[EBO] Darjeeling 1/12 scale garage kit

This is Girls und Panzer Darjeeling 1/12 scale garage kit by EBO. To be honest with you, I wasn’t going out of my way to acquire this kit, mainly because it was 1/12 scale and I didn’t like the overall design. My main focus is 1/16 scale because that’s the scale of tanks I collect. But then beggars can’t be choosers.

Besides, I found this on Mandrake shop for 2,000 yen which is a killer deal, so I decided to give it a try.

You may also watch the build video. This blog entry will cover more but the video covers some that isn’t covered here.

I believe this is a genuine kit. Mandrake generally doesn’t carry recasts to begin with anyway.

As I inspected the resin parts, I’ve come to a conclusion that this is the worst garage kit I am going to have to deal with. No parts is a good fit and it reeked of some sort of oil when taken out. The worst of all is that the parts had tiny air bubbles on surface which left tiny holes around mold injection points. Additionally, mold injection points left a lot to trim off.

Finally, the eye decal is very low quality as well, not to mention there is only a pair which means you have only one chance to make it.

Overall, the parts are quite imperfect but such flaws can generally be repaired with a bit of model paste. Besides, given that I paid only 2,000 yen (Original price is 5,000 yen) for this, I suppose I shouldn’t let these issues get to me. Still, I let this kit sit for about a week before finally deciding to work on it.

The first step is washing the parts since it reeked of oil. The second step is choosing which paints to use. Tamiya dark yellow for her hair. Black primer for her skirt and shoes. Vallejo dark red for her pants and inner shirt. And the last one is for skin.

As I chose the paints, I tried to understand what the heck Darjeeling is wearing to begin with. Having read plenty of manga, I figure she is wearing a track suit and a yukata top above it. I am not even sure why she has a (very) short skirt on it. It could be a habit of hers. Aside from the skirt, wearing casual clothes and having a yukata top on it is commonly seen from characters who are enjoying New year days in Japan. So, that is my theory of her outfit.

I am also not going to go with the original color that EBO has chosen because, quite frankly, I hate the color scheme. I am going to go with St. Gloriana color scheme which is dark red and black. And I would choose a color for her yukata top later which is purple.

The eye decal is awful. One is okay. The other is just off. Additionally, the decal didn’t have white color, meaning I had to paint her eyes white before placing the decal on her face. You can see what I went through from the video.

Did I mention that no part is a good fit? Yes, I think I did. The gap between her head pieces was quite big that I had to use model paste to fill the gap. This isn’t a huge deal though. I mean we are dealing with a garage kit. Improvisation is your bread and butter when working with garage kits. Of course, it doesn’t hide a fact that the kit overall is quite poor quality.

Again, her head and neck wouldn’t connect at all which meant I had to use some sort of medium to fill the void. I am using the blue stuff that you use in art classes. They are rubber-clay like stuff that never dries and is sticky. This won’t join her head and neck permanently and will give the figure an ability to turn her head which could be useful, should I decide to use the figure in a photo project or something.

The left photo is right before painting would begin. The right photo is after.

Nevermind her pants where some red paint have come off. The dark red paint I am using is notorious for not being able to stick. I will have to repair the painting with a brush, never touch it as it dries and coat with varnish. That is the only way for the paint to properly stick in my experience.

Overall, this wasn’t a hard kit. There were only 5 parts which were all relative large to handle. Granted, the fits were horrible but that’s something you get used to when working with garage kits. I also didn’t find great enjoyment when working with this kit. It was more of a chore. I had good fun when making Amaretto though.

With this kit completed, I now have two 1/12 scale figures. Darjeeling and Amaretto.

Of course, compared to my 1/16 scale GuP figure collection, this is hardly anything.