REVIEW - LYRA
There are some kits you would like, there are some that you must have, there are some you can only dream about and then there are those that you just can't live without.
Lyra came into the latter category.
Like many of my other kits I first saw her advertised in the pages of Amazing Figure Modeler, and the strange hybrid of sci-fi metamorphosis from the unique imagination of the the sculptor Mike Cusanelli appealed to my sense of the unusual and the bizzarre. But at the time I knew that had I managed to track her down in Britian the price would be well in excess of the stated $125.
My eventual acquisition of her came about through a family trip to New York.
A quick check through some back issues of AFM, Modelers Resource and Kit Builders Magazine identified a few emporiums in Manhattan. Two of which were Village Comics and Sassy's Satellite. My final choice of Village Comics on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village came down to the fact that I received a more hopeful and helpful response to my initial phone call.
I have nothing but praise for Shaun and Baz at 'Comics' because, not withstanding a few hiccups they were true to their word and came through with all the kits I wanted with one exception (this was later posted to me free of charge - what better service can you ask for! Check them out).
There's really nothing much I can say about this Firefox Studio and Solarwind Productions kit that won't sound over the top, but its beautifully sculpted and cast, the detail is excellent, the fit was unbelievably precise, and there was no clean up to do apart from a slight seam mark on the leg - see what I mean. My only gripe is that as a limited edition she did not come with a certificate of any description.
The kit is cast in tan resin and comes in eight pieces, which as I indicate above were near perfect as makes no odds, and on a personal note it would be nice to see producers here in Britain taken on some of the production values evident in this kit. While there were no instructions with the kit the precise nature of the interlocking keys on each part ment that you couldn't go wrong, however should you get stuck for any reason the two colour pictures on the box are a good guide.