By John Lester - images & text © 2002
So there I was ..... Cruising the vendors' room at Wonderfest 2002, looking at all the cool stuff, when I came across Solarwind Productions' table. On it were a number of beautifully painted, fantasy female figures. One that jumped right out at me was Commander Katoc, a Klingon warrior with shield and edged weapon (the box art shown above does absolutely no justice to the build up in display - she was stunning). |
![[Box Art]](jl_Pre_kfig1.jpg) |
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Image: Rear view Image: Her shield and tagger are cast in pewter Image: Included is rather hefty base |
Now, I'm not much into figures - well, figures of fantasy females anyway - but she looked so good, and the show price was $20 less than the "regular" price, so I whipped out my wallet and plonked the last of my spending money down for a copy. I'm glad I did. What You Get Inside the box are two resin pieces (the commander and a pedestal on which to place her) and two metal pieces (her shield and weapon). The kit was sculpted by Mike Cusenelli - if you know anything at all about figures, that name is familiar. If not, suffice it to say he's one of the best in the business. Detail on both the resin and pewter pieces is sharp or smooth where it needs to be. About the only nits I can find to pick are that the weapon's blade seems thick (no doubt due to the limits of the casting process) and the back of her shield is flat and un-adorned (how would it stick to her arm, via tractor beam?). Both are minor and easily fixed if you so desire. All too often, the figure kits I've seen require a lot of work to clean up. Not this one. The casting is almost flawless - just a very little flash and a barely noticeable mold seam on one leg. No pits, no bubbles lurking just under the skin, no uncured resin waiting to ooze out on you (yes, I've seen that before in a figure). Assembly & Finish Assembly is a no-brainer. Paint parts. Glue together (the blade affixes to a band on her right arm). What I find cool about this figure is the painting possibilities. She's big enough that I can use an airbrush and practice my techniques. |
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There's a good mix of skin and clothed areas, so I can practice the different methods of painting those. And, the skin isn't so much of the overall "acreage" of the model, so it's agood introduction to painting large-scale skin tones. I'll probably paint her legs as if they were in pants, and further minimize the flesh I have to get right. I'll probably also use a set of Archer transfers for her eyes.
Overall Impressions This is a gorgeous sculpt and one that will look mighty fine on my shelves. She looks to be a good model to ease into the world of figure modeling too, given how well the castings are. Highly recommended, if you're at all interested in this sort of thing. Many thanks to my wallet for providing the review sample. Manufacturers and retailers, interested in getting your wares reviewed and publicized on a site averaging 2000+ readers a day? Contact us! |
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This page copyright © 2002 Starship Modeler™. Last updated on 13 June 2002.
![[Click to enlarge]](jl_Pre_kfig4.jpg)
