1/100 Akatsuki Full Set

It sucks when you pay right away for an item the day its released and not receive until a month later. Oh well, "better late than never" is the popular saying and "you get what you pay for" is also appropiate when it comes to SAL shipping. Anyway, the 1/100 Akatsuki Full Set arrives today and all I can say is WOW. The model is beautiful, i looks like a Master Grade model. There are a ton of parts and this one definitely does not need any paint. I'll still paint all of the parts that are not gold plated.

I have never been a fan of gold model kits or models with those "Extra Finish", since you cant avoid nip marks. The Akatsuki however barely suffers from any noticeable nip marks. It uses the undergate method which means that the part is attached o the tree from underneath, so when you cut the part off, it does not damage the finish.

Why oh why, wasn't the Akatsuki a Master Grade? The only part of the kit that might need some improvement is the leg articulation. Otherrwise the kit is amazing, the gold finish is beautiful and all of the parts are molded in their corresponding colors. I wish the FMB Strike Freedom would have used this kind of gold plating. Also the gold plating on the Akatsuki looks better than the MG Hiaku Shiki. The Hiaku Shiki's is much lighter by comparison and tends to look more silverish than golden. I think the 1/100 Akatsuki will be the next model that I will be building after work is complete on the Verde Buster.