I received the Sideshow Predator 1 Jungle Hunter maquette already some months ago and decided to go give it also a repaint job as I did with my Predator 2 maquette (read about it here). Again I decided to involve my friend, pro-painter & Predator-collector Neny Dee for a repaint of the unmasked headsculpt - it turned out phenomenal. The base and armor I repainted by myself with acrylic paint - lot's of drybrushing and for the base I went for a wet & moody look by introducing clear acrylic paint on misc. parts (leaves, the little creak in the center).
The stock version of Sideshow is still available on their website. I can heavily recommend it, the sculpt is great and if you're OK with the factory paint you'll definitely like it as well in the normal state.
Enjoy a video tour of the repaint and lots of pictures below:
Comparison of the biomask - left is the original one:
Comparison photos with the Predator 2 city hunter repainted headsculpt:
A good friend of mine is a known pro painter in the predator collectible community and I asked him to repaint the unmasked headsculpt of my Sideshow Predator 2 maquette. The armor I repainted by myself going for a more copperish look with lots of drybrushing and adding more green oxidation effects. Also i went ahead and repainted the base going for a lava rock look with bright drybrush highlights - by far the best and most visible change you can see on the skulls on the base: i used mainly vallejo acrylic colors in this process.
Also enjoy some comparison photos and if you want to see the original product, please see my review here.
So I decided to invest in the Predator 2 Maquette by Sideshow Collectibles. After early reviews I got really interested in this piece and bought it right away (lucky me some hours before it sold out...) - the presence and overall quality looked really good. Fedex shipment from the US to Switzerland only took 5 days and Sideshow had an amazing shipping quote of 40 USD...unbelievable for a 15kg piece.
I was not disappointed, the first impression is damn fine - and I had this nice "woow"-feeling! It oozes of room presence and i really dig the armor paint with lots of color shades that you could not see on most photos. For 1200 USD you get a lot, but after closer inspection it lacks a bit in detail-love. Especially the paintjob on the unmasked headsculpt on mine was in some areas sloppy. If you're a hardcore Predator collector it's probably a must and you should track down one now.
It seems the first inhand reviews had a very positive effect and to acquire one directly at Sideshow will be a challenge: all exclusive versions are sold out and the regular edition is on the wait to distributors. Maybe you can try an get on the waitlist at Sideshow. The exclusive comes with additional hand sculpts with 2 items: breather mask of the left hand and a nicely sculpted disc for the right arm - not a must but i really like to display him with Spear and disc - totally badass.
Unfortunately i had one noticeable paint flaw that bugged me to hell: a yellow-white paint spot on his cheek. I decided to repaint it and at the same time i took the chance to repaint the gum area on the mandibles to a rose tone. Out of the box it was more yellowish than fleshy. See photos below with the repainted gums.
Checking out some new territory in collection: I'm preorderd this almost at its announcement - it's my second statue piece of Sideshow and this time in the legendary scale line: the avengers Iron Man Mark VII armor. First impressions after you get the 3 huge boxes is really amazing. Unfortunately the flaws lay in the details and I'll explain this to you in my video review. Generally speaking it's not worth the 2000 USD, or even a lot more if you have to import it to Europe or to Asia incl. Taxes. Also I saw some nice shots of the Art Imaginarium 1/2 pieces which look as detailed and have better painjobs, unfortunately they don't have the Mark VII in their line. So overall this LSF statue is a nice piece but it really like in the details and you have to be really lucky to get a "good one" since there are a lot of flawed items around which have cracks and really bad paintjobs. At least on mine I don't have cracks or completely "dull" paint areas. Also the red color is not as "candy apple" as on the prototype picturs which doesnt bother me too much but i understand everyone who hesits of buying this piece. I'll keep it for sure since shipping this massive statue around the globe is just too risky.
Just amazing news yesterday , finally Hot Toys got around and announced this awesome Terminator 2 T800 fully battle damaged Terminator figure.
It tooks them some time but it seems all the waiting and hoping of fans will pay off. There isn't much more that you can wish for, especially the damaged headsculpts look fantastic. If you go for the exclusive you even get a second T-1000 liqud metal portrait.
Normally I don't promote pieces in an early preview phase, but this could be worth it. So if you want to cut a deal, you might wanna pick it up at Sideshow Collectibles - release summer 2013.
The only bummer in my opinion: It's a bit of money making of Hot Toys doing 2 different DX releases on the same figure. First DX10 some weeks ago, now the announcement of the new one. Both together including also the accessories of the first MMS T2 Arnie would have been a dream come true.
But don't pass this one up - finally we get what we always wanted.
Something totally different - but damn worth a post: The Alien 3 Alien Queen Facehugger maquette by Sideshow collectibles. Huge, impressive, awesome, frightening and a total eye catcher in every living room.
Especially well done: the veines on the translucent parts between the facehuggers legs.
Warning: Not a girls collectible. My girlfriend hates it. :-)
