; however, like the Revell forward section of the plane was a pain to attach to the body because the canopy was hard to align. Like with any other model, gluing the pieces together was painful, since the wing was not set on-top of support for drying, and the vertical stabilizers looked like it could repositioned from zero-degrees.

Another thing I didn’t like about the model was the silk decals. It took a few tries and a few mess ups to finally understand how to use them. Typically with models you buy in the US, you’d have to apply a layer of MicroSet so it could absorb the decal. DO NOT DO THAT with this kit. Using thinner or MicroSet will immediately make the decal stick once you apply the decal.

1) Dip the decal in water for 10 seconds
2) Let dry, apply some water to the surface of the model where you’re going to decal
3) Apply and quickly put it into place. These decals do not play very nice
4) Let it dry for a bit then apply water or thinner to make sure the decals are flat on the surface
5) DO NOT TOUCH or ACCIDENTALLY TOUCH
…n) Once EVERYTHING is finished (minus putting the canopy on the plane), spray the whole plane down with a gloss coat.

Once the decals were dry there are the most fragile thing in the world. Another thing about being fragile, these decals are typically applied over uneven surfaces, so there’s a guarantee that it will tear. The plus side to the silk decals is that “Silvering” will not occur.

Some of the things I noticed when I got to the decal part, was some of the decals were going to overlap each other, overlap over uneven surface (as mentioned), and overlap parts that stick out of the model. When some of the decals were going to overlap a stuck out portion of the model most of the time they’re through clear parts of the decal, so the easiest thing to do is to cut out the clear parts or break up the decals. Most of the time, it was the “765″ and the stars that are towards the nose of the aircraft.

Other times, cutting up decals then applying then was just easier to deal with. Notable ones were the vertical stabilizers (decals #102, 103), the decal of Chihaya (decal #9), and the decal that goes around Chihaya’s hand (decal #15). Because of the delicacy, decal #9 had the arm tear off as I was trying to slide the decal off the decal sheet onto the model, fortunately it was an easy fix.

Another issue I ran into while making this model was actually reading the instructions. Since the decal instructions are like any other kit instruction, they show you an orthographic projections of the plane and decals. I completely messed up some major parts due to this because of the overlapping issue and lining up issue.

Here are some advices:

1) Look at it carefully and see what overlaps what (not a hard thing to do). Aligning the decals was the hardest part of the project, because the instruction set can be misleading at times.
2) Build the plane up to the point WITHOUT the afterburners, hardpoints for the weapons, and the horizontal stabilizers.
3) Work from the rear bottom towards the front of the plane, then away from the plane.
4) For the top, also work from the rear of the plane towards the front, and then away from the plane. Don’t let some of the bigger decals scare you.

Other than that it was a fairly straightforward project to put this model together. It’s a good topic to talk about with friends who’ve never seen Ace Air Combat 6 with these planes in them because, it would suck to be beaten by a girl, or a plane with some anime chick on it.

Few more photos during the project.