Polar Lights 1/8 Captain America Comic Book Scene Kit First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | August 2011 | Manufacturer | Polar Lights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Captain America Comic Book Scene | Scale | 1/8 |
| Kit Number | 856 | Primary Media | Styrene |
| Pros | Nice detail, easy build | Cons | Nothing noted |
| Skill Level | Basic | MSRP (USD) | $28.95 |
First Look
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Over 50 years ago, Aurora released a series of comic book scene kits including one of Captain America charging out of some blazing wreckage to attack the Red Skull. If you've seen the original kit, Captain America is still in the same pose, but his face looks like he is smiling at his fans rather than getting ready to pounce on his foe.
Polar Lights (now part of Round 2 Models) has reissued the revised scene from 1974 and 'super-sized' the kit in the process. This new-tool kit is now 1/8 scale to fall in line with other contemporary figure models in the same scale.Molded in blue styrene, this kit is presented on two parts trees plus display base, torso, shield, and other parts to complete the scene. The kit also provides clear styrene plus to represent the splash of water as the figure runs through a puddle, and also a patriotic card stock backdrop. The instruction book take two pages to describe the assembly, and the rest of the pages are a comic book to describe the scene you're building. You'll be speding most of your time painting this scene and this is where you can apply as much or as little artistic value to the final result. Unfortunately you're left on your own to find the right paint colors as these are not shown in the instructions.
This new release is a big update to the original Captain America kit as Polar Lights reworked the face from the original. In fact you have two faces to choose from - an angry face or a face of concentration. Gone is the happy face, thank you! The Captain America figure has all of the key details to be painted as scribed or raised surface details to make the job a little easier.
Packaging is a one-piece box with flaps on either end. While this packaging does fine for protecting its contents, it isn't as strong as the box and tray type which will withstand shelf storage with kits stacked around it.
This looks like a fun project for a rainy weekend and will look nice in your display case.
My sincere thanks to Round 2 Models for this review sample!