POLAR LIGHTS' made alot of people happy when they reissued both this model and our favorite villain, Odd Job!

Both models hit the Hobby shelves in late July 99'. The box art looks to be identical to the original Aurora box.

The art is very Sean Connery-ish, although like many of Aurora's models the actual figures face doesn't come close. At least in it's unpainted state.

Opened the box and got that nice, newly opened smell! Looked over the instructions and did a quick review of the steps. Then ripped open the plastic bags and looked the pieces over.

Initial comments from folks that have built this model already, have noted that Bonds left hand didn't grasp the wall correctly when placed on the base as designed. Have talked to three modeler's and asked if they had any problem with this and they said none at all. So will note this as building progresses.

Very, very little flash on any of the parts! Even where the sprue attaches makes it extremely easy to remove without leaving any marks.

Have the arms, legs, torso and head halves glued together.

I move to the base. You have to love the way the brick wall is already together in it's plastic bag! And with liquid glue, all you have to do is run a bead down the inside seams, and press tight! A few dabs of glue on the top of the long portion and that's done!

The tree is also easily accessible from inside...I just put glue on the tabs, put it together, then ran a bead of glue up the inside seams.

The branches go on in the direction that look best to you. I put the middle one coming out straight and pointing down, and the small branch hanging down and to the left of the top broken branch.

Test fitted the brick wall onto the base. Fits snuggly. Same with the tree. Won't glue them down until painted.

Glued the legs together, arms to the torso, and torso to the legs. Like how the bottom of the sweater forms over the top of the legs.

Arms didn't want to stay glued..I had put glue around the peg hole on the arm socket of the torso..but if you look at how the arm attaches, the plastic around the edge is slightly raised. Thus it's not really touching except on the edges. So just lay your glue down around the outer rim and it'll hold then.

Have left the head off for ease of painting, as well as the left hand, which I'll attach once the base is painted and put together.

So that pretty much does it for preliminary buildup!

I'll let everything sit overnight, and give everything a nice prime coat tomorrow.

Later: for some reason, parts aren't staying glued? The torso/legs joint came apart on 2 different occasions? Not sure if this styrene is different from PL's former releases or what?!

(Emailed David Metzner, who puts the initial models together for Polar Lights, and asked him. He replied that he put 2 of these together with no problems and nothing's new with the styrene that was used in this model.)

I finally super glued the torso to the legs and that's holding it nicely.

At this point, I test fitted Bond to the base. I inserted his left leg first, and had to slightly pull his right leg over to get it inserted. This action pulled the seam open on the bottom front of his leg and shoe. Removed Bond off the base, reglued those areas and let dry.

Reinserted onto the base and everything held perfectly. In fact the fit is so tight, might not even have to glue him once everything's painted!

This is going to be a painting treat! The base alone will be great for practicing your weathering and dry brushing techniques!!

I looked around for some good colored bricks. For a nice selection, point your browser to Google and type in "Stone Walls". Some great examples to save and have on hand when you're ready to paint your wall.

I begin the painting phase with the tree. Used Apple Barrel Brown Oxide as the base coat. Once dry, pulled out my trusty palette and put down a patch of Burnt Umber, Black, and Leaf Green. Then dabbing some of each color on the brush, mixed it up on the palette, thinned it down with water and applied the wash to the tree.

Sealed with Dullcoat once dry, then did some drybrushing. For this I took my butt outside and looked at the tree in our front yard. Looked mostly gray. So walked across the street and into the woods...you know what? Trees ain't brown, man?!!?!!

So toned down the browns with some Brown Oxide, Yellow, Leaf Green, White and Black ... heck, just play with the colors, dry brush some here or there to see how you like it, (also let the colors dry on the model, so you can see how it looks in its dry state), and hit here and there til you're happy.

Mixed up Brown Oxide, White and Yellow for a slightly tan look and painted that portion where someone took an axe to our tree. Then went back and used a slightly darker tan wash after a layer of dull coat.

Note! Don't forget the small section of tree trunk that's on the base itself! So while you're painting up a storm on the tree, do that small piece as well!

On the base itself, based coated in Brown Oxide, then mixed up a slightly dark green and using a stiff bristle brush, used a patting/dabbing motion on the grassy areas so that the base coat would show through as well.

Dullcoat, then make up a 'dead grass' yellow/brown and again used the stiff bristle brush & patting motion on selected areas. The grass near those, what?... tire tracks? ...are good places for some dead grass!

Mixed up a lighter gray and dry brushed the rocks. That dark gray primer helps the effect as well. Will go back with some black wash and touch it up once dry.

On the wall ... mixed up a color that looks very close to the original mold color. That off white-ish color. Thinned down with Isopropyl alcohol and sprayed the entire wall. The majority of the bricks will remain this color.

Mixed Burnt Umber and White, resulting in a light purplish-brown color and applied it to some of the bricks. White & Black mixed on others, with black drybrushed over the grain. Then Dull Coated and applied a dark brown wash over the entire wall, which gave it a nice aged look.

Sprayed Bond's head Flat White. This allows me to see what I'm doing as I paint the flesh tones. The dark gray primer is just too dark.

It also makes it easier painting eyes. It's alot easier for me to paint the flesh around the eyes than it is to paint the face flesh, then try to go back and paint in the white of the eye.

Mixed up my flesh using Brown Oxide, thinned down with white and painted the face and left hand. Dullcoated, then darkened the flesh some more and applied a wash to the indentations, as well as a 'shadow' on the right side.

The eyes themselves... specifically the pupils, have always been a point of frustration for me. I can take the smallest brush in the world, have the steadiest hand, and still, I'll screw up a pupil faster than you can say '$%@#'!!! (that's Norwegian for "Gosh!")

Here's the way I've found that usually works every time. Get yourself a set of Jeweler's Screw Drivers. Included in the set is a finely pointed awl. (Yes, the one with the pointed end, in case you don't know what an 'awl' is).

Take the awl and figure out where the pupils will be in the eyes. Then gently press the awl and make a small indentation.

If you can't see the mark to ensure the pupils are lined up correctly, I've heard folks using a pencil to make the mark. Then make the indentation over the marks.

Pour out a little paint onto your palette, dip the end of the awl into your paint, and place the awl into the small indentation you just made.

If its not enough, try again...if too much, quickly wipe it off and try again with less paint or less pressure on the eye. (With acrylics, you can usually wipe off mistakes IF you dullcoated the head prior to this step. A damp paper towel and it's ready for another try).

Think the eyebrows molded on the model are to thick. So using the box art as a guide tried to duplicate that thin squinted brow look. Again using my awl, took me two attempts, but got it on the 2nd pass!

Hair's done, I put the head aside for now.

For Bond's body, Brown Oxide thinned down with Isopropyl rubbing alcohol and sprayed. Drycoated, then applied a dark Burnt Umber wash around the creases.

Shoes painted flat black, socks slightly darker than his pants. Will go back and apply a nice coat of Future Floor Polish to the shoes, to bring out a nice 'gentlemen's' shine.

Lot's of 'Earth' colors on this model! But they really compliment each other!

Once everything was dry, it was time for test fitting. Placed Bond on the base, and positioned the wall in it's slot.

At first, his left arm (no hand attached yet) was aiming directly BEHIND the tower of the wall!! But as I held the wall in place, placed his left hand into the arm slot, and leaning Bond forward slightly, it looks like it'll be all right.

Something of a balancing act, but I was afraid that the alignment of his torso might have been critical for insuring his hand would grasp the wall correctly. And remember I had to use CA to attach the torso! So wanted to make sure this portion checked out.

I glued the wall to the base and let dry.

Placed Bond on the base, fitted his left hand in the slot and again applied slight pressure to bring the hand up & around the wall. Once everything looked good, glued the hand to the arm and the wall.

Glued the tree down, the clump of grass and the small branch to the base and another model is done!

I'm not crazy about this name plate! Honestly, it just looks alittle to 'fancy' for our favorite spy!!

Went to various Bond websites, looking for an alternative ...but nothing so far has really grabbed me yet! So I'm still searching. Want something that will fit in the nameplate piece. Tried to find both his name and the 007 emblem above...so the search continues.

The fit on this kit is truly great! Besides the few pieces that wouldn't stay glued, this model was a piece-of-cake to put together.

Looking at the face head on, it almost does look like Connery. The eyebrows are the most important feature in getting as close to Connery as you can. The thinner the better. Again, refer to the box art and try to duplicate them as much as possible!

But the highlight of this kit was in the painting! Plenty of opportunities to perfect your washing/drybrushing techniques!

A hearty 'Bravo Zulu' to Polar Lights for putting out one fine model!

Photo's of the finished Bond located here!

Happy Modeling! - Buc