Bandai 1/72 A-Wing Starfighter

This is Bandai's excellent "snap time play time" as my son calls it. They do with snap fit what some companies can't do with traditional methods. They don't bake their plastic which means that it can be effected by some of the strong chemicals we use (some thinners etc) so care does have to be taken. This is in part that while there are more people painting their kits now (Gundams especially) a large part of their market is still people that buy them and just put them together and add the stickers. Of the 5 people I know who do Gundams only one paints them. Understanding the limitations goes a long way to not having things go wrong. There is still a lot of debate about their plastic but really I think it comes down to we (especially us lacquer painters) are trying to do something they didn't really consider.

Otherwise the Bandai Gundam's and Star Wars are by far the best and most fun I have modelling. I get to concentrate on what I love most which is the painting. I don't have to worry about some of the regular problems. While I don't often make these mistakes as I got better but all of us at some point has a little run of glue we didn't expect. Or a fingerprint. Typically those errors are eliminated in a Bandai kit.

Its not just the fit its their design ideology. Parts are done in a way to help you. They often come together at the panel line to avoid seam lines like we get on fuselages. They have been doing for a while what Tamiya have started doing with their 1/32's with part placement.

For kids especially they can build a real kit. They come with enough parts to make it a real build. Be complex enough to make them work. But be smart enough and fit great that the end result should be something they are really happy with.

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.