Andrea Miniatures 1/32 (70mm) Captain Sanders Serpentian NavyDN-07

Introduction:

Andrea Miniatures of Madrid, Spain’s “1/32 (70mm) Science Fiction Dark Nova Captain Sanders Serpentian Navy” resin and white metal kit represents a futuristic armored space marine armed with two rifles, one in each hand.

Most 1/32nd figures measure to fifty-four millimeters (54mm) tall. Captain Sanders does measure to 70mm tall when assembled so don’t let the 1/32nd scale (70mm) fool you. I compared Captain Sanders with its torso and legs testfitted to one of my 1/32nd (54mm) figures and Captain Sanders definitely is larger than any 1/32nd scale figure.

Andrea also provided a black wooden plinth with a felt bottom which I will review below.
The color printed box looks impressive with its glossy finish and high-resolution photos. Since I have a few Dark Nova figures already, I am familiar with Andrea’s quality of printing and packaging. The main parts themselves are nestled in a foldable foam cushion with a cardboard backing and then slipped into a foldable cardboard sleeve held with two heavy staples. Remove the staples to unfold the foam cushion and access the parts. Yes, the box appears much larger than the figure it holds, but that’s mainly for advertisement purposes.

The side of the box lists the Andrea Color paint bottles required for painting the figure to match the boxart and also advertises some of the available Andrea products such as paint sets, steel wool, glue, and brushes.

The Captain Sanders figure kit consists of twelve parts, a combination of resin and white metal.

Parts:

· Resin base
· White metal base rubble
· Left resin leg
· Right resin leg
· Right resin upper arm
· Right white metal forearm with rifle
· Left white metal arm with rifle
· White metal head
· Left white metal rocket jetpack
· Right white metal rocket jetpack
· Left white metal shoulder armor
· Right white metal shoulder armor
· Quality Control Coupon
· Basic Painting Guide color foldout sheet

This amazingly detailed figure comes with no pour blocks, seam lines, flash, or resin errors; hardly any prep work is required. Casting appears flawless with raised details and smooth edges and angles that constitute the space marine’s hardened body armor. The feet have rectangular pegs that fit into holes in the base. The foot pegs’ fit is superb, even for the white metal base’s slot hole.

The bases themselves are well-detailed with small rocks and rubble for the resin base and bent rebar, small stones, and texture for the white metal base.

I testfitted all the parts and found the fit overall excellent. The pins to square holes are carved well and the pieces fit securely and snuggly so that there is hardly any play and the figure cannot be posed differently without extensive modifications. This well-engineered figure hardly requires any filing and sanding, just gluing.

The pose looks great, one foot on the rubble with one arm raised and holding a rifle. The strong toughness of the space marine gives the possibility of shooting each rifle with one hand. The figure comes with no ammo pouches, straps, or reloads although that shouldn’t really matter considering that the rifles have no ammunition magazines attached to them.

The twenty-four step-by-step photos in the Basic Painting Guide color foldout sheet show how to file, sand, glue, prime, and paint a generic figure. Some of the photos generally cover basecoating, highlighting, and applying shadows to the body and face in addition to airbrushing the base. Four panels on the back showcase Andrea products such as their paint sets, new paintbrushes and wooden bases, spray cans, books, and DVDs and Youtube videos (the two later I didn’t even know existed). This little booklet should help both beginners to even expert figure painters.

The Quality Control Coupon states that if any part is broken or missing, please indicate and mail this coupon to the address of Andrea Europe in Madrid, Spain as printed on the coupon. I found this coupon another reassurance as to the top-level quality of Andrea products.

Conclusion:


Andrea Miniatures’s 1/32nd Captain Sanders Serpentian Navy represents one of the finesthard body armored space marines on the market today, especially for 1/32nd scale. Captain Sanders possesses a few unique characteristics: one, he wears a helmet unlike many of the other Sci-Fi figures on market today; two, he holds two rifles; three he has twin jetpacks; and four, he looks proportional unlike some of the other Dark Nova figures that wear an armored suit larger than their heads.

Without the pour blocks to cut away, seams to sand, and gaps to fill, 70mm Captain Sanders stands as one of the most perfect figures to assemble, prime, and paint.

Highs: No pour blocks or seams to cut and sand and practically flawless fit and casting quality. 70mm tall size remains unique for a 1/32nd figure that often measures to 54mm tall.

Lows: None.

Andrea Miniatures Black Wooden PlinthPDN-02




Andrea also provided me with a black wooden plinth (PDN-02) for the 70mm Captain Sanders figure. This base came in a plastic bag with a paper sleeve stapled to it.

The smooth semi-matte black plinth retains an impeccable lacquer finish and a dark green felt bottom.

The plinth measures five centimeters tall by five-and-a-half centimeters wide with a curving bevel at the bottom of the base.

I detected no chips, scratches, or flaws marring the tough hardwood; quality appears excellent.
I laid the Captain Sanders’s resin base on top and found that the base wasn’t oversized for the plinth.


Special thanks go to Andrea Miniatures for the figure and plinth review samples.

Well done ..effective review that gives me a real sense of what to expect.

Picked this one up as well, as the other Dark Nova figure I built and painted I really enjoyed. Thanks for posting