Otona No Chogokin - Antarctic Expedition Ship Souya Review

Today I am glad to bring for you guys 1/250 scale Antarctic Expedition Ship Souya from Bandai Otona No Chogokin line which from the same product line as Hayabusa Muses-C. The SRP for this item is 47,000 Yen (excluding shipping cost) which is quite expected from this product line.

A little history from quoted from wikipedia:-
"In 1956 she was overhauled and modified to make her ready for Antarctic research. This involved re-engining with diesel engines and the installation of a helicopter deck and helicopters. Over the period 1956 to 1962 she made trips to the Antarctic. On the second trip, in 1958, she rescued the explorers from the first expedition who had become stranded at the Syowa research station. Unfortunately they had to leave the expedition's dogs behind. On Soya's return a year later, two of the dogs, Taro and Jiro (who are now famous in Japan) were found alive. The fame of these events was extended by the film of the events Nankyoku Monogatari (lit. "South Pole Story"; released in the U.S. as "Antarctica") and by Disney's adaption and Americanization in its film Eight Below."

Soya or Souya come in standard 3 layer of packaging which shown in picture below. I like the black boxes the most which highlight the prestige category of the product itself.

Upon unboxing the black boxes, you may find the following items:-
a) Soya itself
b) Display Stand come with reflective mirror, ocean plate & frozen sea plates
c) Display name plate
d) Tweezers to handle mini human figures (30 nos), dog figures (22 nos), big drum can, small drum can (10 sets), big baggage (2 sets) & small baggage (4 sets)
e) Dog sleds
f) Snowmobile
g) Helicopter
h) Airplane
i) Display accessories for the ships, helicopter & plane
j) A/C adapter (in 110V which is not suitable to used in my country)

The ship itself measuring 335mm (length) x 60mm (width) x 115mm (height) & with display stand measuring 410mm (length) x 230mm (width) & 170mm (height). As mentioned earlier the A/C adapter for the display stand is using 110V. Thus alternatively we need to install 6 nos AA battery & for Soya itself require 2 nos of AA battery. Maybe due to cost saving issues, all batteries have to be purchase separately. Picture below shows various closed up shots of Soya & as expected the details is top notch (on my requirement). All barriers, staircase, doors, windows, markings & etc is nicely done with weathering effects.

 

We need to do some minor assembling ourselves which shown on the photos below:-

Closed up shorts for the display stand:-

A few possible way to display Soya:-

 

Ocean display:-

Antractic display:-

Ice-breaking display:-

Overall Soya can be a very great item displayed on top of study table or cabinet. All the miniatures enable the creation of multiple diorama which may increase the variable display possibilities as the owner desire. However in term of pose-ability (Soya herself) it is very much restricted due to limited number of moveable joint (yes I know what to be expected to moved from a ship anyway). So in conclusion, this is definitely not a toy & is solely main for display.