Namechange!

As my presence around the web, between online gaming and whatnot, has become increasingly popular through my username, which is often Kielari, I am attempting to have a more united front, so as to make it easier for other people to find me outside online gaming and so on.
Also, as my Red Scorpions have been shelved at least for the time being (really not a fan of 6th edition 40k), and my focus having shifted more towards garage kits and small painting commissions, the siege marines I so proudly portrayed in the title are no longer of relevance.
The content will remain unchanged though, so if you are still interested in miniature and garage kit modeling, stay tuned. Sooner or later, some news is going to appear here :D

Hands On: Garage Kits from E2046

At some point during summer last year, while I was browsing through the community forums of a mmorpg called TERA, someone pointed out a website/webshop called E2046, which was selling a pre-painted version of two popular characters from the game.

Following the discussion, another user mentioned that E2046 used to be a scam site, selling low quality fakes instead of the advertised real deal. They even brought up examples. Unfortunately for them, there was no way they could prove that the products were indeed from this dubious website, so I decided to go and have a look myself.

It gave me an overall good first impression. They have tons of stuff, though you can still browse products that are out of stock (though they sometimes get a restock of something). The pictures all carry their watermark, the customer feedback looked genuine, garage kits even have pictures where they laid out the parts... In other words, it didn't seem like the scam site people were talking about. I browsed through some of their range of garage kits, and even found the GK version of the Castanic Berserker (one of the TERA popular figures), which everyone was ordering as pre-painted, and decided I would go for it. Buy the kit, assemble and paint it myself. The price and shipping costs were fair so, let's say I do get scammed and I find a pile of junk in my mailbox, I'd only be a pizza dinner short for that month.

The berserker wasn't in stock at the time, so I had to pre-order and wait for quite a long time (mainly because I bought other products and decided to have them all shipped at the same time). The wait however, was definitely worth it.

This is what the box looks like. Yellow, with their logo and the product ID code on the side. There is no way of telling what's inside, aside from the ID code on the label, so I took the shipping manifest and wrote the contents on each box. That's why there's handwriting on it.

Upon opening, I noticed that all the parts were individually packed and sealed, and that the whole batch was wrapped in bubble plastic. Very orderly and neat. Assembly instructions and reference color card were on top, so it's always the first thing you find when you lift the lid. All of the kits I ordered had the same packing quality and order, which says a lot.

The cast smells like your typical garage kit resin, but the quality is very high. The parts have a polished look, there were no bubbles at all, no cast faults, practically no mold lines... There is always some degree of cleaning that needs to take place, even if just for the mold leftovers, but this is absolutely the highest cast quality I have ever seen. It surpasses even the cast quality from Kallamity Models, which was so far unmatched.

 

There's also a good deal of clean detail on the parts. One or two (mainly the axe shaft) parts will need to be bent straight again, but I do hope the old hot water trick will serve for that.

Yes, that's a very big axe. The blade is bigger as the torso!

In conclusion, I am delighted and surprised. This was much better than I expected, and by far.
All the kits I ordered share the same high standards. I also had the pleasure of seeing the pre-painted version of this model, and it lives up to the picture too.
Now it's my turn; let's see how well I can get this one painted.

Giving the fox girls some love

In a dark corner on the top shelf of a cabinet in my parents' house, I found pieces of a long forgotten garage kit I once bought at a comic convention. By the looks of it, and the layer of dust that had built up, it's been there for probably more than a decade.

Once again I realized how much stuff I buy, especially model kits such as Gundams and the like, when under the effects of a Con frenzy. Assuming I don't forget them in some dark and cold corner, like it happened with this one, they simply pile up on my working table, patiently waiting for their turn.

After some mandatory part cleaning, it became obvious that the primer I used back then had reacted with the resin in a very strange way, turning the surface into something textured and no longer smooth. I'm guessing that's probably the reason I shelved it: I was unable to correct that much failure. Until now, that is.

I didn't sandpaper the whole model, because that would have been way too much work, but I did use it here and there, where the surface was really bad and rough, before I started the paint job.

Anyways, many months later, allow me to introduce you to the finished result.

The plinth is an upturned flower pot with a sculpted pillow on top.

Enjoy!

Approximate dimensions: 140x170x290mm

Total weight: 0.8kg

And along came some Terminators

At long last, the 5 tactical Terminators from the Black Reach have been finished as well.
I had to modify them slightly, so that the Red Scorpions decal would fit on their left shoulder pads, but for the rest they're as they come out of the box.
Almost forgot the yellow had stripe :/

Comments and critique are always welcome :)

Enjoy!