I posted this at RS...
Quick - IN-HAND impressions... although it's not mine (mine comes next week... I hope - and I did order it blindly because of a deal I had).
I want to preface this by saying I own the MR.
I went to a shop that was getting them in that day, so I was there for the opening of the box. The first thing that struck when the foam came off was how dark the paint apps were. I've seen a lot of the in-hand photos around the forums and none have looked this dark. The beige-ish base color was non-existent, it was primarily grey.
When you lifted it out of the foam, the die-cast weight does feel really nice. Also, the detail was much better in real life than I was expecting. It's not fine detail, but being in die-cast everything is really "pronounced" giving it a feeling of a lot more detail than it actually has. Compare this to the new Bandai PG though, and it's chalk and cheese.
I then flipped it over and noticed the bottom paint apps weren't anywhere near as dark, and the beige under-color was far more visible. Where it's overly obvious though, is when you look at it from the back - the sandwich of top and bottom over the engine light - you can overtly see the difference in finishes; the top dark, the bottom light.
The other thing that I didn't like was the side panel paint apps - again too dark, and all monotone. It looks weird because it looks like a slab of dark grey rather than mashed-up mechanics. Paint apps overall are not great. More like a toy interpretation, than a replica. And although I have the MR, I realize in no way can they be compared, however, the paint apps shouldn't be this "near enough's good enough." Not for the money they're charging.
My biggest gripe though, and it has concerned me for a while, is the seam on the side of the cockpit. It's really bad. If you're not looking at it from the side, it's not as bad, but the second you view it from that angle, that's all you can see. Actually, the seams overall aren't great either, but a lot of them are "hidden" in the ships design.
The stand is nicely made (personally, I'm not a fan of the round base, I think they should have made it cover the size of the ship so you could add a customer perspex case), but nonetheless, it is a nicely made mirrored stand.
Packaging is great - it's double boxed! So shipping should be okay.
Size is 100% 15" long. Not 13 as stated on the eFX site, and NOT 19 as stated on the Sideshow site.
Overall: After seeing it in-hand, I've decided I'll leave mine in the box after inspection and sell it down the track (unless the paint apps are vastly different on the one I receive).
