Search found 4 matches for kp

Here we go again.

There was something a little off with the recent Conan head that was designed to go with Kaustic Plastik's Masterclass Warrior set (reviewed HERE). Apart from some possibly questionable choices in the paint, the most obvious problem was the sculpted hair. While it was decently (not super finely) sculpted, it looked like molded plastic (which is admittedly what it was). Mr Toys had just released their own Conan set (reviewed HERE) which, while largely based on earlier work by Kaustic Plastik, broke new ground by offering us a Conan with "real" hair. Between this and my earlier attempts to create an Arnold Schwarzenegger-as-Conan head sculpt (using one of the Hot Toys Terminator heads), and my recent modification to the Hot Toys Jason Momoa Aquaman head sculpt (replacing the sculpted hair with "real" hair -- see HERE), the next step was obvious. But this was going to be a slightly more ambitious project, because it involved not only removing the plastic hair and replacing it with "real" hair, but also filling in and repainting likely or potentially visible grooves in the head sculpt, detaching, modifying, and repainting the headgear (so it would be both screen accurate and removable, not to mention so that I could put in the hair properly), and also partly modifying, repainting, and remounting the necklace ornaments on a more sensible string that would allow the necklace to hang about right.

This time I took more photos to illustrate more of the steps, in case someone finds this helpful for modifying this or a different sculpt.

Just in case I did something horribly wrong, I managed to get myself an extra Kaustic Plastik Conan head (1). As I had noticed before, the hair was made of soft plastic, and divided into sections (two side locks and a larger back piece, separated by the headband from the crown of the head hairpiece, which last was actually part of the head sculpt), just like Hot Toys' Aquaman head. So, I heated up the head sculpt a little with a hair dryer (not much was actually needed), and gently pried off the large hair piece covering the back of the head (2).



Then I proceeded to dislodge the headband, which was (if I recall) divided at the back of the head on one end of the sculpted strings holding the two parts together. I heated and gently pried off the headband from the head, into which it was ensconced by virtue of several sections fitting into indented grooves that were parts of the head sculpt (3a-5). One of them was right in the middle of the forehead (4-5).



With the headband off, I gently pried off and removed the two side locks of hair (4-5).



With the headband and all detachable hairpieces removed, it was necessary to remove almost all of the molded hair that was an integral part of the head sculpt at the crown of the head (4a-4d). I left in place a little hair over the forehead, since that can be a challenging transition between sculpted face and "real" hair.



After a failed experiment with Vallejo acrylic putty, I filled the visible grooves in the forehead and temples with Kneadatite Blue/Yellow Epoxy Putty (the kind that comes in a tape and you mash and knead it together into a malleable green substance for sculpting and filling -- a skill I learned from members of OneSixthFigures) (5). It was my first experience with this material, but I think it worked reasonably well. Someone with greater skill and patience, would have done more in the way of sculpting bone and flesh structure and gotten the filling to sit completely flush and seamless (with filing down). Since this was going to be obscured most of the time by the headband (for the classic look), I didn't worry about it too much, though I wanted it to look ok even when exposed. Once the Kneadatite had cured overnight, I painted it with Vallejo Acrylics, trying to get as close as possible to the head's skin tone (which is perhaps not ideal itself, but I didn't want to repaint the whole thing -- which might actually have been the way to do it); I also took the opportunity to fix the hairline and darken the eyebrows. As far as painting the head, that was it (6).



Then came my "favorite" part (I'm being sarcastic), the application of the hair. I picked a warmish milk chocolate brown, because that is pretty close to Arnold's appearance on the screen during the film. Using as a basic guide the technique outlined by Morezmore (HERE), but also taking some shortcuts and utilizing superglue, I basically went in rings around the back and sides of the head, starting with a level above the edge of the head sculpt's neck and making my way upwards (7-9b).



Having gently removed as many loose strands of hair as I could, I gently rinsed it with water, gathered it backwards, and let it dry (10a-10c).



After this I cut the hair to approximate Conan's appearance in Conan the Destroyer (since that is where we see the matching outfit and accessories) -- I didn't cut as short as I should, just in case I made a mistake -- and filled up any visible "holes" (there were surprisingly few) with either more hair or acrylic marker (11). Then it was time to add the headband and the necklace and complete the modification (12).

I had shaved down the inside of the headband (especially the parts that were designed to protrude so that they could fit into the grooves in the head sculpt) to make it thinner, so that it would fit more easily around the modified head; I glued it shut at the back, and when the glue had cured, it fit the head like a charm. I had also repainted the pyramidal ornaments on the head band in brass, to match the film appearance. The ornaments on the necklace were all correct (except for the color of the "sun" or "wheel" pendant), but the necklace did not work at all. I had to remove each ornament and glue it onto a thin leather string which could hang a little more naturally (it is also malleable, if needed). I made sure to place the fangs correctly (both for appearance and so that they no longer attempted to bite into the body), and glued their now purely decorative fastenings in place. Similarly, I made sure the pendant sat ("hung") correctly, glued on a couple of pieces of string to match the screen appearance, and repainted it in brass, for the same reason (12).



Here are a couple of comparisons: with the unaltered KP head and necklace, and...



with the Mr Toys head (the necklace for that set has the wrong pendant).



I don't know if I would call it perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There are some additional things that can be done, for example a shampoo+conditioner treatment to create more waviness in the hair. For this shot I put the modified head, headband, and necklace on the rest of the KP set, but that would require some additional minor modifications to be completely movie accurate. I suppose it is a work in progress.



What do you think?

#custom #kitbash #modification #arnoldschwarzenegger #conan #barbarian #destroyer #film #fiction #fantasy #kausticplastik #kp #head #headsculpt #hair #male #tbleague #phicen #body

Introduction
Hot on the heels of the Mr Toys set depicting the same character and actor, Kaustic Plastik has released its Masterclass set based on Arnold Schwarzenegger's role as Conan the Barbarian (and, more to the point, Conan the Destroyer). Both of these recent sets are partly a reprise of the old fantasy barbarian warrior sets by Kaustic Plastik, although both improve, for the most part, what had already been offered (even if providing a more limited selection of items). I will be making frequent reference to the Mr Toys set for comparison purposes, so HERE is the link to my recent review. Since this is not a complete set (it does not come with the recommended TBLeague M35 body included), I am not assigning point values to the various categories. The head for the set is sold separately, but it is also included in this review.



Packaging
The set comes in a transparent plastic lid and trey on a card. The head comes in a typical sixth-scale head sculpt box, well-protected inside foam. Everything is safe and collector friendly, except of course for having to tear the plastic trey off the card.



Sculpting
The sculpted detail on the head and other sculpted or die-cast pieces seems to be generally very good. This is true for the tiny details on the ornate belt and on the imposing sword, but also on the headband, which is a more detailed and accurate rendition of what we saw in the film than its Mr Toys counterpart; the latter, however, had the advantage of being removable. Similarly, the head intended for this set features sculpted/molded plastic hair, whereas the Mr Toys head had "real" hair. Hair this long should never be sculpted, and this applies here. While the detail on the hair is decent, it is nowhere as fine as the gold standard set by Hot Toys and emulated quite successfully by others. The hair and headband appear to be made as separate pieces out of softer plastic glued onto the head proper, just like the recent Hot Toys Aquaman; I feel a custom modification coming up...



Paint
While the head sculpt appears to be exactly what we see on the promotional images, the paint job on it does not appear as sharp, striking, or attractive (compare HERE). I suppose this is a fairly common problem, but disappointing nonetheless. What we get is still decent, and works well enough with the recommended M35 body, even if it is a little darker than the latter. The eyes are glossy, the cheeks are rosy, the sword finally gets its proper gold-color on the ornate detail. But there are also errors or shortcuts -- the gold color on the sun (or "wheel") pendant appears rather dark, as does the the corresponding color on the sword; more obviously, the decorative elements lining the head band are all painted silverish, whereas they are supposed to alternate between silver and gold (in that respect the Mr Toys set is more accurate).



Articulation
The recommended TBLeague M35 body is not significantly inhibited in its articulation by either of the two basic clothing options contained in the set, including the long pants, sleeveless leather shirt, and leather armor. Unlike Mr Toys, Kaustic Plastik did not provide an integral foot in the boots, so you will have to improvise: the TBLeague male feet are too big to fit easily in this type of footwear and I had to help myself to some bendy-toe feet from a random base body I happened to have lying around. They fit, but such makeshift solutions always result in less stability, and the top-heavy M35 is often a challenge even for its own feet and ankles; otherwise, the boots allow for excellent range of motion.



Accessories
The set includes a dagger, a sword, their respective leather-like scabbards which can fit onto a belt or baldric, said baldric with a functional buckle, and various other elements that I will cover under Outfit below. The headband, which seems to be as much decorative as functional (protective), is permanently attached to the head sculpt (unlike what we got with the Mr Toys set). The dagger and sword are done in beautiful detail, and look realistic and worn, although the weathering is minimal. They do fit well into their scabbards, but the fit is very tight. The baldric is really intended for the sword scabbard, if you want your character to carry the sword on his back. As a result of good design, both the dagger and sword can hang correctly and realistically, unlike what we have had with earlier versions of the character (for example, the Mr Toys sword will sit too high if you try to "suspend" it from the side of the belt). Finally, there is the sun (or "wheel") pendant, reproduced for the very first time commercially in this scale (to the best of my knowledge). In the movie it hands from a string, centered between two pairs of fangs. The Mr Toys set attempted this, but used the wrong pendant (copying Kaustic Plastik's earlier release) which was also featured in the Conan films but was not hung alongside fangs, and used underscaled and improperly spaced fangs. All this was corrected by Kaustic Plastik in the promotional images (with the correct pendant and nicely scaled and spaced fangs), even if there it was mounted on a thicker leather strap rather than a cord. What we get, however, not only uses this thicker leather strap, but is not correctly mounted to work. The whole piece wants to ride up, the fangs want to sink into the flesh, and the pendant does not quite hang correctly. If you looked carefully at the promotional images, you might realize that what you see there was an ad hoc mock-up that looked about right; what we get in the actual set was their attempt to actually make it work -- but it does not. They should have used a cord, not a band/strap. I can feel another custom coming up... Perhaps it can be expected that one set would not include everything that was included in the two old Kaustic Plastik sets -- for example additional weapons, pendants, pouches...



Outfit
The set contains enough in the way of outfit to re-create two (or more) different looks from the film -- though one of them cannot be quite right. The most iconic version would be Conan wearing his boots, fur kilt, leather or fabric codpiece, ornate belt, vambraces, and sun pendant and fangs necklace; this look can be reproduced very well indeed with the items that come with the present set. Then there is Conan wearing his boots, pants, leather sleeveless shirt (nice, but lighter than I remember it from the film), and vambraces, paired with either the ornate belt or with a fur kilt, but never (I think) both at the same time. Here we run into a problem, as the new Kaustic Plastik set departs from precedent by combining the codpiece and the belt into a single item. The codpiece is indeed more screen-accurate (it has no identical back side, just attaches to the back of the belt somehow with a strap), but it should not be permanently attached to the belt. It should be noted, that in some scenes different portions of the two basic outfits are swapped into new configurations -- for example pants added to the shirtless look. The smaller fur kilt that comes with the set is the one to be paired with the pants; there are also some tattered barbarian shorts that I do not remember on screen.

A minor problem is that in some scenes Conan appears wearing identical brown leather vambraces with darker straps wound over them. The set features only one of these (for the left arm), the other vambrace is intended to portray the one (for the right arm) covered with a myriad tiny gold-colored spikes. This is poorly recreated with a little leather piece covered rather sparsely by slightly oversized almost flat circular caps. To be screen-accurate, they should have been smaller, pointier, lighter in color, and there should have been many more of them. The present solution does not improve on Kaustic Plastik's old sets, or on the Mr Toys version, all of which are essentially the same. The added problem here is that at least three of the caps flaked off during handling before my very eyes -- and I was being relatively careful, fully expecting this problem. I should note that, aside from this, the set was remarkably free from the usual concerns with flimsy quality that accompany many of the more delicate items included in Kaustic Plastik sets. For the challenge posed by the boots, see above.



Fun Factor
In principle, this could be as fun as any Conan set, with the added advantage of swappable outfits or elements. I was, however, repeatedly annoyed by the poorly-put-together necklace and the weak ankles resulting from the empty foot-type footwear requiring the substitution of non-TBLeague feet.



Value
When I purchased this, it cost me about $120 for the set and another $50 for the head (USD). A fine, detailed and complex head sculpt like this is not cheap but still not unreasonable at that price. If memory serves, the price of the set is about $40 above the prices of the old Kaustic Plastik sets from several years ago. Even allowing for inflation, we don't get that much more here -- although what we get seems to be better quality, judging by my experience. If this was your only Conan or even one of two (if you get the Mr Toys one), it is still not a huge drain at $170. However, there is a good chance that you can now only find it on eBay for well over $200; without a body, that seems rather much.



Things to watch out for
Apparently less than with many other Kaustic Plastik sets. I unbuckled and buckled the ornate belt several times, and it is still in good shape. Nothing has come unglued or broken, other than the expected flaking off of caps from the vambrace for the right arm. I would still advise treating this set carefully, especially as you are likely to have a somewhat top-heavy and unstable figure when you kit it out.



Overall
I am divided on this set: there is plenty I like and plenty that disappoints me. The better quality and greater attention to detail are definite improvements; the head sculpt is nicely sculpted (though some of it should not have been sculpted) but perhaps not quite as nicely painted (even if not actually bad); the right vambrace is the only thing that is really poorly done, for the third or fourth time. We get accurate details (like the pendant), though not quite accurately mounted and not necessarily usable without further customization. I don't have a problem having to supply a body from elsewhere, but wish they would have thought of the balance and stability issue. And while they did pay attention to plenty of details, they could have gotten the outfit (belt and codpiece ensemble) right, to take proper advantage of the intended versatility of the set. To make the most of this set, you should be ready to do some customizing and/or combining with items from other sets.



Where to buy
Most places that pre-ordered this set have long sold out, but you can still find it on eBay or here:
Hobby Galaxy for $157.



For the Mr Toys set, see HERE.
I hope this has been useful. What do you think?

#kausticplastik #kp #masterclass #set #conan #barbarian #film #fantasy #warrior #premodern #tbleague #male

2019 has already seen the release of five sixth-scale Roman-period military figures by two companies, and there is at least one more in the works. Although they arrived months ago, it is only now that I've had time to begin some product reviews. I begin with the three Roman infantry figures by Kaustic Plastik.



Introduction

The three infantry figures are a centurion, a legionary, and an auxiliary ("Auxilia Cohors") from Kaustic Plastik's The Legions of Rome - The Armies of the Roman Empire series. All three figures purport to portray the Roman military of the 1st century AD, i.e., the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods of the Roman Empire. Kaustic Plastik figures are designed on the advice of archaeologists/military history consultants and claim a high degree of historical accuracy. That said, one should note that there is plenty of disagreement over the interpretation of pictorial, written, and archaeological evidence, and some of the design choices would be open to doubt.

The sets employ Kaustic Plastik bodies (KP04) and head sculpts and stand about 11.5 inches (29.5 cm) tall.

Packaging - 3/4 stars

All three figures come in identical boxes featuring a dark posterized version of a photo of two figures' helmeted heads overprinted with the Legions of Rome logo on the front, a general historical introduction on the back, and images of all four figures of this line (the three reviewed here, plus a cavalryman whom I will review separately) on the sides. Inside the box there is a relatively thin black foam sheet, under it a thick foam trey for the figure and some of its accessories, and under that a second, more shallow foam trey for additional accessories, including the action figure stand and the shields. The use of foam treys is commendable, and everything is reasonably safe, although some items do become loose. Inside there is also a little paper slip with a printed notice that the helmets are very delicate, should be handled carefully, and if any of the small fittings become loose it is recommended to affix them with Gorilla Superglue. So why take off one star? Because of the reusing the same box and decor for all figures in the line. This is arguably lazy, but while I do not care much about the boxes (as long as they do their job), the figures come without any instructions, and having more, larger, and varied images of each figure (on its respective box) would have been handy when trying to kit it out fully. On the other hand, if this cost-saving measure accounts for the relatively inexpensive price, that aspect is appreciated.



Sculpting - 3/4 stars

By sculpting I mean primarily the head sculpts, although there are plenty of sculpted details on the plastic and metal accessories that make up each figure's armor and weaponry. In the latter case, the detail is fairly accurate and quite exquisite, even if not always super sharp. In the former case, two out of the three heads are very well sculpted, while that of the auxiliary has the same high production quality, but suffers from fairly caricature-like features that detract from the intended realism. Moreover, all three head sculpts are reused from Kaustic Plastik products we have seen before: the centurion's head came with the KP03B body, the legionary's head came with the KP04B body, and the auxiliary's head came with "Valerius - Roman Legionary" ("Ancient Rome - The Roman Army - Legio XIV Gemina, Invasion of Britain circa 49 AD"). While I appreciate any savings in cost, this reuse is hardly something that impresses in the new products.



Paint - 3.5/4 stars

Generally speaking, the paint job is very good -- and even in instances where it is not particularly clean, that is perhaps on purpose, certainly contributing to the look of worn, used equipment. The most elaborate and detailed paintwork is on the head sculpts (see photo above), and that tends to be excellent, with plenty of good detail and nuance. There is also some fairly intricate paintwork involved with the various tiny sculpted details on the armor (centurion), sheaths (all figures), and shields. The "chain" mail on the auxiliary (and also on the cavalryman I would be reviewing separately) is made of molded rubber and has a very convincing paint treatment ranging from silverish to dark grey.



Articulation and Poseability - 2.5/4 stars

Why add "poseability" to the description of this category? Because it is different from the articulation, as I will show. In terms range of movement (articulation), the Kaustic Plastik bodies are very good, featuring almost everything you might want, including double-jointed knees and elbows, good ankles and wrists, ab crunch, etc. Naturally, the outfits and especially the armor (whether the molded rubber "chain" mail or the hard plastic "muscle" cuirass) get in the way a little bit, but that is normal. In fact, I am surprised at how little they hinder the range of movement (though I have not necessarily shown its full limits in the photos). A bonus for the kitbasher are the removable arms, which are pretty much a must if you want to remove or swap some of the outfit. However, when it comes to the ability to pose the figures, the products are plagued with difficulty. The knee and ankle joins in particular are fairly loose, and when you add to this the weight of plastic and metal weapons and armor, it becomes exceedingly difficult to achieve a balanced unassisted standing pose in any animated stance. For example, see the legionary in the photo below? He had to lean on his shield to stand in this stance, which wasn't even what I was going for in the first place. So while the articulation is good in itself, the poseability is fairly poor.



Accessories - 3/4 stars

Since we are looking at three figures at once, let's start with what they have in common: the "deluxe" figure stand, the dagger (pugio) with its sheath hanging from the military belt (cingulum militare), the sword (gladius) with its sheath hanging from a baldric, the two sets of hands (spear/sword/knife grip and trigger grip -- the latter is somewhat surprising given the nature of the product). The weapons' blades are made of metal, while the hands are made of fairly soft plastic -- something this reviewer appreciates, given the typical challenges of making a figure hold a shield or swapping weapons. Each figures comes with its own distinctive plastic shield -- the centurion and legionary have a similar and familiar design (scutum), but with slight variations, while the auxiliary sports an oval shield with painted decoration. At least generally speaking, this appears accurate for the period, although the universal reliance on red is a bit of a modernist cliche. The centurion sports an extra (and extra wide) belt to go over his armor. The belts are made of thin leather-like material with affixed and embossed metal plaques -- this works better in theory than in practice (see below). The auxiliary has a short spear or javelin (lancea) with attachable spearhead -- which also works better in theory than in practice (see the photo in the Paint category above). He has also been given two Gallic-type wrist torques. The legionary comes with a coiled rope and with three interchangeable shanks of varying lengths and weights for his javelin (pilum).



The legionary set comes with metal Roman numerals which you can use to affix a legion number of your choice to the appropriate "field" on the shield. You will need glue and possibly a coat of paint or dull finish (I have not yet applied the latter). This set also comes with additional pendants that could be attached to the ends of the danglers, but that seemed too fragile and too much trouble for me to affix.



I am subtracting a star from this category because of the overly fragile or flimsy attachment of many of the elements, a source of much annoyance: see below.

Outfit - 3.5/4 stars

The centurion wears a red tunic, a leather-like jerkin (subarmalis) with two rows of pendant straps (pteryges) at both the bottom and the shoulders, and a muscled cuirass (whether it is intended to represent one made of leather or bronze is not specified -- although the color appears far too dark for ancient bronze). He also has red-brown pants (feminalia) reaching down to the upper calf and his lower legs can be protected by greaves (ocrae). On his feet he wears closed boots (calcei) with silverish hobnails. His lower neck is protected from the armor by a red military scarf (focale), and a heavy velvet-like red cloak hangs rather loosely from specially designated holes in the muscle cuirass. He has a metal Gallic Type E helmet with an attachable transverse crest. Apart from perpetuating the simplistic notion that the Romans employed red consistently or uniformly for such items as the military tunics, the choice of pants for a figure representing typical 1st century AD military personnel is somewhat surprising -- they are generally agreed to have come into common use late in that century, closer to the Year 100.



The legionary wears a red tunic, leather-like armor, knee-length light brown pants (feminalia), military boots (caligae) with silverish hobnails, leather-like wrist bands protecting the lower arms. His neck is protected by the red military scarf (focale) and he has a red hooded cloak to wear. His metal helmet is of the Coolus Type G, with a beige plume. The leather armor and wrist bands are of debatable historical accuracy. Generally, discrete wrist guards are not believed to have been part of typical legionary armament, and are common only among archers. The evidence for leather armor as anything more than an underarmor jerkin is particularly contentious. The promotional materials indicate that the leather armor that comes with this set is based on a drawing in Robert von Spalart book on historical costume (from 1798). Although not everything dated is necessarily wrong, that does not carry much weight with military historians today, and most interpretations based on pictorial or sculptural evidence are open to debate. Allegedly fragments of Roman leather armor have been found in Egypt, and Raffaele d'Amato's Roman Army Units in the Eastern Provinces 31 BC-AD 195 does include an illustration of banded leather armor worn by a city guard (not a legionary), citing pictorial evidence from an Egyptian linen shroud and from Anatolian monuments. Using "chain" mail would have been a considerably less controversial and more convincing choice; the use of pants is also possibly questionable, as they became more common late in the 1st century (as noted above).



The auxiliary wears a red tunic, molded rubber "chain" mail with short sleeves and additional leather-lined "chain" mail shoulder guards (giving the armor the overall impression of a Greek linothorax), and . He had brown long pants (braccae), with his calves additionally protected by leg wrappings. He has been given Gallic closed sandals without hobnails, although it is likely that many or most infantry auxiliaries would have worn typical military boots (caligae). I suppose there is something to be said for variety. The pants (though more typically of the shorter type, feminalia) are less questionable here, as they appear to have come into common use among auxiliaries earlier than among legionaries, by the mid-1st century. This would have been especially true in the northern provinces along the upper Danube and the Rhine, and in Britain. The auxiliary sports a metal Coolus Type C helmet without a plume or crest.



Fun Factor - 3/4 stars

With four different contemporary figures produced at the same time, not to mention any of Kaustic Plastik's earlier Roman releases (gladiators and military alike), the fun factor for these products should skyrocket. Historically debatable choices aside, the attention to detail is commendable, as is the range of options we get at once and over time. What hurts these products in this category is the common issue of limited poseability (due to overly loose joints) and the flimsiness of a number of articles that break repeatedly with minimal handling (more on that below) -- which makes posing these figures a frustrating rather than fun experience. On the other hand, if you just want to stick them on the provided figure stands and forget about them on a shelf, that frustration largely disappears.



Value - 3/4 stars

Retailing at about $140-160 (USD), these are not particularly expensive for high-end action figures these days (something relative, of course). Given the research, care, and large number of fine accessories that come with these sets, I would have given this category a full 4 stars had it not been for the frustrating issues mentioned above.



Things to watch out for

A lot. With all the layers of clothing and armor (including helmets), accessories (weapons and shileds), your figure could get relatively top heavy, easily lose balance, and topple over. In fact, given the loose ankle and knee joints, it might fall over even sooner. The many and intricate tiny details are not likely to hold up well if the figure fell from any considerable height, and many of the items are fragile or flimsily attached. I lost count of how many times I had to use super glue on something that came loose, including the plaques on the belts, and what seems like half a dozen buckles. One of the auxiliary's wrist torques snapped in two. The auxiliary's spear head and the legionary's pilum shanks do not attach very well, making them look limp and fall out easily. While they are not likely to break easily, they are likely to get lost or to stab you should you tread on them. And all this fresh out of the box, with minimal and careful handling. (The centurion's crest came badly misshapen and required some water treatment, and now looks like the sonic hedgehog...)

Overall - 3/4 stars

What should have been a set of great products has turned out to be a set of pretty good products. There is a lot here that can be appreciated, enjoyed, and possibly improved with little effort. And a lot that adds to existing or future collections. Box imagery apart, what you see in the promotional images is exactly what you get, at a fairly reasonable price for our times. But there are far too many small annoyances to make these perfect products.

For some kitbashes based largely on these sets, see HERE. Sample photo below.



What do you think?

Where to Buy

Various options, including eBay sellers, for example these:

Big Bad Toy Store

Cotswold Collectibles

Timewalker Toys


#kausticplastik #kp #rome #romanempire #legions #military #historical #ancient #male

The newly released Roman military figures from Kaustic Plastik and Haoyu Toys (all of which I intend to review) inspired and made possible a little kitbash attempting to recreate some of the most typical appearance of the early imperial legionary and auxiliary infantry -- about the time of Claudius I (41-54).

The most obvious differences in the look of these early imperial forces from the "classic" look of late-1st-/early 2nd-century Roman troops are: the use of simpler bronze or bronze-colored helmets; the use of chain mail for both legionaries and auxiliaries; the absence of long (braccae) or knee-length (feminalia) pants; rectangular shield (scutum) with curved side edges for legionaries and oval shield for auxiliaries. Obviously, there was plenty of variation (for example, as to which side to place the sword and the dagger, tunic color and shield devices); moreover, this is still a work in progress, and I am planning some upgrades and changes (e.g., repainting the auxiliary shield with a different decoration).

Most of the pieces were from the new KP sets, with some others from Ignite and other sources. I used KP bodies because you could easily remove and replace the upper arms, something very useful when dealing with these tight rubber chain mail tunics, but these KP bodies have some weak joints and stiff hands, and this was a pain to pose and photograph. I hope it is still presentable.











This last photo (below) shows a couple of Roman infantrymen about to attend to camp tasks, having taken off their armor. The pants indicate they belong in a slightly later period.



Hope you liked them.

#roman #kitbash #custom #kp #kausticplasik #ignite #romanempire #legionary #auxilia #ancient #historical #military #infantry