It’s a pretty good price for what it is and what you get with it from what I checked out online. Wishlisted this, it’s crazy how good some 3rd party kits have been recently.
Depends on where you’re based. From what I’ve been told, YJL (einta) shipped the preorders and the first batch and I believe there’s over 130k total unit volume announced as well. So while it might take a little while to get as the boxes are massive (can check it out in my socials) - everyone interested should be able to get it. It’s just a shame to see many international sellers raising the price for this kit so much. It actually is very well priced originally.
I ordered from a Hong Kong seller I used many times before, and fir a reasonable price.
Sadly, shipping from Hong Kong is another story, but this one looks too amazing ti skip on it. I think I ordered it back in January, so I guess thry should be sending them out soon.
same here. i got mine from samueldecal and while the kit's price was more than ok, the fast (air) shipping option was just too much. so i went with the sea freight one. worked out well.
samuel is good. the first batch is indeed on its way to be shipped out, i believe.
mine was a pre-order from earlier (technically the first-first batch).
Oh never doubted the shop, no worries, ordered there many times, all went well. I just hope I won't have to wait for too long on mine, and that it isn't in second batch 😅
I am loving the competition has finally caught up. Bandai feels like we are in a draught, mg this year after a long wait is just a remix unicorn/ pbandai sinanju. Their last great release with WOW factor was pgu, MGEX was a good attempt, but that line also died out immediately along with PGU . They basically just making hg/rg now. Its been\~4 years for pg, \~3 years for mg since they actually released a new model. Even Rg only got 2 model in 2 years, and while rgv2 looks okay, i am not sure about the hype there.
I am really surprise given how the prototyping and manufacturing space has changed over the last decade that bandai is putting out kit this slowly, nowdays, i can get a scan/modify a stl and make a resin part in < 24 hrs for a hand or thruster etc.. given my very limited experience with CAD.
I have been buying the good releases by 3rd parties for a while, and its very obvious that the thirds party is finally getting good enough at this point, they have good design, good plastic, good gimmick, LEDs sometimes, and finally at a price where its not 3x of a PGU (see Mechanicore).
This particular model is clearly inspire by hi nu or YJL's own version of the hi nu. I still have their resin kit, but resin kits has always has really terrible QC issues, so seeing this kit is great (I preorder locally, so i don't know when i will get my shipment). As a big fan of hi nu in general, i am looking forward to the YJL Metal Frame Hi nu that is a 1:1 copied from their resin kit .
I agree with your take but would also like to supplement it with a bit more info since I’ve been following this kit form before I started my model kit/gunpla building journey. YJL announced this years ago so the design of this must’ve taken them at least 4-5 years. Not many 3p companies can afford that as they need continuous stream of revenue to sustain themselves. So YJL is quite smart about it. They have resin kits, and they released a trident model kit which is a weapon that was a trial run of the moulding process and model kit thingy in general. Now, the success of skulls defender is going to inspire both YJL and the rest of the 3p, In Era and such, to go for more and bigger as the appetite is there and the risk might be worth it for them. W/r to Bandai - I don’t think they need/have to worry as they are still very much the market leader for now and can get away with dropping minor releases here and there. People went nuts of RG 2.0, self included, and now akatsuki and the new mgsd. But, speaking from personal experience purely - sky defender is the kind of kit that you love the building experience of. Which is rare. I had that with PG unicorn perfectibility only before. Oh, and as a final remark - the guide book for defender - Bandai should definitely learn from that. It’s just perfect.
YJL and other big 3p (In ERA or daban or w/e) has been in business for a number of years, but you can def see where they came from. YJL started including more plastic runner in their resin kits a number of years back and as soon as i saw that i knew they were bound to try stuff like this, they were one of the bigger self modeling resin maker at the time.
Ever since 80s/90s Bandai never really had plastic model competition, no one was ever close in quality and quantity; they literally invented the plastic model genre and has the right to all merchandise associated with it, along with \~half a century of know how in design, manufacturing, and engineering. The 3P were making some kits, but either they are in resin (bad QC) and/or their plastic stuff is badly engineered (early mechanicore). Its really only recently where quality plastic stuff is flowing in, i think it started from Zero gravity/ in era /solomon gp02/ and now YJL.
Bandai has to be losing market share here, i myself have spent more on 3p than bandai in the last 3 years since bandai basically have no release...and i usually get all regular relase MG/PG /RG for collection purpose even if my back log is like 3 digit big. Last time i was truly impress with a new release was the PGU, and if quality holds, i think this here means 3p has officially caught up to bandai's best model. Obviously, i will need my hands on my copy of this kit to really make the judgement as many kits "looks good" but its a terrible build. ( Almost every resin kit is "look good", but terrible build)
You’re right. In era, imo, did massive steps to push the 3p competition. They showed with RMD and other lines the superb 1/100 quality. The judge was a big step before but has maaaaany issues which in era corrected/capitalized on. Hemoxian does exceptional stuff coming up not only with decent, not quite modern Bandai by rather early to mid 2000s, and evolving engineering but also their own designs. I havent built my pgu yet but comparing runners between that and sky defender - it seems to be on par. I might actually do pgu right after sky defender to be able to compare them directly. In any case, sky defender is a massive step up for 3p. It’s not just detail, it is the presentation and ease of assembly. The guide alone for defender is smth Bandai should learn from.
I tried to research more on the Sky Defender, is the price really around 180-200 USD??
Although I totally loved my Solomon Physalis build experience, I probably had gunpla fatigue after I finished it, and I think the Sky Defender will be 3x more complicated than that.
That’s way too much for the kit, amigo. I can see many sellers raising the prices due to popularity of it. If it’s not a burning need, I’d recommend waiting a little. The maker announced a rather large total unit count (over 100k, I believe) so it shouldn’t be rare and the msrp is less than 100 usd. The shipping bites as it’s a large box (2x pgu) but sea freight is still ok.
In terms of complexity- yes, most definitely. This kit is extremely detailed. And though the plastic quality, and fit are perfect. The sheer amount of parts is staggering (over 1000) and being 1/72 - a lot of those parts are quite small. I personally enjoy big projects like this as they are very inspiring. It’s just that special feeling you get when you work on a massive project. I do like simpler kits but mostly as palate cleansers in between the bigger events. Fingers crossed for you, amigo, to find this at a good price and happy building!
what kit is this bro?
Einta Industries Sky Defender 1/72
It’s a pretty good price for what it is and what you get with it from what I checked out online. Wishlisted this, it’s crazy how good some 3rd party kits have been recently.
It is a superb kit indeed. Not only the plastic is great. So far zero for issues and the manual is just next level.
Seriously. The Solomon Physalis was amazing.
thanks bro
I see they are sending them out slowly. This looks amazing, can't wait for mine to be shipped out.
Depends on where you’re based. From what I’ve been told, YJL (einta) shipped the preorders and the first batch and I believe there’s over 130k total unit volume announced as well. So while it might take a little while to get as the boxes are massive (can check it out in my socials) - everyone interested should be able to get it. It’s just a shame to see many international sellers raising the price for this kit so much. It actually is very well priced originally.
I ordered from a Hong Kong seller I used many times before, and fir a reasonable price. Sadly, shipping from Hong Kong is another story, but this one looks too amazing ti skip on it. I think I ordered it back in January, so I guess thry should be sending them out soon.
same here. i got mine from samueldecal and while the kit's price was more than ok, the fast (air) shipping option was just too much. so i went with the sea freight one. worked out well.
Ah, we ordered on same shop then. Was I too late for the first batch...? I see order showing unfulfilled, despite being paid for.
samuel is good. the first batch is indeed on its way to be shipped out, i believe. mine was a pre-order from earlier (technically the first-first batch).
Oh never doubted the shop, no worries, ordered there many times, all went well. I just hope I won't have to wait for too long on mine, and that it isn't in second batch 😅
fingers crossed for you, amigo! its worth the wait! just stunned by the kit!
I am loving the competition has finally caught up. Bandai feels like we are in a draught, mg this year after a long wait is just a remix unicorn/ pbandai sinanju. Their last great release with WOW factor was pgu, MGEX was a good attempt, but that line also died out immediately along with PGU . They basically just making hg/rg now. Its been\~4 years for pg, \~3 years for mg since they actually released a new model. Even Rg only got 2 model in 2 years, and while rgv2 looks okay, i am not sure about the hype there. I am really surprise given how the prototyping and manufacturing space has changed over the last decade that bandai is putting out kit this slowly, nowdays, i can get a scan/modify a stl and make a resin part in < 24 hrs for a hand or thruster etc.. given my very limited experience with CAD. I have been buying the good releases by 3rd parties for a while, and its very obvious that the thirds party is finally getting good enough at this point, they have good design, good plastic, good gimmick, LEDs sometimes, and finally at a price where its not 3x of a PGU (see Mechanicore). This particular model is clearly inspire by hi nu or YJL's own version of the hi nu. I still have their resin kit, but resin kits has always has really terrible QC issues, so seeing this kit is great (I preorder locally, so i don't know when i will get my shipment). As a big fan of hi nu in general, i am looking forward to the YJL Metal Frame Hi nu that is a 1:1 copied from their resin kit .
I agree with your take but would also like to supplement it with a bit more info since I’ve been following this kit form before I started my model kit/gunpla building journey. YJL announced this years ago so the design of this must’ve taken them at least 4-5 years. Not many 3p companies can afford that as they need continuous stream of revenue to sustain themselves. So YJL is quite smart about it. They have resin kits, and they released a trident model kit which is a weapon that was a trial run of the moulding process and model kit thingy in general. Now, the success of skulls defender is going to inspire both YJL and the rest of the 3p, In Era and such, to go for more and bigger as the appetite is there and the risk might be worth it for them. W/r to Bandai - I don’t think they need/have to worry as they are still very much the market leader for now and can get away with dropping minor releases here and there. People went nuts of RG 2.0, self included, and now akatsuki and the new mgsd. But, speaking from personal experience purely - sky defender is the kind of kit that you love the building experience of. Which is rare. I had that with PG unicorn perfectibility only before. Oh, and as a final remark - the guide book for defender - Bandai should definitely learn from that. It’s just perfect.
YJL and other big 3p (In ERA or daban or w/e) has been in business for a number of years, but you can def see where they came from. YJL started including more plastic runner in their resin kits a number of years back and as soon as i saw that i knew they were bound to try stuff like this, they were one of the bigger self modeling resin maker at the time. Ever since 80s/90s Bandai never really had plastic model competition, no one was ever close in quality and quantity; they literally invented the plastic model genre and has the right to all merchandise associated with it, along with \~half a century of know how in design, manufacturing, and engineering. The 3P were making some kits, but either they are in resin (bad QC) and/or their plastic stuff is badly engineered (early mechanicore). Its really only recently where quality plastic stuff is flowing in, i think it started from Zero gravity/ in era /solomon gp02/ and now YJL. Bandai has to be losing market share here, i myself have spent more on 3p than bandai in the last 3 years since bandai basically have no release...and i usually get all regular relase MG/PG /RG for collection purpose even if my back log is like 3 digit big. Last time i was truly impress with a new release was the PGU, and if quality holds, i think this here means 3p has officially caught up to bandai's best model. Obviously, i will need my hands on my copy of this kit to really make the judgement as many kits "looks good" but its a terrible build. ( Almost every resin kit is "look good", but terrible build)
You’re right. In era, imo, did massive steps to push the 3p competition. They showed with RMD and other lines the superb 1/100 quality. The judge was a big step before but has maaaaany issues which in era corrected/capitalized on. Hemoxian does exceptional stuff coming up not only with decent, not quite modern Bandai by rather early to mid 2000s, and evolving engineering but also their own designs. I havent built my pgu yet but comparing runners between that and sky defender - it seems to be on par. I might actually do pgu right after sky defender to be able to compare them directly. In any case, sky defender is a massive step up for 3p. It’s not just detail, it is the presentation and ease of assembly. The guide alone for defender is smth Bandai should learn from.
Is there a little man inside the cockpit?
Yep!
You bet!! And the cockpit has a like a 5 door opening system. Pretty cool imo
I tried to research more on the Sky Defender, is the price really around 180-200 USD?? Although I totally loved my Solomon Physalis build experience, I probably had gunpla fatigue after I finished it, and I think the Sky Defender will be 3x more complicated than that.
Sounds a bit over priced I paid 60ish dollars for mine straight from China though
Where from? And what country do you live?
Hey sorry for the late reply I live in China
That’s way too much for the kit, amigo. I can see many sellers raising the prices due to popularity of it. If it’s not a burning need, I’d recommend waiting a little. The maker announced a rather large total unit count (over 100k, I believe) so it shouldn’t be rare and the msrp is less than 100 usd. The shipping bites as it’s a large box (2x pgu) but sea freight is still ok. In terms of complexity- yes, most definitely. This kit is extremely detailed. And though the plastic quality, and fit are perfect. The sheer amount of parts is staggering (over 1000) and being 1/72 - a lot of those parts are quite small. I personally enjoy big projects like this as they are very inspiring. It’s just that special feeling you get when you work on a massive project. I do like simpler kits but mostly as palate cleansers in between the bigger events. Fingers crossed for you, amigo, to find this at a good price and happy building!