Bandai's Trafalgar-Law's Submarine

So, this is what I got from the Litt Tak Warehouse Sale; a Bandai Ver. ka Core Booster and One-Piece's Trafalgar Law's Submarine. Actually, deep in my heart, I wanted the Bandai 1/48 Shinkai 6500 which comes with lights and is quite big. However, for RM178, its too much for me. As you have already know, I already have the Core Booster and having another box is actually a waste of money. But I bought it regardless because during the Sale, it costs less than 10 McDonalds value meals.

Same box, different scales. But is it the same
manufacturing technology?

I a not a fan of One-Piece. Not because I like it but because there are so many episodes (in the regions of three digit) you can't really catch up with all of them. Not only that, you have to make up your mind if you want to read the Manga first or watch the anime. Either way, its like Bleach all over again for me, which means its never ending epiodes. So, this time, I just steer clear of it and pick out whatever is nice.

And so, this Trafalgar Law's Submarine is nice...

There are four coloured sprues for you to complete
the Submarine. Because of its 'simple' colours, you
do not really have to do much on colouring it. This
is a non-scale model and trying to make it accurate
(or being anal about it) is pointless.

But to me, the size of this model is quite OK.
Not too big, not too small. And after looking
at the instruction sheet, its is quite hollow
inside. That is, if you care to remove all the
'extra' parts.

One thing that is different from other Bandai kits
is that the way the parts are held together. If you
look closely, it is designed to be 'plucked' by hand

In other words, you do not need to put much effort
into removing the parts cleanly as this picture shows.
The brown part came off as it was accidentally 'crushed'
which effectively made itself 'pop' out of the sprue.

Just like the other ship, there is an additional clear
plastic part which resembles a wave. What you do
is remove the lower part of the submarine and then
stick the wave part over it and voila!

So, this is the idea. When I was researching on this
Sub vie the Internet, there was a short clip showing
how it lights up underwater. Which got me thinking
that it would be nice to also light it up.

As this is a non-scale model, you can literally do what you think you can with it. Initially I was thinking of:

1. Replacing the floorboards with balsa wood for a more realistic grain.
2. Cut out the rails and replace them with Plastruct parts.
3. Remove all the portholes and insert LEDs inside them
4. Replace the sail with a more realistic one but there is a problem with the Pirate Sign.

Ah, forget it. I just light it up, maybe using a solar cell or something...

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