FSS IMS 1/100 L.E.D.MIRAGE V3 Toy

This is a very impressive kit when fully assembled and decaled. The size is massive and larger than a bandai master grade. The price indicates that it is more like a perfect grade kit, but even that is misleading.The volks 1/00 ims l.e.d mirage v3 inferno napalm contains over 800 parts but they are not snap fit. It requires plastic glue with about 95% of parts, which changes the entire approach to assembly. Most parts have mating pegs and holes used for alignment before being fused together with glue. Other parts have flat or angled surfaces that must be placed properly for correct assembly. In a few instances, parts even had to be slightly modified to fit right. Test fitting before glueing pieces together is a good idea with this kit because once a part is glued in place, it's not coming out without a fight and possible damage.The volks 1/100 ims l.e.d mirage v3 inferno napalm is intended to be fully painted. Each completed step in the manual is actually followed by a colour guide for box accurate painting. However, even with minimal painting the results are still quite impressive. The plastics are all of good quality and so well engineered by volks that no breakage occurred, even to parts molded with needle edged tips. The colours are also nice, especially the white, which is opaque and milky or bone like. In addition, you get vibrant red transparent parts for various insignias and crests on the model, as well as the front portions of the legs. There is also black, two shades of gray and purple in terms of colour variation.The kit's inner frame is also worth noting. Although the articulation is not to bandai standards, it moves as much as it needs to, which is not very much. The flame launcher unit is so massive and heavy that the model needs to be solid and stiff to support its extreme weight. Volks provides the option of building various joints as either fixed or articulating, and I went with the fixed option whenever offered because the kit truly is a granite beast of a brick.The detail on the internal frame is pretty amazing. It is so intricate to the point of overkill, but on the other hand, all the details eventually get covered up by the white outer armor. The manual even specifically calls for painting an internal frame chest part in gold, only to cover it up with armor two pages later.Finally onto the weapons and accessories, which are half the contents of the huge box. The manual is 50 pages long and the second half of it is devoted to their construction. The flame launcher back pack is probably one of the largest pieces of rear mounted gear seen on a model kit, and requires a stand with metallic rod for support. The shield is also quite large and heavy, for which another similar stand is provided. Finally, the flame launcher arm unit is so massive that it actually extends to about 70cm if built to maximum length. This is slightly impractical for display purposes, but the length can be shortened by removing some of the cylindrical front barrel parts and adjusting the internal metallic rod accordingly. You also get a very nice sheet of waterslide markings which give the model another level of detail and colour.In general, assembling this kit was a great experience but altogether different, more complicated and time consuming than a snap fit model. If you have the time and patience to make it a project, the ims l.e.d mirage v3 inferno will satisfy all your modeling needs. Its doubtful that I ever own a more impressive kit than this. I am now a fan of the volks ims sereis.

全体のフォルムはＯＫ　可動もＦＳＳとして十分だしてくれただけで星５個惜しむべきはタンクの内部構造が無駄に再現されていて重い。・・・組み立て後見えないいまの仕様はタンクと本体を接着。タンクあり無しを組み立て後も差し替えできればベタースタンドはタンク単体、本体単体の２つあればベターフレームランチャーのホースは本体とタンクに接着　→　軟質素材にし、接続部はポリキャップ　またはマグネットならベター副腕が可動できればベター

一言でいえば最高。連載が始まった頃から商品化されたらと憧れていました。値段もそこそこするので商品化されてからも手が出しづらかったですが、今回思い切って購入。組み立てから、ジオラマまで楽しさ100％。書斎に飾って、たまに見てニッコリする毎日です。