Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions Baskyrotto (gray)

Wow, its been a wee while since we last talked about one of these, Isn't it? Allow me a quick summary for the unfamiliar. 30 Minutes Missions is a line of highly customisable mecha models made by the gunpla people, Bandai. These aren't tied to an anime, at least not yet, and the gimmick is that these can be assembled in under 30 minutes. I've never really felt the need to rush like that, but 30MM kits are consistently pleasant builds reflecting the expertise Bandai can bring. They are the platonic ideal of robot model kits, and putting aside teething troubles from the early years or the occasional duff polycap, you're in for a good time. Although... they can get a touch samey through parts reuse, and the lack of fiction hurts my word count. Which is probably why I don't talk about them super-often these days.

The Baskyrotto is a comparatively recent release, new this year, and one that tickled my fancy. Its overall vibe is similar to the Armored Core series of video games, something likely not coincidental as Armored Core will be joining the 30MM line soon. It's like with Lego doing Minecraft sets, but I digress. The Baskyrotto is short, angular and very stocky. Its not that much taller than the adorable egg robo they did, but its much wider, and a chest that would look right at home in a PS3 era cutscene. Its not entirely AC though, with the backpack having a folding rack arrangement like the Gundam Ground Type and a two-thumbed hand design highly reminiscent of the Jo Hound. As a build, its definitely as intuitive as these tend to be, although you get a lot of smaller sprues rather than the consolidated sprues of the 1st gen kits. There is a the original joint sprue in the mix, although not all of it is used, such as two regular hands. Speaking of hands, the Basky is supplied with two open and two closed/holding hands, all interchangeable as left or right, which is good. Overall posability is about what you’d want for something proportioned like it is, although the legs are all knee and are probably better than you’d expect. Meanwhile, the Roy Roy is present, in a chicken walker style. Of note here is that the sensor is for it and the regular head is a duplicated piece, just coloured and oriented differently. Finally, the Baskin Robin features a tower shield and an assault rifle, which certainly fits the vibe, but some kind of melee option would have been nice. I also which that little panel center of the chest actually locked in place, as the pictures show, its rather easy to move without noticing. All-in-all? Another winner, but if in doubt, wait for a colour variant you like.

Because I am basically hardcoded to weather every model I make, I proceeded to make this dirty. Maybe I should use one of these as the basis for a how-to guide. In summary, I drybrushed a bit with metals, before selectively applying Agrax Earthshade. This was heavy on the legs and 3mm ports, but lighter elsewhere, as I figured the legs would be the dirtiest bit. Once this had dried, I applied a light drybrush of Zandri Dust to suggest, well, actual dust and dried mud.

 

 

Jobs a good-un.