Ultracast

1/48 USMC Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington

Kit Number: 48213

Reviewed by  Doug Hamilton, IPMS# 21895

MSRP: $12.95 Website: www.ultracast.ca I doubt if there are many out there that don't know who Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was. He was many things during his life: Flying Tiger, Marine Aviator, Ace, Prisoner of War, Congressional Medal of Honor winner, and wrestling referee, to name but a few. Wait a second, did he say wrestling referee? Yes, that's right. According to his autobiography, he refereed a number of matches using his celebrity status later in life. This figure depicts Pappy during the WW II years, and I can envision him on an island in the Solomon's getting ready to take off to do battle with the enemy. This 1/48 scale figure is cast in light colored resin, and consists of five parts. The torso and legs are cast as one piece. The two arms, head and chin strap for the flying helmet are the remaining parts. The figure is sculpted by Tom Meier, and is a fair likeness of the subject. There are small pour gates on each piece, but these can be removed and cleaned up in short order. Care should be taken when cleaning up the chin strap. It's such a small piece that it may be easily damaged during clean up, and may be even easier to lose!! The parts fit well when assembled, and I used only thinned white glue to fill in the seams. The arms are installed under the Mae West, which leave no seams, and there is also no visible seam present at the neck line, which can sometimes be tricky to deal with. I primed the figure with Flat White Enamel paint, and then painted the base colors in acrylics. The uniform was painted with Tamiya Buff. The Mae West was painted with Testors Yellow in a square bottle. The flesh tones were painted with Andrea acrylics, and the boots were some other brand of brown acrylics. Shading and highlighting were done with oils. The base was a scrap piece of ½" oak cut to 1 ¼" square and finished with two coats of sanding sealer. The groundwork is some road sand swept up at the bottom of my street, and sifted. All told, this project took about five hours. This is a very nice little figure of a historic Marine Aviator. It would look very nice next to a 1/48 scale model of a Corsair, maybe sitting in a revetment on some island in the South Pacific. I've done a few figures that are alleged to depict some famous person or other, and mostly they look nothing like the intended subject. The sculpting in this offering is quite good, and is a fair likeness of a true Marine hero. I enjoyed the small nature of this figure, it's very small being in 1/48 scale, and takes up no room on my shelf. The accompanying photo was taken by my friend Doc Wiseman. I would highly recommend this edition of "Pappy" as a fine accompaniment to a nice Corsair model, or as a standalone figure. However you display it, you'll have a good time finishing this gem. My thanks are given to Ultracast and IPMS for supplying this sample for review.