My Roman Auxilia arrived today.
1st Century AD infantry with Coolus Helm Type C, Schaan:
1st Century AD cavalry with Niederbieber Type Helm and Arlon Belgica Type Cuirass:
(And there
is sculptural evidence for cavalry wearing bracers!)
As expected some of the metal plates fell off the belts and straps, as the glue they use is more like the tacky stuff on a post-it note.
The brass pin and ring assembly used to tie the cheek guards under the chin was completely missing from one of the infantryman's cheek guards when I took him out of the box. I searched through all the layers of foam packing and eventually found the two tiny pieces, so was able glue them back in place. I think all the fiddly metalwork is assembled in Rome, and they must use watchmakers' tools. The tiny pin went flying from my tweezers at one point and it took a while to find again.
On the cavalryman's helmet the visor had been fixed with a slope: the pin on one side had been placed too high. I spent around an hour trying to remove that pin - and it's pretty clear that Italian glue is a lot stronger than that used in Chinese factories!
Rather than drilling a new hole I cut the pin down and just glued the visor at the lower level. I thought I'd have to fill in KP's mis-drilled hole, but it's actually so minute that you can barely see it.