Five Star Stories Reboot

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Are these resin or plastic? 

Luckily IMS is their plastic line

Edited November 3 by Big s

[Papa Rat]

11 hours ago, Big s said:

Luckily IMS is their plastic line

Thanks for the clarification. 👍 I look forward to seeing more of these 1/144 versions. Less shelf space needed. lol 

I did purchase my first resin kit, Luminous Mirage. Can’t wait to jump into the garage kit world. I’m very excited to see what it’s all about.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to build anything for months. We have been in the process of selling our home, closing on a new place, and in the next week we are moving. Can’t wait to get it over with, unpack all my goodies and get back at it! The backlog is a real thing for me now. Got lots of work to do. 🤪

Edited November 3 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

Saw these at tag hobby. IMS Sirene F and it says it’s limited for the grey version, but not sure what that really means since most of these seem to be somewhat limited releases. Maybe just far fewer prints I guess 

[Papa Rat]

On 12/13/2024 at 5:10 AM, Big s said:

Saw these at tag hobby. IMS Sirene F and it says it’s limited for the grey version, but not sure what that really means since most of these seem to be somewhat limited releases. Maybe just far fewer prints I guess 

🤤 I’m glad the IMS line will continue with the newer VSMS taking shape. Thanks for sharing. 

Wonder if they both come with alternate head options or maybe that makes the green the limited version?

Edited December 16 by Papa Rat

[Papa Rat]

Yeah I reached out to the nice folks at VOLKS USA about new IMS kits.  I guess the sirene kits will be available for preorder on the volks international web store (Japan) by GL members. Not sure what GL members are but I guess I’ll miss out on these.

Edited December 16 by Papa Rat

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Yeah I reached out to the nice folks at VOLKS USA about new IMS kits.  I guess the sirene kits will be available for preorder on the volks international web store (Japan) by GL members. Not sure what GL members are but I guess I’ll miss out on these.

Their new stuff usually ends up on the U.S.store a little after the Japanese release. Although I’m not sure on this situation where one is an exclusive release. In the past with some of their Votoms kits, they’ve had clear versions that and other limited items that did become available in a similar way here at the Volks USA store. I guess it’s a wait and see kinda thing.

 I’m not as familiar with this particular design, but it kinda looks the same other than color. If that’s the case, there’s always the paint option for the green version 

[Papa Rat]

8 hours ago, Big s said:

Their new stuff usually ends up on the U.S.store a little after the Japanese release. Although I’m not sure on this situation where one is an exclusive release. In the past with some of their Votoms kits, they’ve had clear versions that and other limited items that did become available in a similar way here at the Volks USA store. I guess it’s a wait and see kinda thing.

 I’m not as familiar with this particular design, but it kinda looks the same other than color. If that’s the case, there’s always the paint option for the green version 

Found out later today that for a small annual fee people outside of Japan can get the GL membership. Easy peasy. I got one and it was like $5 US. It allows you to purchase exclusive kits of all types from Volks JP including the solid art kits “garage kits” if you have the $$$$ and lucky enough to win a lottery spot to purchase one which sounds wild.  They also have some kits with shiny and or transparent armor that haven’t been available from the USA site.

The red version of the Sirene F preorder goes live this Saturday the 21st “Japan time zone” Sounds like the green version preorder happens later in 2025. It has optional parts including a large spear which is quite a bit taller than the kit itself. 

[Big s]

2 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Found out later today that for a small annual fee people outside of Japan can get the GL membership. Easy peasy. I got one and it was like $5 US. It allows you to purchase exclusive kits of all types from Volks JP including the solid art kits “garage kits” if you have the $$$$ and lucky enough to win a lottery spot to purchase one which sounds wild.  They also have some kits with shiny and or transparent armor that haven’t been available from the USA site.

The red version of the Sirene F preorder goes live this Saturday the 21st “Japan time zone” Sounds like the green version preorder happens later in 2025. It has optional parts including a large spear which is quite a bit taller than the kit itself. 

Sounds pretty cool actually.

[electric indigo]

In the front view you can see that the green version (Viralgo or Largo's machine) has a different head ornament.

[Big s]

2 hours ago, electric indigo said:

In the front view you can see that the green version (Viralgo or Largo's machine) has a different head ornament.

That’s odd, it looks the same as the red in the side picture, but looks very different on the front view 

[electric indigo]

On 8/11/2024 at 11:37 PM, electric indigo said:

Closeup of the Viralgo/Largo parts:

 

The extra parts were shown back in August.

[Papa Rat]

Here’s a link to the  FSS on Volks JP. The site offers translation options which is nice and puts context to the Sirene, its variations and backstory. 
https://hobby.volks.co.jp/brand/fss/special/mh/ims019.html

[Big s]

53 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Here’s a link to the  FSS on Volks JP. The site offers translation options which is nice and puts context to the Sirene, its variations and backstory. 
https://hobby.volks.co.jp/brand/fss/special/mh/ims019.html

Thanks for the link, that’s actually pretty useful 

[Papa Rat]

Was sick all week so I had plenty of time to slap together a test fit on the new VSMS Daccas kit.  Have to say it went together pretty smooth.

I’m not loving the ABS material for armor. It has a cool visual effect but wow is it brittle stuff and needing special care. Also note that superglue is not its friend. It will whiten the ABS. It’s fine I guess since I haven’t done any sanding or fine tuning on any of the parts and have time to make it right.

Not a big deal to me, but the articulation on this thing is great. The new sliding joints are such a cool concept and the abdomen/spine has lots of dynamic movement. I have to say I’m really looking forward to more releases in this VSMS series. For what it’s worth I’m enjoying this one a lot. 
Happy holidays!

[Big s]

Looks pretty wild so far.

6 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Also note that superglue is not its friend. It will whiten the ABS

 

just gotta give it a couple days to dry and cure before handling and holds up fairly well on the projects I’ve needed it for

[Papa Rat]

1 minute ago, Big s said:

Looks pretty wild so far.

 

just gotta give it a couple days to dry and cure before handling and holds up fairly well on the projects I’ve needed it for

Wow. Thanks for the recommendation. 

[electric indigo]

Humbrol Liquid Poly also works on ABS & cures pretty quick.

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, electric indigo said:

Humbrol Liquid Poly also works on ABS & cures pretty quick.

Thanks. I’ll look into this too.