Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Thread Started on Jun 13, 2006, 2:13pm »
The Kotobukiya SRW kits don't get enough love, so I decided to do a test-build of the Wildwurger and write a small review about it from the perspective of a modeler that primarily builds Bandai Gundam stuff.
The quality of the plastic trees is on par with Bandai's offerings, so it's relatively easy for a novice modeler to trim the parts off the trees and sand the excess. There are 182 parts (plus the polycaps) and no stickers included in this kit, so it's not a particularly complex build. Parts-fit is also as good as any recent Bandai stuff, so there aren't any issues there. I did note something odd about the polycaps though - I can usually just spin the polycaps off the sprues with my fingers with Bandai stuff, but the polycaps here had to be cut. It's a moot point but I figured I'd mention it nonetheless.
Maybe I've been spoiled by the recent Master Grade kits Bandai put out that have almost no visible seams to deal with save for the usual suspects (head, weapons), but if you're as anal about seams as I am, there's a decent amount of work to be done here. It's about as much work to do here as a HG Gundam, for reference. Off the top of my head, there are seams in the shoulders (which are particularly annoying because there's a different-colored part that has to be inserted between the two shoulder halves, so if painting this kit like I will eventually you'll have to paint the two halves and the piece in-between, then construct the shoulder, remove the seam, and then re-paint around the seam). arms, thighs, feet, weapons, head, and backpack.
Recent Master Grade offerings also have the benefit of helpful parts breakdown so that if not painting the kit, the model will still look pretty good on the shelf, and if painting the kit, will require little to no masking. In my personal opinion, Kotobukiya actually did a solid job of making the model appealing to non-painters, but if painting the kit, an inordinate amount of masking is required to get the model 100% accurate. This being my first SRW kit, I'm not sure if this is a running trend in the line, but it's certainly dissuaded me from purchasing any further products in the line (except for the recently-released 1/100 Huckebein Mk. II and 1/144 Alteisen ).
For those curious about what parts need to be masked and painted multiple colors, you'll have to mask the backpack, gun, sword, claw thing, tri-barrel arm attachment, shoulders, chest, feet, legs, 'ears', and forehead. It's because of all this work that I decided to just assemble it for now and do this review; I'll save the unassembling and painting for a time when I actually have the willpower to go through the trouble. It's interesting to note that the face and ears come molded in two colors each respectively (the face in grey and green and the 'ears' in blue and grey) to improve the appearance of the model built out-of-box, which is a nice touch.
What this model lacks in convenient parts breakdown for modelers it makes up for in surface detail. The Wildwurger is a fairly complex design, and Kotobukiya did a great job expressing it in plastic injection kit form. The surface detail is well beyond most of the Bandai Gundam stuff - this thing looks *sharp* assembled out-of-box.
In summary, I wholly recommend the 1/144 Wildwurger by Kotobukiya to those who snap their models. It's somewhere between the size of a 1/144 and a 1/100 Gundam, looks great built straight out of the box, and is a decent value at its retail price of about $25. For those who paint their kits, I'm a bit more hesitant to recommend the kit; there's a good amount of work to be done here in filling seams and masking for the painting, but if the sample photos in the instruction manual are any indication, the effort will be well worth it.
Onto the crappy pics! The Wildwurger was built straight out of the box. I filled the seams, but no other work was done on the kit.
The claw weapon on the right arm needs touching up especially.
A size comparison with a 1/100 Master Grade GP01FB and a Gundam Fix Penelope:
Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,685 Location: with Mazinger's mama
Re: Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Reply #2 on Jun 13, 2006, 5:46pm »
Nice review. I agree with all your conclusions. One question I have for you is whether you painted the ears and the visor for your photos? When I got mine about a year ago from the first press run, there wasn't a green plastic visor plate, and the ears were solid grey plastic. To me it seemed like skimping out a bit.
I remember reading that the Wildwurger caught a lot flack from Japanese modeller reviews with its initial press run (although it sold out anyway..) but I'm not sure what their complaints were.
One thing that is better about the model compared to the action figure is that the claw on the model is a functioning claw whereas the action figure just comes with two claws that are moulded into place, one being open and one closed.
Re: Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Reply #3 on Jun 13, 2006, 6:27pm »
Thanks guys.
I didn't paint anything on the kit. The ears came pre-molded in blue and grey and the visor in grey and green, which was surprising. They must've added that when they repackaged the Wildwurger in the new box.
I forgot to warn in the review that this model really isn't suitable to be played with; it's a display piece first and foremost. The pegs often dislodged from the polycaps in the arms and legs when I was posing them.
Also, articulation is fairly limited. The waist can't swivel, the head is limited to moving left and right despite being ball-jointed (which is really disappointing, because a lot of robots look better with the head down a bit to give a more menacing appearance), and then there's the usual arm and leg movement.
The claw's actually pretty nifty. It was the one part of the construction that made me appreciate the engineering in the kit, as everything else was pretty run-of-the-mill.
Joined: Sept 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 2,547 Location: Philippines
Re: Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Reply #5 on Jun 13, 2006, 10:45pm »
yeah dude, i hate masking too. might as well detail paint the parts in enamel. anyways, nice work dude. it looks great straight from the box. if you like, you can panel line and top coat it
Re: Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Reply #6 on Jun 13, 2006, 11:02pm »
I could do that, but I don't know if the topcoat would affect the primer/paint when I do decide to paint it. I'll just leave it as-is for now.
The only issue I have now is that it doesn't really fit in with anything else in my collection. It doesn't really fit in with the Gundams or the gokins; I might just have to get the Alteisen just so it doesn't seem so out of place.
I'm not a fan of the regular R-Gun because I find it to be a fairly generic suit with mundane weaponry, but it's a marvel what two shoulder-mounted BFG's can do to live up a design.
Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,685 Location: with Mazinger's mama
Re: Kotobukiya 1/144 Wildwurger Model Kit Review « Reply #8 on Jun 14, 2006, 12:31pm »
Yeah, R-Gun basically looks like a modified Gundam, but those two big a$$ guns sure are pretty. There's no comparison between this R-Gun kit and the first R-Gun kit without the guns. The BFGs make all the difference.
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