First-impressions: Xiaomi Mi Band

Sometimes, cheap can be good...

I never gave Xiaomi products a second look.
Seems that one of China's fastest emerging tech companies is coming up with some really great stuff at value prices.
One of their goods that caught my attention was the Mi Band, a really cheap fitness tracker.
On the Malaysian Xiaomi website, these are sold at RM59 each. 
Out of the box, the Mi Band is packaged with a fitness tracker pod, black silicone band with a metal clasp and a charging stick.
There are no fancy paperwork that goes with the Mi Band, which kept it as a minimalist item.

The benchmark.

As far as "blind" fitness trackers (with no information window for steps and calories) are concerned, it will be hard to beat a Fitbit Flex.
But at a pricetag of RM350 a piece, the Flex is nowhere compared to the Mi Band.
Why? Here are a few simple points:

• Sleep mode is automatic.
• The band connects to your phone via Mi Fit app (from Google Play & Apple) and is capable of giving alerts for incoming calls and SMS messages.
• The tracker pod is robust and waterproof.
• Has a battery life of 30 days and beyond (some recorded 40 days from a single charge).
• Replacement bands (four colours) are sold at RM10 each. This is by far, cheaper than the Fitbit Flex and Garmin Vivofit replacement bands that cost more than RM130 for a pack of three.
• A fraction of the price compared the Fitbit Flex and Garmin Vivofit.

"Made in China", a stigma

There's always the argument about inferior products from the Motherland. Such, we can argue till the cows come home.

But, having seen the quality, fit and finish of the Mi Band, I would say that it's at par or even better than some of the more expensive fitness trackers.

Now, let's face the fact that most of these gadgets are "Made in China". Doesn't matter if they are "designed in the EU, USA", but the principle remains: it's manufactured in China.

Screenshots of the Mi Fit app and Mi Band integration

Usability and performance

The Mi Band is best optimized with it's application: the Mi Fit which you can download from Google Play for Android phones or Apple Itunes for IOS phones.

It's a very straight-forward app and can be hacked to integrate with the Mi Smart Scale (not officially available here in Malaysia, sold by third-party retailers).

I have used the Mi Band for more than a month (37 days) and logged in some 259.6km (walking).

Paired with the Mi Smart Scale, with an initial weigh-in at 101.0kg, I lost 5.8kg through exercise and controlled food intake.

So, as far as performance is concerned, the Mi Band is flawless. Even if it goes kaput, I won't be sore because it costs only RM70 from a third-party reseller.

The default Mi Fit app from Google Play does not support the Mi Scale, so, one would have to manually install the China-version of the Mi Fit app from Xiaomi's official website. During installation, the updated app will overwrite the current Mi Fit app on your smartphone.

Once paired, both the Mi Band and Mi Smart Scale is a formidable tool for weight management and your daily exercise.

Availability

The Mi Band retails at RM59 from Xiaomi's official website in Malaysia. But it's "out of stock" at the moment. You can get this from third-party resellers at RM70 at the lowest. The highest retail price is RM89 at the PJ Digital Mall. For the bargain-hunter, try Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur.

Tamiya HG Single-action airbrush set

A skeptic..

I never had any luck with "hobby" grade airbrush kits.
The last one I used, was produced by Testors. Basically, it's a kit with a plastic handpiece linked to a canned propellant.
So, what you need to do: is to hook-up the handpiece with the can, bolt on a siphon bottle and spray.
But, having seen how "easy" the set-up was, I was rather disappointed with the performance of the Testors' kit.
The handpiece nozzle tends to freeze and the paint would splatter rather than adhere on the model kit. 
That said, I gave up the notion of ever dabbling into airbrushing. Well, until I found what Tamiya has to offer.

Performance in a simple package

Straight out of the box, the Tamiya HG single-action airbrush kit came with a small can of propellant.
With it, a simple airbrush handpiece. It's made of metal and can be set to spray a fine or wide mist of thinned-down acrylic paint.
What I found interesting was the price point. Tamiya Underground listed it around RM560 a pop and with a little discount, manage to bring it down to RM495.
Since the handpiece is such a solid working tool (made by a third-party manufacturer known for producing excellent airbrush handpieces), I decided to give it a try.
Now, the killer part here: is feeding the spray with propellant. A can of Tamiya Sprayworks 1800 Aircan costs around RM25 and the larger Aircan 4200 goes for RM47 (without GST).
So, if you don't spray much and tend to build kits once in a blue moon, this set is definitely worth investing in.
I found the handpiece to be really precise in covering small and large areas on the model kit. 
With the right thinner and acrylic paint mixture ratio, you will get a fine mist of paint to cover the parts on your kit.
But with compressed air in a can, there are shortcomings.
The flow of air is inconsistent and as the pressure runs out in the aerosol can, the paint will start to sputter.
Basically, if you are painting a 1:35 tank, you would need at least two cans of Tamiya Sprayworks Aircan 4200 to do the job. 

Applying the basecoat on a WWII German Panzer

Three-tone camouflage

The finished Tamiya 1:35 Panther A tank

For long-term modeling..

Since the HG airbrush handpiece can be used with an airbrush compressor, that would be my next investment.
The Tamiya Sprayworks Aircan is simply too costly. 
As for the handpiece, it could be easily cleaned and if you maintain it each time after spraying, the airbrush would give you years of service.
That said, I plan to add at least two more Tamiya HG handpieces to my arsenal to tackle more complex painting tasks.

Time out: Tamiya M1046 HMMV

A vehicle I have been yearning to build for a long, long time.. 

The High Mobility Military Vehicle (HMMV) is an interesting kit project. There are a few choices in terms of accurately molded kits in 1:35 scale out there. Leading the pack is Tamiya and companies like Academy from South Korea and Hobby Boss (China) are producing the latest incarnation of the HMMV. These include the up-armored HMMVs or better known as Humvees.

The Tamiya M1046 HMMV

My choice: Tamiya

Hands-down, Tamiya has the best fitting kits in the world.

I can't say for other brands because nothing comes close to Tamiya's attention for detail.

So, having said that, I narrowed down my choice for a 1:35 kit.

I found the Humvee at Katon Tomodachi in Atria shopping mall. There was not a single moment of hesitation when I bought the kit.

Assembly and painting

The first thing I did, was to spray the parts on its sprue with a priming coat.

Tamiya has this on a spray can and you can either choose light or dark gray.

Never mix the bottled priming solution into your airbrush because the mixture will gunk up in your airbrush handpiece.

The parts sprayed with an acrylic water-based paint

The upper chassis fitting

Spraying the body

After adding the primer coat, I began to build the undercarriage and suspension system. There are many small parts and it had to be picked and placed onto the undercarriage with a pair of tweezers.

The completed undercarriage

It took me about two days to complete the undercarriage and some touch-ups were needed to conceal the cement stains.

With the Tamiya single-action High Grade airbrush, working concealment is a breeze.

I painted the undercarriage with the Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron acrylic paint. This gives the part a nice coating and with weathering applied, it looks excellent.

The clear parts with its paint

Achieving that "coated glass" look

As for the upper body of the Humvee, I chose the Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow. I was told that a mixture of Matt White and a drop of black would give a really nice "washed" look on the kit.

But I prefer the bare-minimal approach and kept the kit basic. (The Tamiya M1046 HMMV came with a TOW missile launcher).

For the clear parts, I mixed the Tamiya Clear Blue and Green to give the windshield and windows that "coated glass" look.

And I achieved this by spraying the clear parts. It looked convincing enough as I continued to finish the kit by building the door and roof.

Chassis and body

Adding the small parts

Gluing the brake lights

The nearly-completed kit

In-between going to work and coming home, I spent and average of two to three hours building the Humvee.

After completing the chassis and upper body, I glued together the halves by adding a few dabs of super glue.

Once the kit is set, I worked on weathering to give the Humvee that "worn out" look.

Later, I applied a set of decals on the vehicle's rear doors and left it as it is.

To sum it up, the Humvee is a decent kit to construct and being a beginner like me, there were no major issues with putting together this awesome kit..