Resin Replacement Heads

Hornet

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When I first started modeling figures five or six years ago, my first purchase was a Hornet figure depicting a German "spending a penny" as it were. I was so impressed with the quality of the head and detail that I opted to take a chance and order a few of their early sets of heads.

Since then, I have managed to accumulate about every head set ever produced - without any regrets. In light of this, I thought it was time for me to write a review on a company which produces some of the finest 1/35th scale head sets on the market today. And with so many people asking what manufacturer makes the best heads, I have to say that without question, Hornet is in the top three and undisputably has the largest selection in its’ arsenal with over 350 different heads to choose from .

Each set of Hornet heads contains five different resin heads in various grimaces and specific expressions. Each expression per head set is different but the same expression may show up in different sets with a different head piece.

The early sets were made of a yellow resin while the latter ones are made in a much better quality grey resin. There are some seams and flash but can be cleaned up. I have noticed that later head sets (the grey resin figure head sets) rarely have any carrier which makes the task that much easier. The scale is 1:35, but are equally suitable for 54mm figurines.

Sets come with head pieces (beret, helmets, soft-caps etc ), without head pieces to include bald or with hair, and can be purchased as Caucassian, Black, Asiatic and in some instances, I would swear a few of my friends were used as models for the sculpting process ! There is a superb rendition of Monty (though its not explicitly stated) and a great Goering (if you look carefully) and the list goes on and on - shouting, smiling, smoking, sleeping, happy, angry - they are all in there.

All the heads in the series were sculpted by Roger Saunders. While he is the mastermind and genius behind these figure head sets, I have seen bad cast offs on commercially available figurines - which is a shame. Despite this, the head sets are crisp and absolutely worth every penny to purchase. There has never been one set that I was disappointed in . And although there are 66 sets (of five heads each) available, I probably have most in my collection and I have not seen one flawed head !

I recommend these heads to anyone who wants to get serious with painting heads. The detail is second to none.

This review includes a few examples of heads I painted up from the Hornet series to show the wonderful detail in the sculpting.
 

Review Copyright © 2002 by Mark Bannerman
This Page Created on 11 June, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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