Sand Land Tank 104 Model Kit Looks Really Great With Little Effort

Sometimes, you can pick up a model kit and realize it’s going to be a big investment. You’ll need to pick up paints. Maybe glue is needed. Magnifying glasses too, if the characters involves need painting and are extra tiny. The Sand Land Tank 104 model kit from Bandai Namco’s Bandai Spirits line happens to fall into that sweet spot where it really isn’t too much trouble to build and looks great out of the box, but still could look even better if you do also pick up the paints for its teeny figures of Beelzebub, Thief, and Lao. 

So to start, the Sand Land Tank 104 model kit is one of the more expensive ones, as its retail price is $69. However, given the nature of it, you can get into it out of the box and not invest in anything else like glue or paints unless you really want to. I would recommend having a tools kit on hand, like the $7.99 BXQINLENX one with nippers, tweezers, and a file, just because there are small stickers that benefit from the tweezers and a few tiny parts that are easier to free from sprues with the nippers. However, you don’t need glue, and as you’ll see in the pictures from my build, it looks fine without any paints. However, if you do want to go with paints too, the instructions offers pointers at the bottom of each page for effects and Bandai Namco noted colors you’d need.

Now, because this is a Bandai Spirits kit, there are some great niceties going into it. All of the plastic is colored, so if you don’t paint, you’re still fine. Certain sprues are multicolor, like the A one here. Also, at each step the instructions tell you exactly which sprues you’ll need to have on-hand. I also noticed that in some cases it seemed like they were bagged up together as well, which was especially appreciated during the assembly process. Both stickers and waterslide decals are present for some of the accents, like the Sand Land Tank 104 eyes and numbers for the doors. However, I really liked the quality and feel of the Sand Land logo stickers for the base. It made it pop more. (As a building note, I recommend using tweezers for that part to ensure proper placement in the sign.) 

As for the rest of the build, I feel like the Sand Land Tank 104 model kit is a perfect example of getting a final product that looks more complicated than it was to actually construct. The tank treads are made up of seven tread parts placed in a specific order, so that it makes solid pieces of plastic look far more flexible. The tank body is broken down based on the rotating artillery on top, base with treads, interior cockpit with miniature figures of Beelzebub, Thief, and Lao, and exterior walls of the tank. It makes things more manageable, and the ensuing steps to piece everything together easier. Honestly, the only parts that were truly “hard” for me involved pressing in some of the controls near Beelzebub. That was only because they were delicate, and I didn’t want to press too hard to “force” them into place.

I do wish that perhaps there had been some additional stickers or waterslide decals for Beelzebub, Thief, and Lao in the Sand Land Tank 104 model kit. Some of their facial features are incredibly small. Even if I had purchased paints or pens to properly capture expressions, I don’t think my hands would have been steady enough to properly render their features. I’d have been willing to pay an extra $5 for a sheet. Or, conversely, have the price of the kit be $10-15 more to only include a single Beelzebub with a finished face plate in the box. 

As you can see from my firsthand photos, I chose to go with the as-is portrayal of the Sand Land Tank 104 model kit. I’m pleased with it! It looks fantastic, and the moveable turret, artillery door, and side doors are nice touches. Now that I’ve taken photos, I am tempted to remove the Beelzebub, Thief, and Lao, since it does feel like those would only be a really good addition when painted. But it’s still a fun kit that’s easy to build over the course of under two hours, and it looks great once its down.

The Sand Land Tank 104 model kit is available now worldwide. The anime is on Disney+. Viz Media handles the manga outside Japan. The game is on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.