Sheik Mainland's 3Min Project: MUFS-S5 Fortress Model Kit Review

 

I ordered 3 sets of Sheik Mainland's 3Min Project: MUFS-S5 Fortress model kits for about 9 USD a pop. Each box has 3 sets of sprues, letting you build 3 mechs total. So that's only about 3 bucks per mech.

  
You know, I've been collecting and reviewing toys for quite some time and at some point, despite having plenty of toys to review, it became a huge struggle to actually review them because there's nothing to talk about. And it's not necessarily because the figures were bad. Far from it. I mean, take G.I. Joe Classifieds for instance. They're pretty much all great figures because they all pretty much use the same engineering for the main body and they typically look aesthetically pleasing; so all I can really talk about them are the accessories that they come with and whether their costumes or designs get in the way of their articulation.

So imagine my delight as I built my first, and then second and so far up to sixth Fortress figure; to find that I have plenty to talk about this guy. So much so in fact, that I'm going to use a more concise and somewhat point-form format, because otherwise, I'll just ramble endlessly on these guys.

To understand the joy of the Fortress, you'd have to compare it with Sheik Mainland's earlier 3Min Project figures, the Fortishield and the Ventus Vector (VV). The VV was an upgrade over the Fortishield in terms of the building experience, the final mech itself as well as the execution of the gimmicks of the 3Min Project line. The Fortress meanwhile, is an improvement over the VV and a significant leap forward as compared to the Fortishield.

The Figure
I'll start with the figure first because there's less to talk about. It's my whole G.I. Joe Classifieds dilemma again. The Fortress mech is a very solid 1/60 scale model kit that's pretty much just a straight up modular toy once you finish building it. It's not some fragile Ultra Super Special Grade 1/100 Model that will explode if you drop it onto a bed goose down. Instead, it's a sturdy and highly posable action figure that really scratches my Front Mission itch. The only downside is that the heads tend to be on the minuscule side, so depending on how ham-handed you are, you may want to have a pair of tweezers for when you want to pose the head.

Each set consist of these 2 sprues

The Build 
The 3Min Project line has undergating, which is where when you cut a piece off, you're going to end up with a bit of extra plastic that you need to cut or shave off. This is so that the sprue can connect to the model kit piece in such a way that you won't get visible nub marks, but the trade off is there's an extra step of work involved in building the kit.

Fortishield had quite a bit of undergating, VV had less, and Fortress has even fewer still. 

Fortishield and VV had cockpits for pilots, but they were basically just cavities the pilots could lie down in. Fortress, while not providing a full on cockpit, has a cavity that's more suited for the pilots to sit down in. It also comes with a control panel that can fold over the pilot's feet and very impressively, teeny tiny control sticks that the pilots can actually hold onto to. Oh, and if you're wondering, you can buy sets of 6 pilots from Sheik Mainland for as low as around 7 bucks a pop, so each pilot is only a little over a buck.

Next gimmick is the modularity aspect, and Fortress really leans into it. The way it's designed, you can have a number of variations in how you build the kit. Mainly, whether or not you want the torso fins. But you can also flip the orientation of the thighs and the feet as well. But the main modularity, are in the weapons. Not only does the instructions just outright tell you to build a non-standard weapon, but the kit comes with differently lengthed connector bars. In the Fortishield, they recommended a centaur mode but there was no connector piece to configure said centaur. You had to cut off lengths of the sprues yourself to make a makeshift connector. But here, they just give you a bunch of options.

The Fortress is also quite compatible with the Fortishield, looking good even if you traded limbs between them. 

Fortress w/ Fortishield arms on left, vice versa on right

The building process is overall smooth despite the addition of the missile pod mechanism. It kind of feels easier despite being more complex than the Fortishield and VV kits. They also switched to a ball jointed system for the ankles, which is less of a hassle to pop on compared to the hinge and ball system of the earlier kits. I'd argue it's better overall too.

I'm not really a customizer but I have some acrylic brush-type markers and decided to paint the missile pods while still on the sprues. It was an easy job, since the missile pods protruded.

Newer kits don't necessarily have to be better than previous releases but so far, Sheik Mainland's offerings have been getting better and better. The MUFS-S5 Fortress is their top of the line figure so far, and highly recommended. For what it is, S-Tier.

Search by image or by the "MUFS-S5 Fortress" name at your shopping platform of choice. Oh, and you should probably buy at least 1 set of each previous figure while you're at it. They're all cheap, add to the modular play style and by gosh, don't they all just look oh so neat together?