I bought this 1983 vintage kit from eBay. However, it (and most of the other Dorvack kits) has recently been re-released by Aoshima in packs of two kits. Having never seen the Japanese anime that this kit is based upon, I bought this kit for the way it looks. I feel that it is one of the more realistic representations of power armor that I have seen. The design looks to be loosely based on the JIM atmospheric diving suit so it has some real world credibility. I also build the SF3D (Maschinen Krieger) kits, and feel that (with a little effort) the Dorvack kits can be made to look like they fit in that universe.

At 25-years-old this kit shows its age. It is a very simple kit but test fitting the joints is very important as they may not fit together quite as well as we have come to expect from Japanese kits. It's molded in light olive green; all the parts were well cast, and detail (what little there is) is sharp. There was no flash on the kit. Fit and finish of the parts were not always good. Seams did not always align well and there was no effort made to hide the seam lines. They are front and center on this kit. The styrene of my kit was a little brittle, and broke when the fit (on the joints) caused a bind. I am sure that the brittleness was a result of the age of the kit, and how it was stored. As the kit has so few parts assembly was quick and easy. However, if you want to get a smooth seamless finish you should expect to spend a lot of time filling and sanding.

I did not want to go with the suggested paint scheme of black, blue gray and orange. Instead, I went with a dark yellow with a red brown camouflage pattern common on German tanks fighting at the eastern front during WWII. I used Tamiya acrylics on this kit: XF-60 (dark yellow) was used as a base color; XF-64 (red brown) was used for the cammo. To differentiate the gun from the power armor I painted it XF-65 (field gray) and camouflaged it with the same colors as the power armor. XF 56 (metallic gray) was used for the joints. The water slide decals were a total loss as (over the years) they had permanently adhered themselves to the paper. It is possible the kit was stored in a humid location. I probably would not have used all of them anyway as they looked toy like, and were of low resolution. Instead I used numbers and markings leftover from German tanks, aircraft, and helicopter kits.

Overall, I really enjoyed building this kit and will be making more now that they are available again.

Image: Left side

Image: Rear

Image: Right side