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Monday, July 8, 2024

Mini review: El Cid Spanish command, HaT #8248

Plasticsoldierreview.com should be your go-to for this set, but I will add my 2 cents worth here.
Working on these minis swept me back 5 decades to the early 70s Airfix minis like British Paratroopers! The plastic in my set had the same consistency to Airfix. Judging from the official review this differs across batches, your set may be more akin to the rubbery composite HaT used for all my other El Cid period sets.
Detail is good but not as excellent as on the softer plastic: again this may be the plastic, or the mould may have been a little past its use-by date. Chainmail armor ending and cloth beginning are not entirely clear. The minis definitely have that "scaled down" detail that Nicholas Kove pioneered for Airfix.
As long as your craft knife is very sharp, and you are patient, you should have little trouble with mould lines. There are few areas where you wish the moukd designer had opted for a different division. 
Separating the shields from the sprue is tricky, two of mine ended up sliced. Err on the sprue side and trim off later.
The version of plastic I had takes varnish/stain base very well, with the exception of the shields. That means you can suit yourself as to paint technique thereafter.
Those shields, hoo boy. I would prefer silly pin-and-hole to nothing. They are sculpted so that the round ones have to be "at the ready" although two of the four minis clearly show the shield-strap slung for a shield on back. I used superglue for a very tenuous tack, then fortified that by dribbling PVA into the join.
The final product looks great, I'll just have to handle them very gently.

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