Bunker Talk: Hey Billy, Do You Like Gladiator Figures?

Monday, May 19, 2008

Hey Billy, Do You Like Gladiator Figures?

Gladiators, 1st Century A.D. is one of the most recent sets from Pegasus, item number 7100. These sets are just making it into wide distribution, but I have had one for a while now. Larry Pegasus showed me sets on sale in their shop in California months ago. Like most Pegasus sets this one comes without instructions, but there is an easy trick to avoid the need for them. If you set the sprue with the figures generally face up with their heads facing away from you, then just read from left to right and as you get to an arm, leg, shield, face, helmet that matches the first figure. The the second set of arms, weapons, etc, matches the second figure. All the parts for a given figure are right next to him on the sprue. I cut them

off one at a time and assemble them as I cut them off. That way I don't lose any little bits and don't get confused about what goes where.

The figures are molded in a creamy flesh color and made out of soft, glueable plastic. The set has 36 figures in 18 poses, but with a large number of separate arms, faces, shields, and heads, there is some room for variation. Since the figures are glueable, conversion are not only possible, but easy. The majority of the figures have no bases for the ease of diorama makers and also to achieve these excellent poses. Pegasus is willing to make us work a little more to get those great poses without the undercuts that would be necessary if they were cast in one piece with a base. I think the quality of the finished figures is well worth the effort.

This is not your ordinary gladiator set, it includes two different female gladiators and two different dwarfs. Between the glueable plastic, the large number of poses and the interesting variety of poses simple conversions can be done to make either many different gladiator scenes, or produce a massive gladiator army for those Spartacus scenarios. I use Evergeen Plastics sets 4504 Tile to make little bases for my Pegasus men. I take a light sandpaper and scruff up the entire surface, smooth side, of the sheet of styrene. Then I score the plastic with my X-Acto knife and create little rectangles two tiles wide and three tiles long. With these tiny sizes you can make a large number of bases out of only one sheet of plastic. I glue the figures on with regular model glue, CA or epoxy depending on the figure type.