Smartmax Mauser Earth Unboxing

So, eventually I'll have to stop unboxing stuff and actually work on something. But not yet...

Today I'm sharing the goodies I got from SmartMax. I saw their photos of the 1/35 scale Mauser Earth Tacbots some time ago on their Facebook page. I really liked the retro steambot sort of aesthetic so when I found myself with a bit of money in the Paypal account, I decided to grab them.

While on the site to grab the Tacbots, I stumbled on another robot along the same lines. "Streetbot Willy"... just the name is cool, but the mini is pretty cool looking too! So, he had to come home with the others. I keep thinking there is an awesome Weird War I diorama in this bunch somewhere.

What's an unboxing without a box...

Turns out I live in Etats Unis and Tacbots are born in France...

In the top of the box is a card which touts their 5eu worldwide shipping. Of course, if you have the card, you probably already know about the shipping...

First up is "Buster". He's from Canada, eh!

My Canada assumption is based on the maple leaf...

 

The cast looks really clean and there are no defects that I can find. Mold lines are so hard to find I'm wondering how much of this might be cast in a single part mold then pulled out complete. Whatever they are doing, it works.

The other two Tacbots share a common physiology with only the weapons being different. For the next two Tacbots I'll just show the items unique to the bot... and the base. They also share a common base, but it is a nice base. In fact, the high quality overall remains throughout all the kits.

"Harpo" is next with a shotgun type weapon...

Then we have "Chuck" with dual pistols completing the Tacbot triad...

The Tacbots are part of the Mauser Earth "Atlantic Union" so I think continuing off the maple leaf motif of buster and making the other two bots from the US and UK might be a nice running theme. As you can see from the pictures of the part above, there is a lot of freedom for posing as the arms and legs are basically just ball joints throughout.

The last item in the box is Streetbot Willy! It's fun just saying his name. I imagine him to be the civilian bot refitted for violent shenanigans. While he is all different parts from the Tacbots, he still manages to maintain the same retro vibe.

The Willy-bits, including the one damaged bit in the whole box.

Willy's parts are all excellently cast, like the Tacbots. Willy does have the one damaged part in the whole shipment. You can see where I've drawn a black arrow between the two parts of the arm that are no longer connected. Since this is obviously a weak point, I'll reinforce it with a pin.

Overall I'm pretty happy with these guys. As I mentioned, I think they'd make a great diorama... maybe striking heroic poses while some soldiers are taking cover behind them? I can't imagine 1/35 scale soldiers will be hard to find... I'm looking at you Tamyia.

Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions or comments... well, leave a comment.

Kingdom Death Minis Unboxing

I've been eying the Kingdom Death minis for a long time. I'm really (really) bummed that I wasn't able to get in on the Kingdom Death: Monster Kickstarter last year. I've sold a few items on eBay recently and had a Paypal balance so I figured now was as good a time as any to grab a couple minis.

There is a problem though, the Kingdom Death store is perpetually sold out... of most things. But, Cool Mini or Not has an online store and they stock Kingdom Death minis! They are also sold out of most things, but I did find a couple minis I wanted to check out. So, point-click-ship and here they are!

As a quick aside, the Kingdom Death web store has restocked some items and released some new minis. Most of the new stuff is, you guessed it, sold out. I missed out on one mini because I didn't see the email notification until five hours after it was sent. But when I got up at five a.m. as I must do for my job, I saw the email and went straight to my computer! I got some more minis that I'd liked the look of, and a couple of the new minis too. I assume they'll ship eventually but I've had no shipping notification yet. Honestly, I can't believe the guy who runs Kingdom Death, Adam Poots, has time to release anything new whilst orchestrating the Kickstarter fulfillment.

On to the unboxing!

The items shipped in a nondescript box that you really don't need a picture of.. just imagine brown, plain, and a lot of right angles.

Inside that box, though, was the goodies.

The stuff in the box of boxes

Art cards are always a nice touch. Ax Faction is really good about handing out the art with the minis as well. I'll post some of my recent acquisitions from them in a post in the near future.

The first mini is the White Speaker. I don't pretend to be an expert on the fluff of Kingdom Death, but I think they have magic powers... probably in their boobs. They're practically bursting with magic...

Box Interior

Tiny parts!

Close up of the main dish

The White Speaker looks like a fabulous sculpt and good quality too. I can't find any real issues with it. Like all minis it will need some clean up of flash and mold lines, but these are minimal.

The second mini is the Great Game Hunter Pinup. She's like the regular Great Game Hunter, only with slightly less clothes. She's not naked, but she's not dressed like any of the hunters I've seen around here.

Box contents

Less tiny parts, yea!

Another great sculpt with no flaws I can find. Less parts will make this mini the easier of these two to get to work on. There is also a naked slave to hold the Hunters crossbow, a nice touch.

These are great minis and I'm glad I took the plunge and ordered a few more while they were in stock. The quality really is phenomenal. Kingdom Death is now up there with Ax Faction for my resin mini purveyors of choice. And who knows, maybe I'll put some paint on these one day? If I get that brave I'll be sure to share the train wreck with you here on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Back!

I'm back. I started a Wordpress site for a while, but I just am too ingrained with the use of blogger for posting blogs. It was a fun learning experience, but I've decided this blog is going to be The Inner Geek blog of choice moving forward.

Am I still a bit off on GW? Yes, yes I am. But, I've found the "Oldhammer" movement and my Rogue Trader era minis are getting some love again. I may even try to find some local who'll play me a game of 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle! I've also got some Warmaster and some Epic scale 40k things around here that will get some love in the future.

Currently, I've got two big projects going. One is literally 'going'...

The first is a project to redo and finish my three beloved Nick Bibby Dragon Ogres. I never liked the later Dragon Ogres, but these are just dreamy... or nightmarey... whatever.

Here's a peak...

My other project 'going' is my Reaver Titan. It doesn't get any time on a gaming table and it's time that someone who could enjoy it had it. With this in mind I've placed it up for auction on eBay.

You will be missed...

There is really not much more to report. I'll get some updates up on the Dragon Ogres as they progress. One will remain stock, the other two will be converted... one heavily. It should be fun!