Daryl Dixon - Eaglemoss' TWD

It has been a very difficult fortnight, and the bench has been gathering dust (not the good kind!) for the entire month of February. Slowly, but surely, I am making my way back, and though I don't expect things to return to a semblance of normalcy for quite some time, life must go on. . . 

Tomorrow night will mark the return of The Walking Dead from its mid-season hiatus, and I can't wait for any number of reasons! So while work needs to resume on the Eaglemoss Rick Grimes, I  decided to "warm-up" and refamiliarize myself with the bench on its companion piece of Daryl Dixon. 

Overall, this figure is not quite up to what was seen with Rick. . . if only because of the crossbow. The figure is comprised of 11(?) total pieces (3 resin; 3 white metal; 1 steel [the bolt]; plus the 3(?) pcs. base), and the overall casting quality of the resin is, as with Rick, VG+. 

As alluded to above, the "gorilla" on this piece is the crossbow: this is a "D-" effort--and I am be- ing generous! Whatever refinements might have been evident on the painted prototype are no- where to be found on the production piece. To make matters worse, the scale and proportions are completely off! Save for the bolt and the portion of the stock en suite with the arm, the cross- bow and accessories will have to be essentially rebuilt from scratch.    

In addition to making a 'new' crossbow package,  I intend to:

• Reposition the arms, rework the left hand, etc.
• Rework the seams on the garments where necessary
• Sharpen detail where required
• Add any items that might have been overlooked

This is a L-O-N-G term project, but one that I am perversely looking forward to. . . for now!

Stay tuned!

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Eaglemoss' THE WALKING DEAD Series

Some of you might recall my disappointment with Eaglemoss's latest releases a few years back: they had switched to a very poor-quality metallic resin and compensated with the application of heavy-handed coats of paint. I have not acquired an Eaglemoss product since. . .

Until now. Last Summer, they announced a new collectible series in 1/21st scale [note: 80mm] (I'm just as befuddled as you are, but somebody who designed his collectible work in 1/14th scale doesn't have much room to talk!) featuring characters from AMC's The Walking Dead! If any "theme" would prompt me to reconsider, it would be this one. . . especially, as Eaglemoss has completely rebooted, if you will, their product line.

The original introductory line-up, if memory serves, was to be as follows:

1. Rick Grimes
2. Daryl Dixon
3. Michonne
4. Philip "The Governor" Blake
5. Water Walker
6. Tyreese Williams

followed by: 

1. Carol Peletier
2. Glenn Rhee
3. Merle Dixon

[NOTE: For reasons unknown, the release order has since been revised at least once.]

Future, albeit unannounced, releases include:

• Shane Walsh
• Herschel Greene
• Abraham Ford
• Rosita Espinosa
• Father Gabriel Stokes  
• Maggie Greene-Rhee
• Beth Greene
• Sasha Williams
• Morgan Jones

After performing my due diligence, I decided to order Rick and Daryl. They were to have been re- leased to coincide with the premier of Season 6 of TWD; but for whatever reason/s, that deadline was not met. The first two in the series were released in late December, and I received mine today: afaik, these have been the only figures released to date.

The size of the shipping carton immediately told me that this was not the "normal"/usual Eagle- moss release; and that was quickly confirmed upon opening. Completely new packaging and presentation, as can be seen here. The "collectible" packaging is a clear-cut winner on every count!

What about the content? As with all Eaglemoss offerings, these are pre-painted collectibles. Un- fortunately, the finishing of the figures and the painting have not improved all that much: for my purposes, the latter, at least, is completely irrelevant; the former, however, will require some restoration work.

The casting, however, is a marked improvement! The casting medium is definitely new, but I am hard-pressed to discern any metallic filler. Regardless, my two samples are VG+ (or better!) castings that are eminently workable, albeit--please note!--somewhat brittle.

The figures are now in their purple bath: so far, so good! The paint is relatively thin, and is re- sponding well to the solvent. The underlying resin is seemingly unaffected by it, so there should be no deterioration of the working surface of the figure. As of this writing, this is quite promising!

More to follow. . .

FOLLOW-UP. . . After some four hours in the "bath", 70+% of the paint is gone. Closer inspec- tion of the figures confirmed my earlier conclusions: the casting quality is VERY good, though defintion is overall somewhat 'soft'. The medium is indeed a metallic resin, albeit with a very low %age of Al filler. Both figures are multi-piece castings (Rick - 3 + base; Daryl - 5 + 3? pc. base); and Daryl is a multi-media casting: over half the pieces are cast in white metal. 

The figures have been returned to their "bath", where I will leave them overnight. Hopefully 12+ additional hours will do the trick, but I would not be surprised if another session or two in the "bath" will be required.

UPDATE 10.01.16. . . The overnight "bath" pretty much took care of things.The figures are now scrubbed, disassembled, and their bases removed: pre-prep work is done!

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003