Decool 3354 Motorcycle - WIP 2 (Final)

Where's the stand? Find the stand !!

 

In the previous post, the engine block or the heart of the motorcycle has been completed so the only way to start this post is with the heart implant.

 

 

 

Decool 3354 Motorcycle - WIP 1

Another Decool set

 

I have been assembling a lot of Lego sets recently. Truth is Lego takes up less time to assemble and these past few months, I don't have enough time to complete even one small section of plamo. So I will be bringing out my Lego sets from storage and assembling them until I find time to get back to plamo.

 

Another brick set to be assembled and this time it is the Decool 3354 Motorcycle. This is the Decool version of the Lego Technic 8051. What is interesting is that the original Lego set has a 2-in-1 build function and this is the alternate build. Hmm...I wonder if I can build the original version.

 

Front of the box

Decool 7105 Batmobile - WIP 3 (Final)

Final leg of the journey

 

With most of the assembly completed in the previous post, there are a few more minor things to add-in to the Tumbler such as weapons and a couple of flaps, give it some wheels and it is ready for action. 

Flaps attached to the Tumbler

 

 

The flaps on the top can be individually moved.

 

Decool 7105 Batmobile - WIP 2

Seriously?? Here we go again...

 

Instead of slowly figuring out which pieces goes where in the previous post, I asked my most knowledgeable best friend, Mr. G., for help. He manage to get me the online instruction of this build from Lego Brick Instructions.

 

With the instructions on hand, I proceed to build the Tumbler layer cake.

 

3rd layer

Decool 7105 Batmobile - WIP 1

Err...Where are the rest of the instructions?

Another brick set from Decool. This is the 7105 Batmobile set which is from the Lego 7888: The Tumbler: Joker's Ice Cream Surprise.

 

As with the other sets from Decool, this does not come complete with the ice-cream truck and Joker's henchman. The batmobile design is from Batman Begins trilogy. Somehow I prefer this design to the Decool 7111 Tumbler. This design makes the tumbler looks sportier.

Nickelodeon Mega Blocks TMNT Series 2

How are you wearing that? Front? Back?

 

Saw a few of these blind packs at Tesco recently which was selling at 50% off. There were not many choices left so I went to have a 'feel' of what is inside. I wanted Raphael with the tiny turtle so after a quick 'feel' and confirmation, I took one.

 

 

Upon opening the pack and pouring out the contents, I knew my power of feeling was correct.

 

RG GP01 Zephyranthes - WIP 3

A little intermission before the actual program

 

Recently I went to a shopping mall near my area and they had a funko exhibition booth. The missus was attracted to 2 series, Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice through the Looking Glass, which both happens to be in blind boxes.

Alice through the Looking Glass list of characters

Nightmare Before Christmas list of characters

She wanted the bottom Mad Hatter from Alice through the Looking Glass and the pumpkin man from Nightmare Before Christmas. The booth had a weighing scale and we were there taking out boxes after boxes to weigh them and comparing them to the ones on display. In the end, this was what we got from the boxes:

Decool 7112 The Bat Fighter - WIP 3 (Final)

The Batwing and its glory

  

In the previous post, there was a problem after attaching the wings to the body. That problem has been solved. What was the problem? Honestly, I don't know. All I did was dismantle the base and assembled it again. After that, wings are suppose to be where they are and we can finally continue with the building process. I believe I might have miscounted some of the parts wrongly which led to the problem in the first place.

 

Finally we can continue with the assembling process

 

 

 

Decool 7112 The Bat Fighter - WIP 2

Alfred, we have a problem

Some subsections in the manual are shown in the previous post, but there are a lot more which I have encountered.

 

More subsections in the manual not covered in the previous post.

Decool 7112 The Bat Fighter - WIP 1

 Batwing? Bat Fighter? I'm confused

 

Since 200% of  my time are taken up by work (actual work and housework) and don't really have the time to spend building Gundams, I will have to put my current project on hold and build something which isn't so time consuming. I have 2 3rd party brick building set in my backlog and decided to start with this:

 

Updates (19)

A little update and loot

 

A little update since there are no updates recently. Mentioned in a post in March, I had 4 things I plan to do this year. I have completed 2 1/2 out of 4. Why is there a 1/2 and which did I complete? Let's start with what I have completed first.

 

Remember the 2 conditions which I need to fulfill in order to get a promotion?

 

i) Passing the audit - Done
I recently had the audit from 27 August - 30 August. It was my first time handling the audit but luckily it turned out okay. The passing mark was 80% with no more than 5 major findings. I got above 80% and 5 major findings. Barely scrape through but a pass is a pass.

RG GP01(s) - WIP 2

Core Fighters, Transform and block-up!!

 

Mentioned in the previous post, we will make a quick size comparison between the two core fighters and have a look at their transformation process.

 

Comparison between the two core fighter-II.  As you can see, the CFII is way slimmer than the Fb. I understand that the CFII design is for it to be agile but the design makes it looks anorexic and out of proportion.

 

RG GP01Fb Full Burnern - WIP 1

 Same same but different

Originally I wanted to panel line all the whites using the pencil method like what I did for Zephyranthes. It was around this time that an idea hit me. Instead of using pencil, I will be using the Tamiya Accent (Gray) for panel lining and comparing it with the pencil.

 

The first thing I did was taking out all the runners which contain white and panel lined them.

 

All white pieces panel lined. Sorry for the unclear pictures. My phone recently died so I'm currently using a temporary phone for the pictures

  

Eggplane YF-19 - WIP 8 (Final)

YF-19 prepare to sortie

 

Since completing the assembly in the previous post, this post will be showing the completed kit and a comparison difference between an OOB build and a painted kit.

 

Top view of the completed YF-19

 

Back view of the completed YF-19

Updates (18)

Some unexpected find

 

Recently went to one of the shopping malls on my little island and decided to pop into a bookshop just to check out the magazines and some books. After checking the books, went to the graphic comics section to see if there are any interesting comics to get.

 

After scanning the shelves, this caught my eye:

 

A complete set of the Death of Superman.

Eggplane YF-19 - WIP 7

Pay egg-stra attention to instructions in the manual

Having completed all the painting and decaling works in the previous post, it is time to egg-semble the kit.

Pieces of the kit waiting to be assembled

 

First part to assemble are the Fast Packs.

They are a bit tricky and requires some force. It was hard to align the pieces and I was afraid to scratch the paint job. Luckily it all turns out fine.

 

Eggplane YF-19 - WIP 6

An alternative approach

 

Had a long weekend recently so I decided to spend some time on the eggplane which was last worked on in February. 

 

Neural Gray was used to cover up the missing decal on the canopy.

There was a bit of problem while decaling the wings at the fast pack. When placing the decal, I found out that there is too little excess decals to properly wrap around the wings. If you try to move it around to fit, the decal will eventually tear (especially those on the smaller wings). After a few times trying, I gave up decaling and took out the black and red paints instead.

RG GP01 Zephyranthes - WIP 1

Building two kits together (again?)

This is not the first time I'm building 2 kits simultaneously. Remember the PG Astrays? That is still in the WIP stage when I did not manage to complete it before my work schedule went bonkers. A few days ago I did mentioned that I took out an RG kit and was about to start building but didn't have all the necessary stuff with me at the time. The day after, I to take the kit out together with its brother.  I have decided to start restart the hobby with:

The GP01 brothers

Updates (17)

A little update on what's happening in my life

Hello everyone and I apologise for not updating this blog regularly. Mentioned in this post, this year will be a very busy year for me, I have completed my training in Thailand and a week after that the SHO course started. That was in the beginning of May.

 

In the middle of May, my mum had to go overseas for a month thus I was left with taking care of her pets for an entire month. I had to get up an hour earlier to go over to her place before going to work and going over there again after work before going back home to do my own chores. All I can say is that I'm glad it is over and it was the longest month in my life. Time really seem to pass at an extremely slow pace.

 

I'm delaying the diving course until after the SHO which would be after August. The new workplace is good but there are lots of things to do before audit. The best new I've had since transferring is that  my audit has been postponed to July. This gives me some extra time to prepare.

LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter - WIP 2 (Final)

Accelerate to attack speed

Continuing the build of the LEGO Microfighters X-Wing.

In WIP 1, the pilot and the main body of the X-Wing has been completed. In this post, we will look at assembling the wings, attaching it to the body and showing the gimmicks.

Step 19: First step of assembling the wing

Front and back (right) view of one of four wings

2 completed wings

It takes a total of 8 steps to complete half of the wings. It is interesting to note how both the wings are attached to the body.

LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter - WIP 1

First of its kind (on the blog)

 

I have encountered some problems with the decals while working on the Eggplane YF-19. To stop the frustration and to cool down, I decided start on another small and a much simpler kit. Let us welcome: LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Resistance X-Wing Fighter. That is a mouthful so I will just refer to this set as the X-Wing.

 

Front view of the box

 

Back view of the box

 

Updates (16)

Busy, busy, busy

 

Just a little heads up on what will be happening to this blog and also to my life. Somehow I had a feeling that this year started a little bit different than the rest. Before I talk about what will be happening to the blog, let me first explain what will be happening in my life for the year.

 

All was fine until after Chinese New Year. This is where some of the things which I wanted to do or in planning stage became a reality. Let's take a look on what I have on my plate for this year:

Eggplane YF-19 - WIP 5

Decaling does make a difference

Mentioned in WIP 4, this post will be about assembling the Fold Booster and decaling the plane.

Parts for the Fold Booster

 

With a little bit of glue (Mr. Cement S), the pieces are assembled.

Top and bottom view

Eggplane YF-19 - WIP 4

 Lots and lots of gluing required

 

With the D-Style Gustav completed, it is time to assemble the eggplane after all the paint job done in WIP 2 and WIP 3.

 

Parts for the main plane compartment

The parts which is missing from the picture above are the clear red pieces which was modified in WIP 3. Before any assembling can start, the first order of business is to glue the two grey pieces together.

D-Style Gustav - WIP 8 (Final)

Transport ready and waiting

 

With the platforms completed in WIP 7, let us link both together and connect them to the Gustav which was completed in WIP 6.

Linking the 2 platforms together is as easy as ABC. Just attach the peg into the hole and you are done.

Both platforms linked together

Platforms can be moved up or down

 

The same method is used to connect the platforms to Gustav.

 

Gustav connected to the platforms

 

A little comparison between the original (right; Image taken from flickr) and the painted Gustav

Top and aerial view of the completed Gustav 

 

To conclude this review, below is a list of all the pros and cons and the conclusion of what I think about the kits according to my personal experience.

Pros:

- Lots of details
- Cute
- Includes pilots
- Moving wheels

Cons:
- Huge nub mark at the front
- Loose pieces
- Requires glue

Conclusions:

Overall, this is a nice and fun side project. There are a lot of details on the shell and at the platform area if you are willing to spend some time coloring them up. There is nothing much to be said about this kit. There are no articulation involved. The good thing is that the wheels do move.

While assembling this kit, it is best to have the hobby cement on standby. Not sure if I bought a faulty kit or if this is happening to other modellers as well. This is not a big issue though. Just be careful on where you hold the piece while putting the cement. 

 

All in all, I would highly recommend this kit. This is also a good kit for wetting your toes if you are planning to have some hand painting and masking practice.

All WIPs for the D-Style Gustav:
WIP 1 - Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma
WIP 2 - Just keep trying, trying, trying
WIP 3 -  Adding a little color here and there
WIP 4 - To paint or not to paint?
WIP 5 - D-style pilots
WIP 6 - Escargot anyone?
WIP 7 - Here comes the train