DusitD2 Terrorist attack.

The attack happened at 14 Riverside drive complex in Westlands, Nairobi. Specifically at the DusitD2 Hotel. The islamist group Al-Shabaab stormed the complex on the 15th January 2019;

Unlucky for them the SAS were also in town with the US Navy SEALS;

And as the Sun Newspaper reported at the time, things were about to get even worse for the terrorists;

As the body count rose a US Navy SEAL team sought out the SAS man and Within minutes of being cleared to pounce he shot dead the first terrorist from behind a wall.

The insider added: “When it all kicked off he was working with the Kenyan Armed Forces.

“They were being mentored by SEALs and they had jurisdiction. But there was a critical pause among the Yanks as they waited for the green light to go in. They knew the score.

People were dying, and they knew they had a man in their midst who could turn the tide. He had to go in. He got on the blower to the UK High Commissioner who gave the go ahead and he went straight in.
No hesitation, no flinching, no thought for his own safety, straight into the eye of the storm.
Within minutes he’d dropped the first terrorist. It turned the tide, there was a surge of confidence through the mission.”

He killed two of the group and saved countless lives, the other terrorists, who fled were cornered in the shopping arcade and were killed by kenyan forces.

Obviously at the time his identity was a secret, but its now widely ackowledged that his name is Chris Craighead. He was born in the North-East of England,entered the Parachute Regiment as a teenager, was selected for it’s elite Pathfinder Platoon, before joining the SAS from which he has now retired.

For his actions he was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and was personally thanked by the US president, Donald Trump, for his actions in saving US lives


For those intersted a book written by Chris regarding the siege is due to be released in July. Link here - https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-lands-sas-veterans-account-terror-attack-1222593#

A few images of the scene from the web, first one used for this sculpt;













This is a 200mm scale full figure from Mitches Military Models.
The kit arrives in a plain block box, which is quite apt for the subject matter;

Inside is a zip lock bag containing all the resin bits wrapped in the obligitary bubble wrap;



Legs;
Cast with the lower part of the Jumpable Plate Carrier, and the RTI Rotating Belt Mount for the Glock 9mm.
Casting lugs on the bottom of the legs will need removing and some sanding down the sides of the legs due to casting marks. also whats a bit strange is on the inside of his right leg there is no detail for the jean stitching, which is present on the outside of his right leg and also present on both sides of his left leg. not a deal breaker and i wont be trying to engrave the detail back in. There is some great crease details on both legs, some you can see straight away and some very fine. There are a couple of little resin gates to remove.

Jumpable Plate Carrier;



Ammunition rounds;













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Upper Torso with Jumpable Plate Carrier;
Has 3 big plugs at the front to remove. A slight cast line down the right side of the body and 3 moud gates to remove. Casting details are superb including one of the straps folded over and the comms wire from the speaker/mike.

Jumpable plate carrier;





Selex CT5 PTT






Head;
Two casting plugs to remove, one which require some carefull sanding as its in a bit of a tricky spot, but probably the only way to have moulded this part, as once removed you wont lose any details. The balaclava has a nice toggle on the front.Facial details are nice and sharp, and as he is squinting, not much pressure on the eyes to paint !, Ears have nice details along with his hair, which has a slight cast line at the back





Left Arm;
Cast with the left hand in situ, just one casting stub to remove, sand and engrave the shirt seam line back in. Nice crease details on the shirt and the hand has nice detail including sharply defined fingernails. His watch is also on show, so that will be fun to get the right time displayed.



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Right Arm,
As with the left , just one pour stub to remove and same details as on the Left arm, nicely detailed and cast.



Hydration Pouch;



3 pour stubs to remove, nice creasing detail, well captured

Right Hand and weapon;

The right hand is integrally cast holding the grip of the surpressed Colt Canada 8 assult rifle wih ACOG TA01 Scope,LA5 PEQ Indicator and the M600 Tactical Light surperbly cast.Fingers wrapped around the magazine clip with the index finger in the response pose, nice under casting here as you can see the gap between his finger and the trigger, same with the M600 Tactical Light on the side, cable is cast away from the main body of the weapon. 3 pour stubs to remove and some resin flash. Barrel will need to be drilled. Rest of the rifle has some nice sharp details.

ACOG TA01 Scope;



LA5 PEQ Indicator



M600 Tactical Light






Shoes/Boots;

Both shoes have two pour stubs to remove. nice detail on the laces.







Ancillary items

Then we have 3 ammo pouces for the side arm?;


PRC-152 Radio, Flash Bang pouch and rifle rounds




A combat knife, Frag grenade pouch and his Glock 17 9mm pistol with 17 round magazine



All these have been cast onto 'back plates' of resin, but a quick test with my Libor Kopecek saw showed they will come away nicely. I suppose you could also attach a piece of wet & dry to the bench and sand away the back plate.

Rear of rifle;



will need carefull removal of the butt and the gluing onto the rifle.

Base

A single piece of resin to attach the figure to.



None of the major parts have any attachment plugs and sockets, everything is just butt joined, so may actually drill some pins into some bits, especially the boots to attach to a base.

Wow what a fantastic reference site, ashame it didn't show up in my Google search. But will make good use of it.

A very nice figure.....

Another big 'un Steve and it looks like a very nice casting indeed. Great research and intro.

Great review Steve, very informative.

Brilliant all round! Is this from Offo?

Yep I believe so.