paints the prototypes for the Eureka Amazon Army.
Some time ago, I received my Egyptian Temple Kit (and Pylon Temple Kit - but that's another story!!) in the mail from Castle Kits. I had intended to build the things right away, but life intervened and I wasn't able to get to work on them until 3 or 4 months after they arrived! Bah commitments!
When I first learned of Castle Kits, I was pretty sure I'd want something from them eventually. I've always wanted to try to build something with Hirst Arts stuff, but visions of all the casting and mess really put me off. Enter Castle Kits with the solution! Iain at Castle Kits does the messy bit for you! He casts up all the required parts, packs them up, prints out instructions for you, and provides some hints and tips to boot! All of this comes at a pretty minimal cost (the Temple Entrance is only $20 USD - and just wait 'til you see what the end product looks like!).
First Impressions
When I opened the box, I was very impressed with the packaging. Iain uses a tough form of plaster called Hydrostone (I think that's what it's called!) - but still, it's plaster, and I admit I was a bit worried about breakage. I needn't have been. Everything was very carefully packed, and there was only one piece in the whole box (well over 500 pieces, I believe) that suffered any damage - and I may have caused that myself when unpacking it. Groups of components (perhaps the output of one mold?) were placed on card backing, wrapped in bubble wrap, and then securely taped to eliminate movement during shipping.
Now, right along with being impressed with the packing, I have to admit that I was a little bit daunted by all those little pieces! There were hundreds of them, and I was going to have to put them all together myself! Luckily, Castle Kits includes some pretty impressive construction directions (courtesy of Hirst Arts)! The instructions did a lot to ease my mind - and reading through Iain's hints and tips helped, too! Newly heartened, I gathered the supplies I would need and got ready to build!