Today Benathai paid me a visit and showed me one of the latest products from Games Workshop’s Citadel Finecast range: The 25th Anniversary Space Marine. Review of this model may be of interest to some of you, so I decided to share my impressions from unboxing this miniature.

25th Anniversary Space Marines Captain

So far it’s been the best Finecast model I’ve seen, and Benathai’s opinion is exactly the same.

The model was created to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Warhammer 40.000, so the inspiration with nostalgic memories of the beginnings of this system is tangible. And that is great! I join the choir of sentimental voices from the miniature painting and gaming community, as the RPG-like character of scenarios from the first edition of Warhammer 40.000, also known as Rogue Trader, was a great approach to miniature wargaming and it emphasized the fluff of that universe. This is also reflected in artwork from that period, which put much emphasis on individual character of depicted personalities.

The company managed to hit a soft spot with this model and approach, and in my humble opinion this way they managed to reach the target group of not only gamers but also collectors and miniature painters, because the models – even if based on early Warhammer 40K artwork – stand up to current standards of the industry. And it must be said that the models faithfully represent the characters depicted. If you haven’t had a chance to compare them, here you go:

There’s also another model based on an iconic artwork from the past – Games Day 2012 special miniature based on the cover of 2nd edition of Warhammer 40.000. (I hope to be able to get this one ^^ – leave some for me!)

Ok, let me return to describing what I expect to be another collection of air bubbles trapped in resin.

Close examination

In order to prepare our 25th Anniversary Space Marine review, we took the miniature under magnifying glass (ok, not quite, but two pairs of eyes scanned the miniature for flaws carefully in strong light). And here’s what surprised us:

A decent package – the box is one of those that protect the model inside, so no parts of the miniature were broken.

Quality of the box and print cannot be called anything but good. It opens like a book revealing photos depicting a painted version of the model.

So the first impression was a very pleasantly surprise that the sprue isn’t deformed as much as I would have expected after my first experience with Finecast models. Was it a good omen?

We spotted mould lines in a few places:

Will you agree they don’t look all that bad? The one running along the banner is the worst of them, but fortunately it’s not a bad place and should be easy to fix. Mould lines on the marine were going in pretty acceptable places and fortunately all of them were shallow.

The only thing that I would like to mention as a negative surprise was the amount of flash, seen for example on the backpack.

Also the scenic base insert was slightly warped. Nothing that wouldn’t be easily fixed, but it should be mentioned nonetheless.

Hunt for bubbles

It’s time to take a closer look to those infamous air bubbles:

Did you see what we saw? Is it a kind of magic? Can Finecast models really look unlike foam?!

The few holes we found were completely compensated for with the quality of the sculpt. The surface is smooth. And have you paid attention to these shoulderpads and leg plates? Details are crisp, clean and sharp.

Benathai commened that “these are self-painting details” – and I think he’s quite right 😉 These are difficult times for professional painters, as with such models it suffices to learn to use washes for detailing and even inexperienced painters will achieve good results. 😛

Conclusion of our 25th Anniversary Space Marine review

How positively surprised we are with this model! Is this a sign of improvement of quality of Finecast models? I wish! Unfortunately I am afraid it may be too early to announce such positive changes, because we might be simply lucky with our miniature. Examples seen in the internet seem to confirm my doubts.

So far it’s been the best Finecast model I’ve seen, and Benathai’s opinion is exactly the same. Hasn’t it been for the photos of less fortunate castings we’ve seen in the internet, we would believe it’s a moment that Citadel Finecast models begin to live up to their name.

We’re going to have another example of this model soon, so I hope it won’t disappoint us and our expectations are not too high. Of course we will inform you about it.