As I mentioned in my review, while the surface detail of the castings is excellent, fit leaves much to be desired. When one considers the extent of interactivity between disparate--in every sense!-- components, it might all work satisfactorily at first; but sooner or later mold degradation, distor- tion, etc. will demand a fair amount of resculpting. . .
I have yet to see a sbs on how to best tackle this beast--in fact, I've seen relatively few finished pieces! A dozen, more or less?? So this is either a collector's keepsake. . . or the usual sop backfires on the miniaturist when it comes time to integrate dragon and groundwork, and the project gets rather unceremoniously shelved.
The dragon is now completely assembled save for the right foreleg and the wings. And the main section of the tower is permanently attached to the groundwork. Thus the two main elements of the vignette--focal and structural--are now "locked in". The interface of the tower wall section molded en suite with the dragon and the main tower has been reworked with MS to provide a [near-]seamless join--I will now have to grind/scribe/distress the masonry.
A few observations before closing. . .
- I would say that if any miniature required an assembly guide, Cang would be a strong contender. But, as alluded to above, any assembly guide is only as good as the quali- ty/finish of the castings.
- I don't agree with the breakdown of the dragon: the left foot should not have been cast en suite with the tower wall! Had it been cast separately (preferably; or as part of the leg), then the location of the foot, which is in any case irrelevant, would have been self-realized.
- The mating surfaces are nowhere clean enough; and in my sample, the contact sur- faces are invariably somewhat concave which reduces the strength of the join.
That being said, basic assembly and prep took less than 2 days. I would say there are a good 6-8 weeks of assembly (wings), re-texturing, and clean-up before I can even begin to think about the painting: that is certainly not an inordinate amount of time given the magnitude of the project. I have spent a significantly longer period of time prepping kits that were nowhere-near as ambi- tious--or impressive! But this will be a concern for the waning days of Winter. . .
“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003
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