Introduction

Legend Productions has released the second of their 1/16th scale 3D figures in resin. The first figure they released in this series and scale was built by Mario Matjasic, and he is not easily impressed and a third figure has just been announced. I am not as talented as Mario when it comes to building figures and assessing accuracy of uniform when it comes to the current day and so this review will concentrate on how easy it is to work with the contents.

Review

I am going to start with a quick word on the packaging that Legend Productions has utilised with this offering. The kit is packed in a substantial cardboard box with a flip top lid; this in itself provides substantial protection. Inside you will find one of the Legend Production card boxes that contains all of the resin parts inside a Ziploc bag except for the legs and torso of the figure; these two parts are wrapped in bubble wrap inside the box. Finally there is a coil of wire inside a second Ziploc bag. All of this adds up to great protection. I will also add that I have found Legend Productions very good at supplying replacements for damaged parts.

An examination of the contents under magnification does not reveal any imperfections in the resin castings that I was able to identify. I am aware that air bubbles in resin can be hidden and if I am honest I always expect to encounter a few air bubbles as building and clean up progresses, but in this case I am very impressed with what I find here, or should that be don’t find here. The moulded detail is a beautiful mix of soft for the clothing and crisp for the equipment, something that resin seems to replicate better than any other material.

Looking at the body of the figure leaves me with praise for that wonderful detail, but also concerns about the clean up of some of the points where gates are. Areas that concern me as regards clean up here are the backs of the knees; the rear of the torso where a long connection extends a good distance over the body armour, this will be especially difficult to clean up without damaging surrounding detail and hiding the area where you have been working. The good news here is that the area will be hidden for the most part by the packs that are on the back.

The last area of concern is the underside of the arms where a lot of small gates are found, these will be easy to remove from the arms but will again make final clean up a pig, plus some of the detail you will need to add back in these areas will test your skill set. It is these areas that make this offering from Legend Productions one for experienced modeller rather than the novice. The last element here is the shoes/boots, these are very well cast with exceptional detail including the tread on the soles, but the need for pour plugs means the tread detail is missing at the front. I cannot really complain about any of these elements too loudly as the moulding quality is very high and that may have suffered if it were not for the size, number and location of the pour plugs.

Moving onto the head of the figure and some very lifelike castings. I cannot say that the face portrays a mood due to looking very neutral to me, but the face has excellent appearance with very nicely replicated facial hair. The hands have been cast holding the grips of the weapon and this has resulted in a very good look to them that should please any modeller. One thing I really like about this offering from Legend Productions are the very positive locaters that are supplied, these take away the guess work on the just how exactly the part should be placed.

The various storage packs that are supplied with the figure are very nicely detailed and depending on your painting style these will really take the weathering well and make them eye catching. The radio connection I and the aerial are elements that I really like is the aerial especially due to the effort that has gone into it. The area of Mario’s review that got a lot of comments was the weapons, in particular the side arm came in for stick as being a weapon that was not used; all I have to say is that I have heard lots of statements along the lines of this never happened only to have a photograph put up to prove you wrong. The Mk 48 machine gun is a weapon I know next to nothing about and looking at online images of the weapon reveals a lot of variation. So all I can say is that the kit offering looks to be a good match for some online images and so I am happy with that. On the downside the muzzle will need to be drilled to improve the look.

Conclusion

This second figure in the series of 1/16th scale offerings from Legend Productions is easily the equal of the first release and a stunning offering in its own right. I think the aspect that really appeals to me is that the figure is in an action pose where as most offerings in this scale are staged poses. The only negative I can say about this figure is that the clean up will be a test of the modellers skills, in all other respects this is an outstanding offering.

US Navy SEAL Team Operator (LF3D16001) review by Mario Matjasic