A little short - even for a 1/2th scale stormtrooper? Bandai using new technology to reproduce Han & Luke in 2018

We have long been waiting for Bandai to make that jump into the uncanny valley of producing figures with realistic faces - now they have given us models of 1/12th scale Luke and Han dressed up as Stormtroopers - where next and how did they produce these? See for yourself in our preview...

New from Bandai in May/ April 2018

Han Solo & Luke Skywalker Stormtrooper Versions.

1/12th scale

Height (approx) 15.5 cm / 16cm

price 3,240 yen (tax included)

Release dates: April & May in 2018

Product Link on the Bandai Hobby site

Bandai has just announced two new 1/12th scale kits, Replicas of both Han Solo & Luke Skywalker from Episode IV - you know when they wore stormtrooper uniforms to sneak around in the death star? The Stormtrooper helmet parts are also included of course - and the hip joints for Luke are provided "slightly shorter" so the ol' gag about being short for a stormtrooper are reproduced properly here...

Luke's hip and Han's on the right - Luke's will leave the whole figure that little shorter like he is in real life

The providing of a pre-painted face on the body of their stormtrooper kits has long been a thing we have been waiting from in Bandai. They have now taken the jump with something they call "Triaxial Jet Finish" which has enabled them to make their first two leaps into this very hard to nail down model making with pre-painted faces

So what is "Triaxial Jet Finish"?
Plastic printing in three directions by a jig control. A revolutionary new technology to reproduce that hard to create "shadow feeling", surface texture of the skin, what they see as facial expressions giving that feeeling1 that could not be obtained with molded products alone, with a different quality from the conventional inkjet print, the expression of the actor is stereoscopic and (they say) lifelike in appearance.

Accessories include in each of these two kits

Han or Luke (depending on which kit you get) head 

Stormtrooper Helmet × 1 

Display base × 1 

E-11 blaster × 1 

DTL-19 Heavy · Blaster · Rifle × 1 

SE- 14r Short range · combat · pistol × 1 

Hand parts × 6 types (left and right weapon holding hands × 2 · right and left hands × 2 · right fists × 1 · left pointing × 1) 

Product contents

7 Sprues 

waterslide Decals

Sticker option if you don't like decals

Instruction Manual

These two new models will be released in May and April this year - check them out on the Bandai Website...