GD's Radagast on eagle review + assembly

Green_Dragon · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:58 pm

This is the first of what will probably be a series of reviews designed for those wishing a closer look at the mini.

My first review is the new Radagast figure. As you can see and have probably guessed he was a combination of one of the plastic eagles and the Radagast from his bunny sleigh. The only new things sculpted on the entire figure by the looks are his left arm, cape and legs.

It looks like his legs were sculpted on top of a finished eagle as you can see the imprint underneath him.

The figure was not without it's complications unfortunately. After a great recent run with finecast, Games Workshop has definitely dropped the ball in terms of model quality on the 2 latest releases for the hobbit.

The figure was riddled with many bubbles so I had to he extra careful when cutting mould lines using only the very tip of my hobby knife. The eagle itself was badly out of shape, luckily I had a plastic one handy so used it as a guide and tried my best to bend it back into the right shape.

As you can see from the pictures I couldn't quite get his back to meet up with his neck so I'll have to sculpt some feathers across there eventually.

At the end of the day the problem encountered in the modelling phase won't matter once it is green stuffed and painted. It is an amazing figure and instantly one of my favourites in terms of looks.

I will be rating each model I review based on ease of assembly, quality of figure and looks. My rating for Radagast:

Assembly - 3/10
Quality - 4/10
Looks - 9.5/10

Total score - 55%

pokyha · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:32 am

This is a great idea, thanks for the reviews very insightful.

Harfoot · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:21 am

Great review GD, interesting reading. after reading this i will open my copy and check it over as its in the great pile of "things to paint one day".

Are you going to paint yours now?

Mars_2000 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:53 am

Great review.
Very proffesional approach.

But when I read your similar post about White Council box, I am seriously scared what GW does with Hobbit and all these newly released figures.

Honestly saying, I dream about situation in which GW looses copyright licence for Hobbit and Lord of the Rings models after driving all gamers and hobbyists to the endless frustration causing boycott of their products.
They are really killing this system by such kind of things (read : unacceptable quality)

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:07 am

Great review. Shame about the quality problem,

Green_Dragon · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:43 am

@ Harfoot, I won't be doing any painting yet I'm in the assembly phase for my battle of the five armies display board. The board will have approximately 300 models on it so plenty of assembly to do I'm about halfway done.

@ Mars, I have really enjoyed the botfa releases up until the last two they were of the highest quality yet, dissapointing prices but excellent quality. I Hope gw aren't finished yet and see out the evil releases and iron hills releases but hoping the quality isn't the same as the last 2 releases.

Ukfreddybear · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:46 pm

Surely if you had heated up the head area it would have been pliable enough to bend back slightly to close up that gap in the neck? There is nothing you can do about bubbles but gaps at finecast joins should never be an issue once you heat them up to close them.

Generally people don't hesitate to heat up part of the model that is warped or bent such as a horse leg or weapon, but when the same problem occurs at a join, they don't think to choose the easy option of heating it, instead going for the putty and sculpting solution.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:51 pm

A great very revealing review. While the pose and subject appeals, the poor quality control does not. There really is no excuse for it.

Green_Dragon · **Posted:** Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:08 pm

ukfreddybear wrote:

Surely if you had heated up the head area it would have been pliable enough to bend back slightly to close up that gap in the neck? There is nothing you can do about bubbles but gaps at finecast joins should never be an issue once you heat them up to close them.

Generally people don't hesitate to heat up part of the model that is warped or bent such as a horse leg or weapon, but when the same problem occurs at a join, they don't think to choose the easy option of heating it, instead going for the putty and sculpting solution.

I tried my friend with hot water under the tap and bending it, that was the best it would go. Nexttime I'll have to try with the kettle. You should've seen how far it was apart before bending haha.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:20 pm

The indentations on Radagast's bum is really weird, I don't think I've ever seen that on any model.

Ukfreddybear · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:03 am

Draugluin wrote:

The indentations on Radagast's bum is really weird, I don't think I've ever seen that on any model.

It makes perfect sense to have a rider fit exactly onto his mount. No different really to the unnatural arch of a Rohan riders legs which fit around a horse. It just seems odd because we are used to saddle mounts not feathered.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2015 5:11 am

That's what I meant, I was expecting the area where he sat to be smooth. If a single feather ridge is off, then the entire model wouldn't fit correctly. I would have thought they would have avoided that possibility entirely just by not using the feathers at all.

DEMONSBANE · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:51 pm **Posts:** 72

Do agree re drop in QC on these releases, My Raggie 's has more air wholes than an Areo chocolate bar and the wings in ate parts tissue paper thin.

The previous release had really restored my faith in GW and resin after some bad episodes

Erunion · **Posted:** Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:16 am

Great review, GD.

I decided to convert my mounted Radagast with the plastic one from the EfGT set and an old metal Gwaihir. You just made me feel better about doing so.

Finecast can be wonderfully detailed, but it is so inconsistent.

GD's Radagast on eagle review + assembly

Who is online