Open Book Andrea Miniatures: Son of The Morning Star

[Andrew Craft]

Andrea Miniatures: Son of The Morning Star.

Hi All,
I thought I would do an Open Box of this figure because of recent discussions about the differing quality of Andrea's casts. Living in Australia where the hobby is not very large most of us have to buy online and therefore take our chances on cast quality, this purchase had me scared and took a long time for me to take the chance on such an expensive kit. This is what I received.

The horse body comes in three main pieces.

 

[Andrew Craft]

Custer himself comes in four major pieces, his head, left arm, right arm and torso with legs attached. He has lots of accessories that attach to his body.

 

[Andrew Craft]

The horses ears, genitals, reins and some of the bridal come in a sealed plastic bag. The tail comes in two separate pieces.

 

[Andrew Craft]

here are some shots of the seam lines on the belly of the horse and some of how the horse dry fits together.

 

[Andrew Craft]

here are a few shots with the saddle and rider on. Because of the engineering of the piece the saddle and riders legs cover a lot of the joints in the horse.

 

[Andrew Craft]

I couldn't take photos of everything dry fit together as there was just too many things to try and tack into place but they all fit together nicely, no huge gaps or ill fitting parts like I have had from this manufacturer before. This kit is of equal quality to some of the other big names in the industry and I was pleasantly surprised and relieved when it all fit together nicely and their were no ill fitting pieces.
If only all the pieces that come out of Andrea were cast as well as this one.

Andrew.

 

[skeeterbuck]

Nice review Andrew.

I also have read about the the poor fitting kits from Andrea. I guess I've been lucky because the several kits I have (all 54mm) fit fine. I believe that maybe their earlier production kits are the ones with fit problems or maybe it's just hit or miss.

Chuck

 

[kathrynloch]

Thanks for the review Andrew. The only major problem I see is that horse is almost in a "founder" stance. It's legs appear as if they are spread apart awkwardly. Is it the sculpt or a casting issue or perhaps the model was exposed to heat? I guess there's no way to tell for certain. Maybe they braced the legs outward more to create a more stable model.

Thanks for the review! Definitely interesting and you did a fantastic job.

 

[billyturnip]

I had a white metal horse with the legs like that but the are easily manipulated to a more realistic angle.

Roger.

 

[Redcap]

(QUOTE)******The only major problem I see is that horse is almost in a "founder" stance. It's legs appear as if they are spread apart awkwardly.

My casting of this same (otherwise very nice kit) was the same and gave the horse the impression that it was trying to stay upright on a sheet of ice. I sent a photo of the problem to Andrea and their reply / advice was - "Reshape it and if the leg breaks we will send a replacement part."

Call me an old traditionalist, but for over one hundred quid, couldn't Andrea Miniatures have cast it correctly it in the first place? The horse's leg pins and holes in the base are also WAY off so that should have been a clue! It does also raise the question of why bother with the Q.C. slips?

Gary

 

[Mark S]

Thanks for the review, Andrew.
It's good to see an Andrea piece closely scutinised on the open box forum.
This one looks good,..enjoy it.

 

[Michael Tse]

Turned out fine, didn't it?

This is the kind of quality I find opening most Andrea packages. Yeah some truly great kits do have misfits that that didn't stop modellers from working around it and producing competition-sweeping art.

All said and done, Andrea is a very, very accomplished manufacturer, and occasionally excites, so thank you.

 

[gordy]

Thanks for the peek in the box Andrew!

 

[housecarl]

To me it looks like it fits where it touches. As Gary says, for £100 you'd think it would be something like.
Carl.

 

[Jim Patrick]

Turned out fine, didn't it?

This is the kind of quality I find opening most Andrea packages. Yeah some truly great kits do have misfits that that didn't stop modellers from working around it and producing competition-sweeping art.

All said and done, Andrea is a very, very accomplished manufacturer, and occasionally excites, so thank you.

Couldn't have said it any better myself....

Jim Patrick

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

I think Carl is right it fits where it touches,perhaps we have become to used to
the high quality resin kits these days, metal kits a centrifugal castings on vulcanized rubber and can wrap out of shape also as the mould gets used it wears also i have always found the earlier you buy the new figure the better the casting, but once again, more pewter and less lead. Ray lamb produced some stunning castings 20 plus years ago so we should have moved forward.
I would not have liked to have payed £100 plus for that quality of casting,
but then again i was in an art shop the other day and a tube of vermillion
was 77 quid and i thought who the hell buys oils at that price, maybe i just getting to old and losing touch.

Ronnie

 

[jim1215]

great kit . if you go on you tube / under michigan toy solider , they open this kit and assemble it under like a how to video ,just a side note .. good luck jimmy

 

[gerryj199]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the detailed review. I have just received my copy of the kit and the detail is excellent as you show. The only difference is that the horse in my kit does not fit together nearly so well as the one in yours. In mine, the front right of the horse doesn't fit so cleanly and in one of the sides there seems to be more warping of the body.

So, the gaps in mine are significantly larger than in yours and will require more filling work. Also, the hooves are nowhere near the hoof marks on the base, and instead of bending the legs to fit i will probably make a base for the figure. It looks like the legs might not bend enough to fit.

Thanks again for the review.
Gerry

 

[Helm]

(QUOTE)******The only major problem I see is that horse is almost in a "founder" stance. It's legs appear as if they are spread apart awkwardly.

My casting of this same (otherwise very nice kit) was the same and gave the horse the impression that it was trying to stay upright on a sheet of ice. I sent a photo of the problem to Andrea and their reply / advice was - "Reshape it and if the leg breaks we will send a replacement part."

Call me an old traditionalist, but for over one hundred quid, couldn't Andrea Miniatures have cast it correctly it in the first place? The horse's leg pins and holes in the base are also WAY off so that should have been a clue! It does also raise the question of why bother with the Q.C. slips?

Gary

I think my response would have been keep your POS I'll have my £100 back ta