It took Games Workshop and the German Post quite some time to get this one sent to me, but finally my specimen of the limited 25th anniversary model arrived here last Wednesday.
Normally I have the peculiar habit of opening my pewter or plastic fix only on my hobby evenings on Friday or Saturday, but as this miniature is limited and there had already been a growing amount of complaints over at Warseer on the casting quality of this one, I decided to immediately open the box, in case I would have had to file a complaint… not that I have experienced big problems with Finecast in the past… but you know, one should never rely on his luck…
Normally I would have waited with unboxing this one... but, you know, with Finecast you DO never know...
Anyway, here’s the box, still wrapped in plastic. While the size is quite small (the same they use for small plastic kits or the original miniatures for Inquisitor, if you recall), it’s still a beauty with the old Rogue Trader artwork on it.
The mother of all boxes... at least when we are talking Games Workshop here, I once knew a AD&D set, that... well, never mind...
Right, and here it is without the shrink wrap… did that one because I didn’t know if my camera would catch the artwork with the plastic covering… and no need to get that one wasted, doesn’t it?
Actually I'm starting to think Games Workshop wants us to keep the miniature IN the box... and look at it and dream...
Unlike those aforementioned boxes, this one has a double cover that can be opened like some book, held in place by a little magnet. Inside we get the information that the ever-talented Juan Diaz did the sculpt and we get some shots of the studio paintjob, so that we can find out in the end that ours didn’t quite make it…
It is slightly funny they took so much care with the box as you won’t be able to fit the miniature back into it, once it’s built. Almost as if they’d expect you to keep it unbuilt… as for myself, of course, I will build it, but keep the box as a trinket and adornment, I guess.
Why, oh why didn't they pack the stuff in foam?
Already while shrink-wrapped there was a nasty rattling coming from inside the box… and, yes, they had the nerve of sending all the Finecast parts in the usual plastic tray without any additional protection – no foam, no bubble wrap, nothing… normally the little sprues they do their Finecast miniatures in would offer some protection, but as you can already see here, the standard had no such sprue and so the tip had broken off…
Apart from the miniature itself the tray contains a usual 25 mm and a 60 mm base respectively. The latter is for the scenery piece with the standard, while the small base is provided in case you want to employ your Crimson Fist Captain/Sergeant/Character on the battlefield.
The five parts of Mr. Marine... and he wants us to get a head!
And here is the main sprue with the parts for the Crimson Fist guy (often assumed to be Mr. Pedro Kantor himself). He comes in five parts: the main body with right arm and Power fist, the left arm with the Plasma Pistol, the backpack, his head and the Ork head he is wielding.
From this face, the miniature comes around next to perfect. No parts are warped and there are only very few minor air bubbles that are mostly easy to ignore (one on the left arm, one in the entrails where the Ork head was ripped off.
And here's Mr. Dead Ork, grinning...
The view from the rear is equally pleasing, though there are more issues here, including two tiny bubbles on the feed cable of the Plasma pistol and one slightly out-of-form exhaust on the backpack.
One, two, three, four bubbles and a moldline, it seems...
I couldn’t get a really good photo of the inside Power Fist, but even this way you can see that this part will include the heaviest use of cutter, emery board and Green Stuff. There’s a lot of flash, one hard-to-remove mold line and on the tips of four of the five fingers, there rests a larger air bubble.
Taking it from the internet (always a hard thing to do, as most of the people writing there are more interested in whining and making claims than any honest account – and for the rest you never know, too) this is the part of the miniature that often turned out to be utterly miscast, with huge chunks of the fist missing, so I guess the trifles I will have with it are still ok in comparison – or, rather, it’s less troublesome to remove them than to phone for replacement.
And here I give you... the Base! Rather... base-ic, wouldn't you agree?
On with the scenic base, this one turned out quite pleasing, if a tad too small for the 60 mm base. The details are fine, I am in fact rather pleased that it only includes one shoulder guard and one Space Marine head – alse it would have looked too full…
There's a bunch of holes in my base... and in all it's solidness, it's quite hollow...
Unfortunately, while sufficient, the casting is a bit uneven. As you can see there are a good deal of holes all over the piece, including one area which is more reminiscent of a swiss cheese than with a base. The resin there is paper thin, so I will have to apply some (liquid?) Green Stuff to it to stabilise it.
Can you spot the pimple on that fist? Quite annoying, that one...
On with the standard, this one is mostly well-casted, albeit with some flash. On the front, there are only a few air bubbles, of whose only the one in the middle of the (crimson) fist annoys me as it will be almost impossible for one of my skill to cover that one up without ruining the structure there.
Nothing to see, you know...
On the back, there are equally few problems – the cloth of the standard next to the pole appears extremely thin, though, when put against a light.
Thus, the main problem with the standard is that the tip broke off.
The pride of the Empire, they said... fell with an air bubble and lack of foam...
And here it is, again sorry for the blurry quality. As you can see, the casting itself is acceptable, just a few air bubbles and flash. This part also is the only one that arrived slightly bent, though that may be the sculpting, as it’s very regular.
On this side of the standard there's quite some flash.
On the reverse, theres a load of flash and as you might see (if not, you have to believe like Fox Mulder) there are no less than three air bubbles at the point where the tip broke off – one to the front, one to the back and a larger one right in the middle of the pole. Together, they definitely worked as a predetermined breaking point, which together with the unprotected transport caused the breaking of the pole.
I really have to think how to handle this one. Porbably I will first have to fill up the bubbles to create a substantial connection between the pole and the tip – at the moment, both share too few contact points.
Will it be... the right stuff?
So this ismy freshly acquired companion for this (and a lot of other) projects: my first pot of Liquid Green Stuff…
With this, we are at an end here. I have too many more pressing things on my desk, so it might well be May or June until I will turn my attention to this miniature again… which is fine as it gives me some time to ponder on how I will go on with it. As for the arrangement, I think I will put the scenic parts (the rocky base and the standard) on a much bigger base, either the large oval one or some self made base. Together with some more stones and perhaps a dead ork or two it may then serve as a object marker in my battles. The miniature itself will end on the small 25mm base which I either will put on display together with the rest, or use in battle… just have to decide whether I will paint him as a Crimson Fist, or in the colours of my chapter… well, we’ll cross that bridge once we arrived at the banks, I guess…
