I received this from Matt and Celine at El Greco this morning, usual super fast delivery, and from the moment I took it from the postman's hands I was worried. It was clear that the parts were rattling around loose inside the box. Not a good start.
Once I removed the box from the well padded envelope it was sent in, I was presented with a nicely printed outer sleeve, around the inner box. Removing the sleeve and opening the box, my fears were confirmed. Absolutely no padding in the box at all, as can be seen in the pictures.



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Taking a deep breath, I began checking the parts for any signs of damage. Amazingly, all the parts appeared to be intact!
I have to say, this is a big bust. There are five pieces in all, in three different coloured resins.
There are a number of areas that will require a lot of cleaning/prep and, dry fitting shows it will need careful preparation in order to get even a reasonable fit. What struck me most, is that this will be hollow once assembled. Very unusual in my opinion.



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Great review Ron, Thanks. lovely detailed face ! (ugly as sin) but very detailed . .. I see you go for the handsome devils. The armour will be a nice visual, once complete.

Regards,

Mark

So, that leaves me to give a reasonable impression of the piece as a whole.
To start with, the quality of the sculpting is what we have come to expect from leading companies today. Having said that, the casting, whilst rich in detail, is below par in todays market. Too many air holes and too much residue.
It almost appears as if the mould trees were broken from the pieces as opposed to being cut.
As to the detail in the castings, to be fair, it is top notch. Lots of 'damage' to the armour is finely sculpted and cast, with the fur being very well presented.
Head is a stand out piece for me. Facial expression is captured superbly, and should be fun to paint.
For me, this is a piece that has so much potential in the painting choices. It's just a great shame that for £54 it is not better presented.

Ron

As I have said Mark, it has a lot of appeal in the painting. I just feel a little cheated in the presentation for the money. Wouldn't have thought a bit of foam would be hard to include in the price!

Cheers

Ron

I would agree @ 54 quid ! and the postmen of today, there may well be a fair few returns! However we can but hope that this will be noted.

Mark

I had half thought about getting this one but after your comments re packaging and casting I think I'll give it a miss. As you say at £54, or at any price come to that, that standard of packaging just ain't good enough.

Geoff

I have e-mailed Celine at El Greco, just to give them a heads up. In no way their fault but, maybe they can express concerns on the buyers behalf.

I took this piece on as a commission, therefore, any extra work in the preparation can cause an imbalance in the charge made to the client. Difficult situation to resolve.

Ron

Interesting review. I have just one of this company's figures and there were two thick pieces of foam. I agree with you on the casting process though.

I have also had a couple of their 75 mm figures, and there has always been foam in the packaging to protect the pieces.

Matt at El Greco e-mailed me to say they are aware that there is no foam etc. but, as it is factory sealed at Scale 75, they did not wish to disturb the packaging so that customers are aware this is how it comes.
He is forwarding my e-mail to Scale 75 in the hope that they will take note of the concerns I expressed.

Ron

Packaging aside ( which I agree should be better) it looks a nice kit shame about the prep, looking forward to what Ron will do with it though
Steve

Great review, kagemusha. Thanks for it, I liked this bust a lot when I saw it in the figure news section, but after see this,me too, I´m not very pleased with the price quality ratio.
Thanks for posting.

Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia

I hope you're going to post WIP pics of this Roy because I'm eager to see what you do with it. FYI, Alfonso "banshee" Giraldes has written a tutorial for Figure Painter Magazine about how he painted the boxart and that'll be in the next issue.

Hi Steve, Edorta and Shane, all things aside, I will use this commission piece for an SBS using the airbrush. It really lends itself to the AB due to it's size and nature of the subject.
Just got to get it prepped and ready once things have calmed down at home.
Glad that the review was helpful in hi-lighting an issue with the presentation of an expensive piece which, if nothing else, will hopefully be resolved in future releases.

Cheers

Ron

An Air Brush
Steve

Thought that might get your attention Steve

I'm not qualified to use one of those Ron it would just end in tears
Steve

.....mate...you don't know what your missing.....all that frustration.....noise.....mess.....swearing.....crying................sheer bliss

Ron, forgot to mention the impact marks on the nearby walls !... otherwise all is 'Tickety-Boo'.

Mark

No worries......I work in a padded cell