TT Hongli MG 1/100 Strike Noir Review - Part 1.5

(Before & After)

Part 1: Box, Box Open, Runners, Manual Scans & Building
Part 1.5: Clear Stickers & Decals
Part 2: Articulation, Gimmicks, Action and Conclusion

This is a first! A part 1.5 review! OMG! I never done this before but to tell you all the truth, I just can't complete the review of this kit just yet. Since I'm done with the experiment which is to test out the clear stickers and decals of TT Hongli, I decided to put it up first, for the benefit of you all. ^^

The reason why I can't really photoshoot the Strike Noir completely is that my camera battery is almost out and I want the decals and stickers to settle into the plastic first. Don't want them to fall off so easily (besides being a little lazy and tired after hours of decal-ing and sticker-ing).

As for this special part of the review, I'll mostly tell you my experience and feelings towards the water slide decals and clear stickers as well as the 4 angle and close-up shots.

So, read on! =D

Part 1: Before - Up, Left, Down, Right!
Before actually going to the final product, I should show you how it looks like if you do anything extra such as putting decals or the clear stickers.

The following photos are taken early in the morning when it was actually sunny. It's raining and kinda dark now. XP



Part 2: Getting Ready
These are the three optional sheets you get which you can use to make the Strike Noir look even better (unless you like the normal look already). The yellowish looking ones are the clear stickers while the blueish one is the decals - water slide decals.

VERY surprisingly, TT Hongli gives out water slide decals instead of dry transfer decals which Bandai usually do. If you look at Dalong's Strike Noir Information part of the review, you'll see that it indeed does come with dry transfer decals.

One thing I have to inform you all is about one of the clear sticker sheets. It has the same stuff as the decal sheet so if you don't want to mess with the decals, you can always use the clear stickers instead. ^^

Before I could actually do anything, I decided to read up on how to properly put on decals as this is my first time ever handling them. I'm a total novice in this. Doing a quick Google search on the web, I found this nice simple to understand blog post. Some of you probably already read this post before and also might even know the person who typed it.

For the decals, I put some pipe water in a foil plate (which I got after eating a tart and cleaned nicely), tweezers and some cotton buds. I only needed one cotton bud and so will you. No need to waste em'. To apply the decals, you need to cut them out and apply them one by one using the cotton bud to move them out and "stick" them onto the kit. To know more (specifically), just read the above link.
Note that I used some tissue as well to soak up any excess water after I'm satisfied with the position of the decal.

For the clear stickers, I used the knife and the yellow stick thing. The knife to take out the clear stickers and the yellow stick to apply them nicely. Some of the stickers really needs you to cut them to work out.

Part 3: After - Up, Left, Down, Right!
After hours of slow and steady work, I managed to completely cover the Strike Noir in stickers and decals!


Part 4: All?
I used up all the decals that were instructed in the manual but two were left which I think are spares (or I missed the part). One clear sticker sheet was untouch as it was pointless to use since I used the decals.

Part 5: Height Comparison & Early Comparison

Strike Noir VS Empty Mint Bottle.

Strike Noir VS Strike.... basically the same height. ^^

Part 6: Clear Stickers & Decals Conclusion
They DO work and the water transfer decals are really easy to put on! Just be very careful with the smaller ones, ne?

The decals were easy to apply but I found out that I needed to soak them a little more than 10 seconds. Overall, they are easy to apply and adjust. I simply love them! I really had fun doing it for some odd reason. Maybe it is because this was my first time doing it. XD

The clear stickers aren't half bad either (but not as good as the Bandai original). You will want to crop em' a bit to lessen the rather huge borders though. You may also need to cut a few of them yourself as a few weren't cut nicely. Not a big problem though. ^^
They are a bit shiny though and the body of the kit is basically matt. It may not really look so nice if you look very closely at it. Hmmm, they also don't really look good on the black sections... I also feel that the text on the clear stickers are a bit off somewhat. Could just be me though since I don't have the original to compare with.

Oh yeah, another thing. Whether the decals and stickers can handle some "stress" will be seen after I'm done with the next part...

Okay, that's all for now. Hope you guys are satisfied. ^^
The next and final part will come within this week, most probably Thursday.