Today on the blog I’m pleased to debut my first video review. After the jump you’ll be able to watch the full video and see some photographs of the unboxing of Smaug.
In this three minute video I unbox the £295 monster that is Smaug. It’s an absolutely epic model, so please enjoy the video, subscribe, share and like it.
The box art is gorgeous. I think it’s one of my favourite boxes from Games Workshop in ages. Smug looks magnificent on it.
I thought I’d post some extreme close ups (party on Garf) because whilst the video is filmed in full 1080p HD these photographs show the wrinkles, scales, damage, scars and coins in fascinating detail.
The included Bilbo model is another brilliant addition to this set. He’s so tiny yet perfectly sculpted.
This resin kit is impressive. The price point is actually pretty good when compared to some of the bigger Forge World models I own (£400 for aThunderhawk Gunship, £250 for a Harridan) Smaug isn’t bad for £295. The sculpt is astounding. Every single scale, scratch and spike is there in meticulous detail. The parts have huge pegs to join the kit together cutting down on the need for pinning (I will probably still pin most of mine). Another great touch is the box and instructions. Something that is usually missing from Forge World models. I’d love to see Forgeworld models get this kind of treatment.
I’m so happy with my Smaug, I’d recommend it to anyone. Even if you don’t collect Hobbit Citadel Miniatures, you’ll be hard pressed finding a more impressive sculpt then this.
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I'm late to the party, but I've had that scary dragon in a box for almost a year now. Will there be a "how-to-paint" on this beauty? Some help along the way would make it less scary! Cheers!
Very unlikely now.
That's a shame! The Middle Earth looks to be getting a ressurection from GW soon!
Yey i need a how-to-paint too!!!!:)
These bad boys are back in the store… Question is do I get one :O
Stunning model and unboxing. Thanks, Garfy.
He's resin?! BOO! Thumbs down! 🙁
Why?
Resins exactly the right material for this scale of miniature and owning a large number of FW kits which are the exact same material as this I can tell you that the detail and quality is excellent.
They take a bit more prep work for sure but that's all part of the fun as far as I'm concerned, they make no bones about these kits being for more advanced modellers after all.
I'm jealous! Hope you enjoy it and thanks for posting!
J
Thanks for sharing the unboxing! This is really quite cool.
You're welcome.
Is it just me who read the text at the start of the video as "Smaug, the terrible Citadel Miniature"…?
Lol I never noticed.
Which should it be..SMAUG or KANG the IMPLACABLE>>Decisions Decisions..
Kang I saw had horrible casting issues for the price tag. Immense amount of greenstuff work needed.
@Anonymous
What "horrible casting issues"?
Those are regular resin clean up tasks, a small amount of scraping and sanding is all that's needed there.
The only areas that would need green stuffing as far as I could see would be the joins and that's the same for any kit if you want the best finish.
I've put 15 hours into resculpting various parts of my copy, there are some serious variations in quality between the different parts of the model. I know what i am getting myself into of course, it's a fw resin model, but some of those parts and the sculpt itself should never have come through the quality process.
Would have thought they bought them at trade prices but don't know that for certain . Not that much of a profit otherwise .
Not anymore, GW changed their terms to not allow a trade account to sell broken up kits, only the full boxes
With the Hobbit stuff the license has to be bought from whoever holds the rights to be able to manufacture the kits to start with . This needs to factored into the final cost of any models being made . GW are not cheap models to start with though you do get very high quality in my opinion . Would like to paint up some of the Hobbit range myself but i'm put off by the fact that most of what i'm looking at is resin 🙁
Always the bits shops Jamie , unless GW pulls the plug on supplying them !
🙂 Does GW supply them or do they just have to buy the models and break them up?
They buy the kits from a retailer. GW will no longer allow a trade account to sell bits, only full kits.
I'd be very interested to see the reasoning. I would have thought, the fact I just won't buy 10 full squads to get 10 arms but I would buy the 10 arms would surely increase their revenue!?
I am very sad this Christmas with news of the Hobbit. All products are very expensive. Not everyone can spend that money. Would have to give some thought to all people.
curesinking
Although this said, they do need to pay money to make the models, casts etc etc. But overall I completely agree that GW is an expensive hobby. I emailed them last week asking if I could buy just the arms from a models. Of course the answer was no! 🙁
Not everyone needs a massive Smaug model either, in fact, I'd go as far as to say that no one needs one. It's expensive because it's big, heavy, almost certainly a pain to cast, and can't be done in a large volume.
I understand this Phil, I have over twenty years buying GW. It is a unique piece and only some people can give quality life. See what's new Champions Erebor 165.00 costs. I'm sad not will buy any of these parts.
It's certainly an impressive beast ! The price tag is impressive too !! Will be interesting to see how easily it builds up , not a fan of resin myself . Doesn't seem to be the most stable of materials , very easily affected by heat . The dust off the stuff is extremely harmful if breathed in , hope there's plenty of warnings on the box about this ,
Does a plank of wood come with those warning labels?
Any fine dust or particulate is harmful if you breathe it in. Resin dust is not special in that regard at all.
FW resin is an irritant if breathed in. Not a carcinogen as many people seem to think (including myself at one point). Of course you don't WANT to breath it in – but it won't kill you.
I decided not to buy this guy on the basis that "Each statue is painted by hand and variations will occur" or in my eye it comes painted! Blew my mind that it would, but there we go 😀
Clearly its not painted. So quickly, where did you buy this guy from? £295, seems cheaper than the 700 euros where I saw it.
It's the Games Workshop model released this week, not the 700 Euro collectors' statue.
arhhh classic mistake… This pleases me, cheers
Well… The one for 600EUR (not 700EUR) is done by WETA and that one is a statue and comes painted and it's a polystone and not resin.
this is absolutely one of the most huge monster i've ever seen.
will you do a painting tutorial for smaug too?