Every once in a while I end up buying a model that is something that I happened to see that strikes my fancy, without even knowing much about the kit or the movie/television series/book that it’s from. That’s how this particular kit came into my possession.

It was actually the fault of the fantastic sales team at the Starship Modeler booth at WonderFest 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky. If one of their sales team members hadn’t handed me the box to look at, I wouldn’t have gotten hooked and had to buy the dang thing!

The Bentenmaru is the main ship from the 2008 manga series “Miniskirt Space Pirates”. The book series was adapted for television in 2012 and was renamed “Bodacious Space Pirates”. A film adaptation is planned for 2014. I was able to obtain the Japanese spoken/English subtitled television series on DVD just after WonderFest, but I haven’t had time to watch it yet (aside from about 10 minutes of the intro episode).

The series focuses on Marika Kato, a high school student who is a member of the space yacht club and a part-time waitress at the Retro Café. She learns that her deceased father, Gonzaemon, was a space pirate who performed legal acts of piracy under a government-issue Letter of Marque. In order to keep her father’s ship, the Bentenmaru, in legal operation, she is chosen to become the ship’s new captain, thereby starting her life as a space pirate.

The parts of this kit are molded in color (red, dark gray, and white, plus blue-green and smoke clear parts) and are free from flash or ejector marks. Detailing is crisp and the panel lines are very well done. With careful masking and painting, the panel detail shown on the box top and on the instruction sheet can be replicated. A simpler version can be built using the colored parts and adding minimal paint.

An extensive sheet of waterslide decals is provided with over 90 decals (including a logo for the stand).

There is also a companion kit by Bandai (Kit No. HSG64707) that shows the Bentenmaru in the configuration seen in the final episode of the television series. That version includes two large booms which jut forward from the bow, additional solar panels on the lower array, and huge engines that are attached on under-wing mounts.

The completed kit measures 6.75 inches long.

Review by: Rich “Lonewolf” Dula

Entry created: May 28, 2013