Review: Scale75 Smog Riders

Now this was a surprise to myself, and a great one at that.

Scale75 contacted me the week before last asking if I would like to review a few of their soon to be released range of miniatures built to help increase ones ability to paint. Simple sculpts that have a resemblance to their existing ranges ( and some of the existing being replicated in Chibi format here ).

To be honest, my first reaction was a resounding yes. I mean.. why not!

The pre-release photos and such of the pieces is great from Scale75, but then again it is their product. For me it is always nice to see what they look like in hand and compare it against other pieces that I have.

So.. let's look at that then shall we? :)

Due to them being the pre-release pieces I did not get the fancy boxes that they will come in. Nor the paperwork that will be accompanied with them. But that is not what I was asked to review. I got the models.. and in this case I got Kitty Reimer and Matt Darcy to have a look at.

As you can see, both models come in 4 pieces each. A main body, left/right arms, and an oversized head. This is quite chibi in looks, but there is a reason for it. To give the painter a bigger area in which to play with and bring their techniques to bear.

The sculpting of them both are kept simple. Again with the focus to make the painting easier. So then when looking at these pieces you can really go to town on how to get some blending action happening. Plus the Chibi look of the pieces they can also be a bit less in the layers if required.

Assembly of them was simple enough. There was a bit of flash that was needed to be cleaned up. And the umbrella arm on Kitty needed to be cleaned up to fit properly within the slot within her body. And there is a bit of a gap between the body and the head at the neck.

Once assembled, Matt's left arm is blocking the face a bit to make painting it a bit harder, but not impossible.

Though those are the only bad parts I can make against them. Aside from that, they put together quickly and easily. The flash and mold lines were minimal. And with them being 40mm in total height, and their bases being 30mm, there is a lot of space again to play with.

When lined up to other models you can see how large they really are though.

A Forge World Chaos Priest. Mindwork Games Psycho Clown. And a Knight Models commander ( can't remember the name of the model ).

So they are a bit larger than the average model, and in their own scale, but considering that they are made and built with the purpose to paint easier then this might be a good idea.

I will be having a look at them soon enough to paint up. If they are meant to be easier and fun to paint up, then it should be quick to do. Just need to figure out how or what I will do for a base. Do I tackle them as a gaming model, and make the base as such, or do I aim for them to be on a socket ( and then look for something suitable? ).  Thoughts?

Hope you enjoyed the review, and I am looking forward to seeing what other ways that these pieces can be painted vs the studio painters :D