Volks has been releasing kits from The Five Star Stories under their IMS or Injection Assembly Mortar Headd Series brand. Most of them are 1/100 scale but there have been a few in 1/144. In 2023, they released the IMS 1/144 L.E.D. Mirage [Light Armament Type] which I was able to purchase when I went to Japan in December of that year. Come end of August 2025 and they apparently released the follow up in the 1/144 scale line, Knight of Gold =Delta Berunn 2007=. And much like L.E.D. Mirage, I am going to Japan at the end of November, giving me a perfect opportunity to get this guy in store.
As much as I prefer the design of L.E.D. Mirage, the hero machine, or Mortar Headd of this story is the Knight of Gold, with the former being mass produced machines. Regardless, both are very regal designs, with the Knight of Gold taking the cake with its gold armor.
I won’t pretend to be the most knowledgeable when it comes to Mamoru Nagano’s The Five Star Stories, but I clearly remember a classmate back in my college days bringing an Hobby Japan special on it, and that opened my eyes to these elegant machines. As well as the terrifying effort you’ll need to build one.
Despite having a name like the “Knight of Gold,” Volks made the sensible call of NOT plating any of the runners in gold. Which also means anyone building this kit is expected to paint it. The outer armor is in regular gold while all the internal parts are supposed to be in some shade of copper gold. You can check out this Nipper.com article on how to paint this kit, made by the same modeler who build the L.E.D. Mirage two years ago.
These kits contain all the sophisticated sculpted detail scaled down from their 1/100 scale counterparts.
This can’t be more apparent than the oversized head piece of this thing, especially when you check out the top section with all the linework and channels essentially begging to be panel lined. Breaking the golden monotony are red bits here and there, which I assume are done with waterslide decals.
Compared to the 1/144 scale kits released by Wave, Volks’ IMS line have better articulation, technically. You shouldn’t expect G Gundam or Build Fighters levels of articulation though, especially given the designs. I mean it can move the arms outward as seen above, but that large head unit ain’t doing the chicken anytime soon.
Here’s a quick rear shot showing more of the copper internal mechanism, along with the inner sides of the armor, which should give a good idea of the expected colors for this kit. There’s also these long hair-like extensions coming from the head unit, these might be the telescopic stabilizers described in the solicitations. Either way, these would make storage a bit challenging.
For weapons, this kit includes two swords, each having their own sheaths mounted on the skirting armor, and heel stabilizers in case needed. On that note, I do remember the 1989 Five Star Stories anime movie and how the Knight of Gold uses some sort of long cannon. None of the solicitations images include that weapon, which might be explained by the specific event this kit represents, which is the ceremony held at Delta Berunn during year 3007 of the Joker Calendar.
IMS 1/144 Knight of Gold [Delta Berunn 3007]
Released August 2025 / ¥7,700
Order from Volks Hobby Heaven Online Store
When I got the IMS L.E.D. Mirage in December 2023, I really looked forward to building my first Five Star Stories kit in 2024. Well, 2024 threw had a curveball and that kit is still in the backlog. A couple of years later, I’m getting the IMS Knight of Gold and I don’t think I’ll make any promises given the kits in my backlog. But I will definitely love to try fudging it in the queue.
