It's no secret that the founding members of Resin Addict have been making good use of Kotobukiya Modelling Support Goods (MSG) Pla sprues (generally referred to as "Koto sprues" or "Koto parts"). These are awesome little styrene parts from the insane hobby world of Japanese Gundam modellers but are invaluable to anybody who loves to build or modify any kind of sci fi model.
Kotobukiya and other companies such as Wave (under the name Wave Option Parts but it's a smaller range and not as good value) offer a whole array of these styrene parts along with a range of ABS joint pieces to be used in Gundam kitbashing and modifications. The problem for the non-Japanese modeller is that the names of the sprues aren't the most descriptive (Round Mould I, Round Mould II, etc.), not to mention the fact that these names often get "Engrish"-ised (I've seen rivet spelt "revet" and "ribet"). Online stores like Hobby Link Japan aren't too much more helpful either as the pictures of the different sprues generally aren't big enough to work out exactly which ones you want.
After placing my second order for Koto sprues from Japan I now have pictures of many of the sprues. There are a stack more than what I have here, in fact I'll list all of them, but the ones I have taken pictures of are the most directly useful for Tau modelling. In addition to the images shown here, you can browse the Kotobukiya catalogue (in Japanese) at .
P-101 PLA UNIT MINUS MOLD
P-102 PLA UNIT RIVET
P-103 PLA UNIT VERNIER NOZZLE
P-104 PLA UNIT DUCT NOZZLE
P-105 PLA UNIT MESH PLATE
P-106 PLA UNIT ROUND NOZZLE (S)
P-107 PLA UNIT ROUND MOLD
P-108 PLA UNIT SMALL RIVET
P-110 PLA UNIT ROUND NOZZLE
P-111 PLA UNIT MINUS MOLD 2
P-112 PLA UNIT MOBILE PIPE
P-113 PLA UNIT VERNIER NOZZLE 3
P-114 PLA UNIT ROUND MOLD 2
P-115 PLA UNIT MINUS MOLD 3
P-116 PLA UNIT DUCT NOZZLE 2
P-118 PLA UNIT PLA BALL
P-119 PLA UNIT ROUND MOLD 3
P-120 PLA UNIT ROUND MOLD 4
P-121 PLA UNIT CYLINDER
P-122 PLA UNIT VERNIER NOZZLE 4
P-123 PLA UNIT MINUS MOLD 4
P-124 PLA UNIT SQUAER MOLD
P-125 PLA UNIT SQUARE MOLD 2
P-126 PLA UNIT DUCT NOZZLE 3
P-127 PLA UNIT SQUARE MOLD 3
P-128 PLA UNIT SPIKE
P-129 PLA UNIT ROUND MOLD 5
P-130 PLA UNIT HOOK
P-131 PLA UNIT DRILL
P-132 PLA UNIT HOOK II
P-133 PLA UNIT SUSPENSION
P-134 PLA UNIT HATCH
P-135 PLA UNIT GATTLING
I had to show the barrels in scale with a model
- WarhoundYou pay about 200 Yen each for most of these (250 Yen each for the latter 6). This is about AU$2.60, US$2.20 or GBP1.40 (as of 4/10/09). There are a few options in terms of where to order from and I have had experience with all 3 of the following:
- under Hobby Tools
Very professional, easy to use website. Fast and better priced than the others. I received my order in Australia less than a week after placing it! They don't do Paypal unfortunately.
The ordering process is a pain and a bit daunting at first but they are really friendly and helpful. On the plus side they have a larger range than Hobby Search and can do Paypal.
Postage was a bit expensive and much slower than the others but their website is probably the easiest to use for Westerners.
When searching for the parts use the part number only (i.e. P-101 or P101) as the names used can be spelled horribly wrong.
Well that's all of the wisdom I have to impart today.
Keep on modelling!
