Sunday, June 20, 2010

J.Norad Reviews: Mini MS Stand

Just for giggles, I bought a Hobby Base Mini MS Stand. They're not useful for 1:6 scale figures, that's for certain. However, it's a good opportunity to try it out and let you know what it's useful for. Mine was purchased for $7 at a local store.

Straight out of the packaging, all you need to do is bend the support wires and jam it into the base. The packaging shows pliers being used to bend it. Fortunately, I don't have the finger strength of a 3 year old camel with osteoporosis and could bend the stand easily. As you can see, the stand can hold some decent weight with the stand prongs. It may be usable for some of the crappy Transformers toys you may own. It is quite suited for Halo figures, and any other figures in the 5"-6" tall region.

Their height makes them great for airborne effects. Not so much use for my applications, as I have little in the 1:18 and under range.

It does make for a good showcase stand for guns. Might use these to help review other purchases. They may find use for photo setups. Assuming I can think of interesting photos.


As for a 1:6 doll stand, it's unquestionably ill-suited as predicted. It can't hold the Scout up at all unless he's standing straight. It's semi decent for propping up Lia in a generic pose. It's not as obtrusive as the Gundam Action Base, but the tradeoff is apparent.

After about 4 days of not trying, this is the best use I could muster with the stand. Guess it's my new official moving airborne ordinance stand. It does fill in a seldom used role that I'll try to mess around with more often.

The Soldier Reviews 1:6 Scale ZACCA Panzerfaust 3

Attention, maggots! Today, I am holding the power of the an semi-belligerent god in my hands; a privilege allowed only by the best soldiers. I have here a Panzerfaust 3, issued by ZACCA, and have the special task of presenting my field report of it in action.


As you can see here, there's two parts to this model. A rocket, which the designers decided to not make the separation where the rocket meets the launcher, but at the head of the rocket so that you can't have fun dioramas of a fired Panzerfaust and the sorry gory mess of a bastard on the battlefield. For shame, indeed.


The markings on this model for once were copied properly without misspellings or disemvowelment. There aren't many other features on this model, but the warning and instructions are clear enough for dim-witted recruits like you.

The model is light and can be comfortably and securely held in the hands of an expert soldier, and fits soldiers of the Dragon, Ultimate and Worldly units. There's little fear in breakage, as the rocket is solid and doesn't have any small parts that easily snap off on impact.

Now, J.Norad instructed me to demonstrate my killing skills in this outpost. I have yet to encounter the Blu spy he spoke of in this area. No shapeshifting, cloaking yellow-bellied fiend will get past me today.

I haven't bumped into anyone, so I guess he must be good. I'll have to keep my eye on things here.

I've found the Blu spy, er, he found...gluuuuuuurg...

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The ZACCA Panzerfaust 3 is a solid model that for $5 is alright. I don't recall any other competitors that make a 1:6 scale model of it. It's not a particularly popularized RPG to have major companies make versions to sell, and I'm pretty sure it's a model you can not have in your collection and not regret missing out on.

There's not much in terms of paint application on the model. Just two labels and a safe/fire indicator. It would have been an excellent model if the designer made the detachable section purely the rocket and not rocket+front of launcher. As a display piece, it's fine. As a prop, it loses many points for execution as a result. I do give it points for being holdable by 1:6 scale figures without any awkward moments or problems.

As a display piece, it's very robust with two parts. It also looks great. I've had the Soldier hold it instead of his regular Valve rocket launcher since it fits him well. If you're not a fan of the RPG nor can find it for under $5, don't bother. There's others in series 2 that blow this out of the water though.