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Academy God Phoenix Model Review
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Hi all!
I received one of the new Academy Model Company's God Phoenix kits on December 31. What a way to end the year! I was looking forward to this since I first saw the designs a few months ago. I'm not always big fan of re-imagined designs, but I think this one manages to capture its "Newtro" target very nicely.
It's here!
The biggest thing I didn't like in its preview images was the orange top piece on the fuselage. That detail doesn't stand out quite as much in person. It's far from a deal-breaker, but it might have been nice to have an optional opaque red piece to fit there instead.
This version of the God Phoenix model does not come with the LED kit. It will likely be sold separately. The only place I've seen the LED kit so far is packed in with the Limited Edition version of this model. Academy's New God Phoenix model was initially sold the same way; as a limited edition with the LED kit. The LED option was eventually available with the standard model though. I do not know when it will be available for this model, nor how much it will cost. It will probably be designed for use specifically with this God Phoenix kit.
It also appears that the sheet of ttakji game pieces I mentioned in the preview thread for the model was a special through a retailer in Korea. Perhaps directly from Academy. I wish I could read Korean to know for sure!
The box for the model is a lot larger and deeper than I was expecting (16" x 10.5" x 3.5"). The top is full-color, printed on very nice, glossy thick stock. The sides of the box have artwork for this model and other Gatchaman model kits in the series:
No. 1 - New God Phoenix
No. 3 - God Phoenix
No. 4 - G-1
No. 5 - G-2
No. 6 - G-3
No. 7 - G-4
You will note that No. 2 is missing in the series. Perhaps it will be the GatchaSpartan?
Inside the box are several sealed bags of parts sprues. A warning insert says to make sure all the parts are included before opening the bags. This is easily done by checking them against a list printed on the back of the instruction manual. Additional bags include one with stickers and decals and another with a screw, hex nut and spring for the base.
The full-color instruction manual includes Korean and English directions. It says you can download the instruction manual from Academy's website, but I checked and it's not available yet. There are also a number of smaller paper inserts and notices, all in Korean and English.
A close-up of the instruction manual
A good set of side-cutting clippers to remove the kit parts from the sprues is very helpful. Additional supplies should include a sharp X-ACTO-style knife and a small philips-head screwdriver. A sheet of light grain sandpaper may also help for some areas.
The model parts are molded in seven colors - black, white, red, blue, grey, silver and clear orange. The parts are highly detailed, if not a bit thinner than I was expecting. It's very rigid plastic, especially the clear parts. Care must be taken not to stress the the larger, flat pieces when separating them from their sprue trees. Otherwise they can discolor and turn white at pressure points.
Multiple parts sprues
The tiny G-1 - G-4 vehicles included with the kit are molded in white and unpainted. The instruction manual gives details for the required colors needed to complete them. The rest of the model is molded in proper colors and looks very nice unpainted.
Assembling the kit is time consuming. I think it took me between 5-6 hours (there was no approximate build time listed in the manual). Even though it is a snap-together model, it required a lot of work to get the parts to fit together cleanly once they were removed from the sprues. In many snap-together kits I've made, the extra pieces left after removing the parts did not have to be dealt with further, or they were covered over with other parts to hide them. Not so in this kit. Nearly every part that snaps together with another had to have the extra sprue pieces completely removed.
These bits have to be removed from nearly every part
I took care of the sprue pieces with a sharp X-ACTO blade and lots of patience (this was especially true of the sixteen tiny tires for the landing gear!). Others may prefer sandpaper. Once they were removed, nearly all the parts snapped into place and stayed with no additional effort. The only parts that did not fit well were the rear engine covers. For some reason, both of mine were rather loose and fell off a couple times. I solved the problem by sticking small pieces of double-sided tape on their interior edges. That provided just enough extra surface area to get them to stay.
Several parts have very sharp edges (especially the clear orange ones), and fingers can easily become victims. The instruction manual warns about many instances to watch out for, but not all. Be careful when pushing some of the pieces together (like the engine flame effects, nose cone and inserting Ken's jet into its bay). I didn't lose any blood in the construction, but it was close a couple times.
Finished version of the model
Builders have the option of applying a lot of decals, or a few stickers. I have not tried the decals, but the stickers look nice and cover two of the most important details; the red on Ken's jet tail, and the "G-5" logo for the God Phoenix's wings.
I added the Firebird head and flame effects on the engines at the back of the ship. They are both easily removable. However, there are a number of additional optional opened/closed pieces, which I built but have not shown. They include a Bird Missile launch bay on top of the ship, two Super Bird Missile launch bays on the bottom of the ship, and bays for the G-2, G-3 and G-4 in their appropriate locations. The God Phoenix can also be displayed in its G-5 Hovercraft mode by removing its nose cone and canting its wings downward.
The Firebird effect
Finished from the front
G-5 Hovercracaft mode (yes, I forgot to remove the G-1 ;-))
This is a very nice looking model, and despite a lot of optional features and display options, it *is* a model and not a toy. The plastic is lightweight and will not stand up to a lot of pressure from any side. It has to be treated carefully, especially when swapping out the optional parts.
The finished kit and stand weigh 7 ounces together. When I can find an LED kit for it, I will pick one up, add it and update my review.
Please check the links on this board or mine for details on how to order the model directly from Korea. I found it was a reliable way to get it for a lot less money.
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see additional photos.
The Other Jason
www.battleoftheplanets.info
www.battleoftheplanets.info/cnc
This post has been edited 3 time(s), it was last edited by The Other Jason on 02-01-2021 at 08:20.
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