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THE BOX
With a multitude of German or US themed releases that appear on the figure market every month it was quite refreshing to see Warriors venture into the “the other guys” territory.
Their new set WA35549 “BANZAI” contains four attacking infantrymen of the Japanese Imperial Army, a detailed resin base, a small sheet of lead foil and a vinyl mask for the Rising Sun flag.
All of the figures are cast in a standard off white colored resin, and they consist of legs with torso, helmeted head, separate arms, Arisaka rifle and a bayonet with scabbard. In the case of the officer his right hand is holding a Type 98 Shin gunto sword, also included is a sheath for it and molded on to his hip is a Nambu holster.
The sculpting by Bill Chilstrom is absolutely superb and each figure is truly an individual with different clothing folds, equipment placement and facial expressions. My only criticism would be that the officer probably should have an optional ryakubo (combat cap with a neck flap) included in the set. That would allow modelers the choice of headgear for any of the figures.
ASSEMBLY
I started assembling the figures by removing them from casting blocks.
Some minor clean up of flash was required. I used the standard Xacto knife to cut the flash off and then used its dull side to gently even out the surface. Most of the components of the figure kits assembled very easily, though I experienced some minor difficulties with the sword and bayonets which are extremely delicate due to their size in scale.
When removing flash, I propped them against a sheet of styrene to avoid damage to the bayonet handguards and the sword blade.
I assembled the figures using cyanoacrylate glue from Acrabond. Except for a few small spots where the putty was required, the fit of the arms and heads was almost perfect. The only area which needed a build up of Tamiya putty was the right calf of the shot soldier. It had a small cavity related to a problem with the mould.
The two figures with rifles presented a bit of a challenge as well since their hands are cast together with the Arisaka rifles and one should always glue only one arm and one hand at the time in order for the other set of arm and hand to line up correctly. None of the figures or equipment had any casting process air bubbles.
CONCLUSION
Once assembled the group allows a full freedom of composition due to the fact that none of the figures is intended to interact with each other.
Modeler has a choice of creating a two, three or four figure mini diorama, with possibility of exchanging the arms and heads to create (with a little bit of extra work) even more unique poses.
Overall it is a well designed and very well executed instant vignette. I give it full 4 stars. Well done Warriors.
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