E2046 1/6 Kanu Unchou

KIT #:	FG 5317
PRICE:	$65.99
DECALS:	None
REVIEWER:	Dale Rannals
NOTES:	Resin

 Kanu Unchou is a character from the Manga/Anime series titled Ikki Tousen or Battle Vixens. It is based on a classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I do not purport to know anything about this, but from reading up on it for this review I gleaned that she is a key and very powerful figure in the series. She is believed to be the most feared and powerful toushi (fighter) around, has overwhelming chi, and, at least to my eye, will soon develop back problems.

This is another fine kit from E2046.  It consists of 44 pieces of smooth, fine, tan resin.  No air bubbles, no mold glitches, and no blemishes of any kind……. this is normal from E2046.  There are also no mold seams.  The only cleanup one does is removing some small casting blocks on a few parts like the hair.  Nothing broken either, even after traveling half way around the planet.  The pieces are placed in small plastic bags or wrapped in bubble wrap, or both.  These are then placed in a plastic tub with more bubble wrap.  The tub is then placed in a box surrounded by Styrofoam.  Very complete.

As far as instructions go, you’re on your own.  Usually with these kits you get a very nice color photo or two of the completed kit, and an exploded parts diagram. This is less an assembly guide than a parts verification drawing.  Also included are a page of useful resin building tips, in several languages. 

It was the sense of the characters motion that caught my eye initially, and that motion is captured in seemingly every piece. From the ambitious castings of the dress, shawl, and long trailing hair pieces down to the characters stance and expression….it all contributes to create a very dynamically posed Kanu.

 Construction started with me dry fitting the parts to see how it all goes together.  This may seem obvious……. this leg goes here, this arm here, and so on……. but this one was a bit more intricate.  The hair pieces intertwined and it took me a bit to figure it out.  The dress and shawl pieces looked like they will require a bit of filler, but all in all things looked very nice.

I assembled the body less the hair and the aforementioned dress and shawl.  A little CA glue is all that’s needed on the snugly fitting parts, and the join lines are all on natural seams of clothing so no filler is required.   I then took pretty much everything to the spray booth.  The body was sprayed with a flesh tone I had mixed up previously …… it is one of the very few acrylics I have left in my stash.  The shawl pieces were painted white and the dress an orange-red color I mixed up with, well ….  orange and red (from Testors little bottles).  The hair pieces acquired a rust brown color.  I then set it all aside and let it dry for a couple days.  Her shoes , gloves, and what little fabric that contains those bosoms were hand painted next. 

When all this was dry I marked her location on the base and drilled a small hole in it and the bottom of her heel (ouch).  I glued a small brass rod in the base, and then glued the figure onto it and the base.  This of course gave me a standing figure to work with making adding the rest of the bits easier.  I hand painted the eyes (always the difficult part for me …. I think the eyes make the figure) and other facial features.  Next on the agenda was the dress.  This four piece affair needed some filler along the seams, and here I used Apoxie Sculpt for the first time. This is a two part crafting clay that can be smoothed with a finger wetted with water.  It allows plenty of time to mold/sculpt/smooth, cures in a day yet can be painted immediately for it does not shrink.  Very neat stuff.  The shawl needed the same treatment along the seams and once this was done I added the hair pieces.  Fearful of it bending over time, I replaced the resin staff of the weapon with a length of brass tube, added the dragons head and blade and placed it in her grasp.  And  then we were done.

This is another extremely nice kit from E2046, a company that has always been very courteous and a pleasure to deal with.  You really have to see the quality of the resin to believe it.  Even if figure kits aren’t your thing, I wholeheartedly recommend you browse around their site; they have thousands of kits to choose from.  For me, these kits offer a change of pace every so often.  They are fun and stress free; perfect for when I don’t know what to build next………

- www.e2046.com 

- Wikipedia

 Dale Rannals

April 2011