Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions bEXM-33QB Volpanova (Quad Bike Version)

For me, a 30 Minutes Missions kit is becoming like a nice chocolate bar. Pleasurable, if predictable, not hugely deep material for a blog entry, and you shouldn't have one too often, lest it become routine. The Volpanova is one such indulgence. I more or less inhaled this one with a "mmmm" noise and a chef's kiss. Then I applied my assorted weathering techniques because that's part of my process. As such I would recommend it, as I tend to do with 30MM kits, but the reasons are slightly more involved than usual.

With the Volpanova, they seem to have finally figured out how to do a transformation with the same elegant simplicities as everything else 30MM does. As you may recall, the Espossito α attempted something similar, but suffered for a lack of locking tabs. This chap here however has plenty, so once you get it there, it's as solid as you could wish for. It's also got three modes, robot, quad bike and hybrid, all working in a borderline realistic way. It's not a perfect transformation in that it's easier, and encouraged, to disconnect the wheel bits so you can fold up the legs, but that's not actually mandatory. I'm watching further innovations with intense interest, as I feel there are now great things within reach of the design team.

Now, that praise above is earnest, but I want to take a moment to avoid over-hyping the thing. First off, the wheelie bits don't actually integrate with the robot mode that well. These are large and connect at the waist in ports more typically used for weapon storage or armour plates. This presents something of a balance concern along with the bazooka. Said bazooka is pretty awesome, it's got two flexible handles, which are great for quad mode, and looks the business. It just looks like it came off a larger machine as well, so your mileage may vary. As a kit, it feels a bit thrown together too, despite the excellent end result. It uses the 1st generation joint sprue, which is fine, but you aren't getting extra hands with this. Unlike a 1st generation kit though we get a lot of small duplicate sprues rather a few unified ones. Again, that's not actually problem, but perhaps suggests a change in approach, as this has happened a lot of late.

 

All-in-all? Rather nice.