In Box Review [Blue Knight X Volks] Injection Kit Series 05 1/24 SHADOW FLARE [FIRST EDITION]

 

//Introduction

The Blue Knight Berserga Story is quite popular among AT Votoms fans and was addressed recently by a variety of manufacturers, including Bandai Spirits.

BLACK A-T SHADOW FLARE is Volks' fifth Votoms plastic model kit and was released back in 2017 in both the "First Edition" that we have on review here as well as a Regular Version.

If you want to find out about each and every AT Votoms kit ever published by Volks and the evolution behind it make sure to check my detailed Chronology here.

Here's some introduction to the Shadow Flare Design (machine-translated from Japanese) ...

"A mysterious black AT rumored to be the strongest in Melchia's butting history. Driven by Chris Curts, he was testing and collecting data through real battles. It is said that there is no aircraft that kept 5 minutes in front of the overwhelming combat power of this aircraft. The area around the cockpit, which is contained in a huge body that exceeds the heavy class, is filled with a gel-like substance, and it is devised to reduce damage to the inside and passengers from external impact, which is unique and unthinkable with ordinary AT. Has specs. In addition to having a vicious iron claw on the left arm and a large solid shooter on the right arm, the right arm is also equipped with a small stake as a dark device, and in the final battle with the "blue knight" driven by Kane, each other's deadly pile bunker It was a confrontation."

//Kit History

As you might have noticed when reading through my reviews I am always keen looking for previous (model) versions of the kit on review for a direct comparison.

According to my research VOLKS has been the first manufacturer to ever produce a Resin Garage Kit for the Design in the 1980s, directly followed by a Soft Vinyl ("Sofubi") Version by MAX FACTORY in JAN 1994.  

Let's take a look at previous (and subsequent) Model Kit and Action Figure versions of the SHADOW FLARE.

Click on the respective pictures for a larger version.

//My first impressions
Yeah, again it's Scale 1/24 - So this'll build into a huge model. Most manufacturers producing AT Votoms model kits have more or less shifted to the smaller (maybe more convenient) 1/35th scale.
But not here.
Box is huge! And this is the first edition.
This means it comes with turned and photo etched metal parts as a bonus - more about that later.
The quality feel is quite amazing and a quick lurk into the box reveals plenty of nicely cast big-size parts.

The box (outside dimensions 390x310x150mm).

 

//The kit

Parts come nicely molded across nine different runners, two of them included twice. Volks again took notice of how parts are going to be assembled and made a huge effort in hiding gate marks and part split lines during the assembly process. A few of the parts - especially the parts for the giant bazooka are molded in one piece making use of slide-molding thus eliminating the need for part cleanup which would have resulted from parts that are molded the standard way (split into into two individual parts).

So what you get here is a very well engineered and designed rendition of the Design.

If you ask me it is the best injection molded kit of the Shadow Flare currently available.

The plastic runners (except the G-, B- and E-Runners) come molded in a very dark grey / darkish blue PS whereas the J-Runner is molded in dark grey PE for increased flexibility.

Here's a part breakdown ...

A - RUNNER ... 21 parts ... molded in dark grey PS ... includes main outside armour parts for the head, canopy and skirt armour
B - RUNNER ... 42 parts ... molded in light purple PS ... includes relatively large parts for the skirt armor, and canopy structure as well as smaller parts for the hands
C - RUNNER ... 29 parts (included twice) ... molded in dark grey PS ... includes relatively large parts for the outside armor and shoulder pads

D - RUNNER ... 23 parts ... molded in dark grey PS ... includes relatively large parts for the backpack, legs and  arms armor
E - RUNNER ... 44 parts (included twice) ... molded in light purple PS ... includes inside/structural parts for the feet and shoulder parts as well as the wheels for the feet
F - RUNNER ... 10 parts ... molded in dark grey PS ... includes outside armour detailing parts for the front visor and antenna as well as for the backpack
G - RUNNER ... 5 parts ... molded in transparent PS ... includes rather small clear parts for the visor and the "dome" underneath the helmet
H - RUNNER ... 16 parts ... molded in dark gray PS ... large runner holding the parts for the missile pod and the giant bazooka
I - RUNNER ... missing
J - RUNNER ... 36 parts ... molded in dark gray PE ... Polycaps for joint movement
DECALS ... 1x ... markings for the head, bazooka and backpack

299 parts in total !!!

"First Edition" Bonus: Turned Alumimium Part for the "secret weapon" that's hidden in the left arm plus PE parts for added realism.

Let's have a look at the parts included with the kit ...

The A-Runner holds the Design parts for the Canopy, Head and Skirt Armour.

A-Runner - Detail View 01.

A-Runner - Detail View 02.

A-Runner - Detail View 03. Clean details throughout ...

A-Runner - View from underneath. Clearly visible are the mating pins.

The B-Runner holds Parts for the Canopy, the Hands/Fingers as well as lots of smaller Structural Parts.

B-Runner Detail - Seen in the center of this shot is the Cockpit Seat. The color of this Runner gives a nice subtle contrast with the darker grey of the rest of the runners.

B-Runner Detail View - Note the undergating for the slide molding as visible on the left.

The B-Runner from underneath - Mating pins.

C-Runner (included twice with the kit) holds the large parts needed for the outside armour of the feet and arms as well as the Skirt Armour.

C-Runner - Detail from the front.

C-Runner - Detail from the back.

D-Runner.

D-Runner - Detail.

E-Runner.

E-Runner - Detail View.

E-Runner - Detail View 02.

The F-Runner mainly contains parts for the front visor, antenna and backpack.

Detailed shot of the main parts on the F-Runner.

Detailed shot of the smaller and structural parts as provided on the F-Runner.

The G-Runner (maybe short for Glass?) holds the parts needed for the head and visor assembly.

Detail view of the glass dome included with the G-Runner.

The detail provided on the transparent parts - even the tiniest ones - is quite crisp and totally amazing.

The parts needed for the giant bazooka and shoulder pod are provided with Runner H.

Seen here are the claws for the left hand assembly as well as the large hand-pieces for the bazooka (Detail view of Runner H).

The J-Runner holds the Polycaps needed for poseability of the finished kit.

Quite an amazing add-on of this "First Edition" is the quite large PE fret (measuring 92x200mm!!!) as well as the turned Aluminium upgrade by Master Model (PL). Another amazing detail is that the PE artwork was provided by Radu Brinzan (RB Productions). THE PE fret is manufactured in the UK. Here's a shot of the entire package holding the addt'l instructions needed for assembly.

Detail Shot of the Model Master Metal Pile included with this "First Edition".

Addt'l instructions leaflet that comes with the PE/Al bundle.

Detail shot of the PE-fret.

The PE-fret provides very crisp detailing on large and small parts alike as you can see on this detail shot.

The Decal sheet measuring 50.5x41mm provides 4 markings for the build as well as the SHADOW FLARE, VOLKS and Blue Knight x VOLKS Logos. 

Front view of the 20p Instruction Manual measuring 182x255mm.

The first page on the inside provides some Specs as well as some background information for the BLACK A-T SHADOW FLARE - however held entirely in Japanese.

The first page on the inside The instruction manual mainly features line-art drawings to illustrate the build process. Again only Japanese text, but the pictorial instructions are easy to follow.

Instructions for Decal Placement.

The detailed Painting Guide lists exact color hues for Vallejo and GSI Creos (Mr. Color).  Well worth noting is that Gianotes did a good job in developing a special color hue directly for this Mecha called "AT-25 Shadow Black" Comes in a large capacity bottle of 50ml. Check it out here. 

//Summary

What shall I say?

It's quite an outstanding version of the Mecha and an unparalleled one in terms of size and detailing.

The kit will provide many hours of joy.

Make sure to visit the Special SHADOW FLARE microsite as provided on the special Blue Knight x Pages by VOLKS to discover more.

Again: Straight 10 out of 10 Points - All is as perfect as it gets - even if an in-scale pilot figure of Clith Courzz - the man piloting the Mecha in the Blue Knight Berserga Novel -  would have been a nice addition to the package but is not  included.

Not shown on the pictures this time, but a real "added plus" is that Volks provides is the option to re-order individual runners and even the decal sheet for spares (ranging from 500 JPY for the Decal Sheet up to 1.700 JPY for Runner-E (approx. 3 to 15 €)).

Thanks again to Volks for providing the review sample.

The "First Edition" is still available from VOLKS USA.

The regular edition is also available in limited numbers directly from the VOLKS Japan webshop.

If you haven't done so already make sure to check  out the incredible official Blue Knight x Votoms website here.

Of course, I will build this kit and share my progress on this blog. Check for updates here.