Bandai vs Revell (FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Scarecrow Joe

Scarecrow Joe

Sr Member
A few months back I built the Bandai 1/48 Xwing that comes with LEDS and some wing action. Enjoyed every minute of the build due to its well known quality and detail. Naturally I wanted a Tie Fighter too, its archenemy. Sadly Bandai does not offer any such model in 1/48 scale.....bummer. So decided to get a Revell (FineMolds) kit. Build it recently and added some lighting too. When side by side both models look great in my eyes. Was surprised when someone here said that the FineMolds kits look like melted cheese when compared to Bandai. Not in my experience! Here are some side by side pics of these iconic ships.


IMG_5418 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5428 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5430 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5440 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5449 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5450 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5452 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5458 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5474 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr

IMG_5480 by Oscar Baez Soria, on Flickr


I tried to give the images kind of a cinematic look. Hope you like and would love to hear your opinions about melted cheese! LOL!
 
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Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

I dont think FM is junk but I do think Bandai has set the bar so high no other model manufacturer will ever be able to reach their level. Thats to be expected. No other model manufacturer on the planet has achieved what they have achieved over the years. Their tooling and injection process has no rival on the planet. Anyone who says otherwise has no clue on the manufacturing side of things

not talking out of my ass either. I have built every perfect grade gundam on the market. Until you see what goes into one of those you have never seen perfection.
 
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Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

I have built the 1/48 FM Tie and X-Wing, both are excellent, NO melted cheese to be found.

820802590d4364ea5da0d155ed051e5d.jpg
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With Bandai you do get a higher standard of crispness and detail. I find Bandai crispness and detail in their 1/144 kits to be as good as most manufacturers 1/48 kits!
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Great stuff! The bold panel lines on the Tie give it a very distinct look, and the level of detail on both models is just top notch!

akumazeto said:
I have built every perfect grade gundam on the market. Until you see what goes into one of those you have never seen perfection.
Click to expand...


Really makes me want to buy their Perfect Grade Eva-01 model, but I just don't think I could do it justice, yet..!
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Yeah I am not saying other manufactorers models are junk or not good. What I am saying is Bandai has perfected the process and their injections are top notch. The tooling is amazing and the plastic itself is top notch. Give it a shot. I have still not tackled a custom paint on a perfect grade because well ****** there are so many damn pieces.

Niatona said:
Great stuff! The bold panel lines on the Tie give it a very distinct look, and the level of detail on both models is just top notch!




Really makes me want to buy their Perfect Grade Eva-01 model, but I just don't think I could do it justice, yet..!
Click to expand...
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Scarecrow Joe said:
Was surprised when someone here said that the FineMolds kits look like melted cheese when compared to Bandai.
Click to expand...

Stupid fanboy talk.

In fact many small scale Bandai kits (only talking SW, no interest in robot stuff) are sort of overdetailed. Cramped with to obvisious details, like a bad actor that tries with big gestures to achieve what a good actor can show with much lesser body language or just the expression of his face.

But that´s only a problem on closeup pics, or when wearing magnificating goggles while building - no problem anymore when standing in the middle of the room and watching to the kits on shelves/cabinets at the wall.
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Lichtbringer said:
Stupid fanboy talk.

In fact many small scale Bandai kits (only talking SW, no interest in robot stuff) are sort of overdetailed. Cramped with to obvisious details, like a bad actor that tries with big gestures to achieve what a good actor can show with much lesser body language or just the expression of his face.

But that´s only a problem on closeup pics, or when wearing magnificating goggles while building - no problem anymore when standing in the middle of the room and watching to the kits on shelves/cabinets at the wall.
Click to expand...

What you talking bout Willis?
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

I think what he is saying is that for the scale, Bandai's stuff canappear a bit over-exaggerated at times. Also some of their pieces are a little thicker than needed due to the snap nature of things

This can tend to make things look out of scale sometimes.

There is no question thought that Bandai has some of the most innovative engineering and ways to get those details
 
Re: Bandai vs Revell FineMolds) a 1/48 battle

Niatona said:
Really makes me want to buy their Perfect Grade Eva-01 model, but I just don't think I could do it justice, yet..!
Click to expand...

The Eva-01 PG is actually the very first PG they ever did, back in 1997 and honeslty it's a crap kit. It has all these rubber sleeve pieces that you have to get the various frames inside of and it'll make you go insane. On top of that the sculpt of the kit's armor just isn't very good so in the end there's no payoff for all that work.

Bandai has developed fantastic technology over the years but they really haven't used it to its maximum potential until the Star Wars kits. All of their Gundam stuff has deliberately soft detail because they know their market is mostly snappers and don't care so might as well save on the mold ware.
 
Looking at the 1/72 stuff, it seems like the Fine Molds X and Y-wing are both larger than the Bandai ones.

Bandai's appear more accurate shape wise compared to the studio models from a new hope. It's a bit unfair paint job wise wince the Fine Molds ones I probably painted 10 years ago. The X-wing was the first X-Wing I painted. With the Bandai ones I tried to copy the studio models more.

The greeblies are more crisp with Bandai, but I do prefer the panel lines from the Fine Molds













Now if you want to call something melted cheese, look at the Revell 1/72 compared to the Bandai
Shape is actually fairly close, but details....are like melted cheese :lol


QBeW0Qm.jpg
 
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