Introduction

Black Dog's new resin firemen set really does look the part, on inspection of the contents you have four little sealed bags with the resin fire fighters inside in five or so parts. When I first removed them from the bag I have to say I was quite stunned with the quality, these being my first look personally at any of Black Dog's resin figures. The sculpting on them is very good, subtle and just makes them look so authentic. Each fire fighter is carrying standard firefighting equipment like the EMS right angled torch, two way radio, self-contained breathing apparatus including high pressure tank and gauge. They all are wearing helmets based on the cairns 880 traditional style with turnout gear based around the Globe G-Extreme 3.0 making for some fantastic authentic sculpting.

The Build

I choose the fire fighter with the chain saw to build. On getting it out of the bag I was very pleased to see that the connecting ends between the pour plug and moulding were literally very minimal connections making it easier to cut off. You have the torso as the main part with two separate arms, head and some equipment. The torso is connected to the Black Dog resin block once cut from the block I used a file and very carefully cleaned the bottom of the boots. Please be careful when cutting or filling resin always make sure you are wearing a mask and in an air rated room.

I then removed the head from the excess resin, again carefully filling under the neck, I have to say that the head on a dry fit went into place without any issues at all. Next came the left arm which fits with the two position pin markers, the way in which they have been sculpted is truly incredible and makes for a realistic figure. However when I came to the right arm it actually broke a fraction from the top of the shoulder which lead to me using Vallejo 401 plastic putty to fill the top of his shoulder which worked well in the end.

When it came to his high pressured air tank I did have several minor issues with the way the locator pins were, one was too big to fit into the holes on the fire fighters back. I did file it down to make it a better fit but the way the back of the fire fighters back curves you still have some work to do to make it fit properly. Because I will be doing a feature build in the near future with the big fire man set, I did not glue the glass in the self-sealing mask that sits on the left hip of the fire fighter I just placed it in place. I also placed the front visor on top of the helmet and next to the helmet so you can see one completed, you will also notice the air bottle on the back is held into place with a bit of blue tac.

Conclusion

Black Dog have done a great job with the fire fighters despite the minor issue with the air tank and the top of the right shoulder the excellent sculpting that has been done on the figures more than makes up for it.