This originally appeared in The Modeler's Resource, Jan/Feb issue #14 as a two-page article, with black and white photos.

by Fred DeRuvo

Horizon, in my opinion, is on a major roll with the kits that they've recently been putting out. This Robin(TM) specifically, is simply beautifully sculpted by Toshi Usui. It is a wonderful study in human anatomy. I like everything about this kit; the pose, the understated power in the stance, the proportions of the figure itself - it's all done so very well.

The Kit:
The figure of Robin comes in seven pieces: the torso (which includes attached right leg), two arms, head, lower part of cape and batarang. The kit also includes a base and a nameplate.

Clean-Up:
The parts go together flawlessly. They really do. There were some mold lines that I cleaned up with 600 grit wet/dry sand paper and some flash on the batarang and a few resin sprues that needed to be removed, but other than this, there weren't any problems to speak of at all.

After doing the minor clean-up, I washed the parts down with warm, soapy water and a nail brush (gently). I then let them air dry. A thin coat of white acrylic primer was sprayed on the parts after this.


Assembly:
Gluing was straightforward. I opted not to pin anything at all, although I probably should have pinned the arms and leg to the torso for extra strength.

Painting:
There are a number of ways to paint this kit, either before or after gluing. I chose to paint the parts before I glued since then I wouldn't have to worry about getting one color on another so easily. I decided to use Horizon paints for this kit, but found that I had a bit of a problem with "chalkiness." The paint dries fairly quickly and doesn't really smooth out with brushing. As a matter of fact, I found that I had quite a few brush strokes to content with when I was done.

Thinking the problem was me, I put a call into Randy Vandal, at Kit Kraft, Inc. (who is now doing what Tom Gilliland use to do when he worked there) and mentioned my problem to him. He indicated that to avoid this, he kept a cup of water nearby and dipped his brush in the water before dipping his brush into the paint. The bit of excess water on the brush helped the paint flow better. I gave it a try and it worked well. It's incredible how the simple solutions work the best! Thanks, Randy!

The colors that Horizon has are absolutely perfect for Robin. They're bold, full-bodied colors and match perfectly to the comic book character. They still dry with a chalky look to them, but I dealt with that by using >b>Bon Artiste Antiquing Stains. This slightly subdued the colors but also greatly enhanced the shadows on the kit. It also eliminated the chalky look. This was especially noticeable on the underside of the cape - the yellow portion.

  • Detailing: Going with Black
    For the black areas of Robin, I chose to use Pactra's Flat Black. I really like this color quite a bit and I'm glad that when Testors purchased Pactra, they didn't start messing around with the Pactra formula. They work very well with either a brush or an airbrush.

  • Robin's Hair: Browns & Blacks
    I tried something off the beaten path for me on Robin's hair. I painted it brown, then used Bon Artiste stain over that, then drybrushed black over that. It seemed to give it a nice depth and variety of color as most of us have in our hair.
  • Robin's Face: Flesh & Dullcote
    Robin's face was pretty easy to do. Earlier I had airbrushed the flesh parts with Pactra's Flat Flesh tone. This paint is my favorite flesh tone because it dires with a slight natural-looking sheen to it. Also, the color itself is very close to flesh, but you can darken or lighten it as you choose. After this dried and I had applied Testors Dullcote(TM), I again used Bon Artiste stain. It was simply a matter of painting in Robin's mask green and eyes white, to match the comic book character. The green I chose for the mask and gloves was Badger's ModelFlex Forest Green. It flows very smoothly and worked well. (A side note here: Badger's ModelFlex paints are not the same as their previous Accu Flex. These new paints, ModelFlex are an improved mix and I found that they go on very well, either with paint brush or airbrush.) The lips were painted with Horizon's Flesh Tone #3.

  • The Cape: Golden Airbrush Paints & Stain
    I figured the cape would have a nice seam to deal with because part of it was molded into the figure and the rest needed to be glued on, but I was wrong. When I glued it, I gently squeezxed the two ends together where they meet on Robin's back. I placed some drops of accelerator and that's it. The seam looked just like another natural fold of the cape and required no filler at all. Prior to gluing, I had airbrushed the underside of the cape yellow since I wanted it to look as smooth as possible. I chose Golden Airbrush Colors Hansa Yellow Medium - Opaque. The outside of the cape was brush painted with Pactra Flat Black. This same color was also applied to Robin's Ninja-style boots. Tamiya German Gray was used to drybrush these black areas. Bon Artiste stain was used on the yellow underside of the cape (this done prior to gluing).

    The Base:
    The only thing that was left to do was the base. The kit comes with the flat street base with the manhole cover. For me, Robin deserves a bit more and since I was planning on doing the rest of the Bat kits, I figured I'd use some of Horizon's wall-hanging bases. For Robin, I chose the ledge with the plain wall for the back. I decided to use drywall screws to secure the wall to the ledge. This way, I wouldn't ever have to worry about it falling apart. It really fits very securely.

    The method I chose for painting it was simple:

    Pactra Light Gray, then Bon Artiste stain to fill in the cracks. The photo shows the wall just prior to "misting" it with the light gray to cut down on the shine and overall darkness of color. Excellent, if I do say so and very easy.

    But, I wasn't happy with the empty wall. It needed something. I tried thinking of a sign or billboard of some sort, but couldn't really think of anything. Graffiti? Possibly, if it was the right kind. I wanted mine to be readable, not like when I drive around Fresno or parts of LA and I have no clue what has been written (that's probably very good). Anyway, I finally decided upon the statement, "And justice for all..." which seemed to be the reason for Robin's existence and it suited his character just fine.

    To Sum Up:
    This is a great kit. I have no complaints. I'm especially glad to see a licensed Robin kit, since the last one that I'm aware of was Aurora's. This kit, far exceeds the quality of Aurora's kit in every way, but I like them both. Thanks Horizon, for producing this 1:8 scale masterpiece and I expect to see much more in the way of Bat-related kits in the future.

  • Check out Horizon's Internet site for the most up-to-date information on their entire line of kits.


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