With the delivery of my Wild West Exodus Kickstarter rewards I wanted to kick off a series of WWX articles. While there is a lot to cover I’m going to start with what initially caught my attention: the models. With my KS rewards I received models belonging to four different factions: Union, Outlaws, Warrior Nation, and Lawmen. Also a smattering of mercenaries. I am most drawn to the Lawmen, so I’ve begun assembly with them.
Wild West Exodus has two types of models: resin and plastic. The resins are for individual models like the bosses, underbosses, sidekicks and the like. The plastic miniatures are for the larger groups like Hired Hands.
Let’s start with the resin models by assembling a UR-30, a robotic sidekick for the Lawmen.
The resin models come on these massive sprues. It’s mind-boggling how much resin is wasted here. Easily as much or more resin is wasted on the sprue as is used for the actual model.
The resins do a good job of holding detail but they are much more brittle than the Privateer Press resins I am accustomed to.
I start by using the clippers to remove the model components from the sprue. As with most resins there’s always a chance of it fracturing unexpectedly so clip back from the model to prevent the piece from being ruined.
Next use your knife to clean up the sprue attachment points. Also clean any mold line or flash that is present. Most of the WWX models were pretty clean but I did have a few where the mold halves were badly misaligned. I’ve requested replacements for those.
After washing the pieces in soap and water to get rid of any mold release residue it’s time to assemble. Unlike most PP models these don’t have tabs that glue into the base so we need to pin them.
Start by drilling a hole in each foot. Choose a location under the ankle so you don’t risk drilling clean through the foot and end up with a hole showing. I like to use a sharp sculpting tool to set a center point that will keep the drill but from wandering.
As a quick aside the bases have a very interesting profile. They remind me of a display plinth. I don’t think there’s any third-party bases that will match these currently, though Outlaw Miniatures does sell base inserts: one of the desert and one of wooden floor.
![WWX-Lawmen-UR-30-06]()
Place a couple thin blobs of putty or blue tack on the base about where the feet will sit then press the models feet into the putty to see where to drill holes in the base. Press a sharp point through where the holes in the feet left their marks. Then use that as the center point to drill the holes in the base.
Now glue the pins into the feet and cut them so they will protrude through the base. Now glue him onto the base.
![WWX-Lawmen-UR-30-10]()
Lawmen need to be armed! As before mark and drill a hole in each should attachment on each arm. The use putty in the body should sockets to find the attachment points. In my case they came out just right so that I could insert one long pin through the entire torso.
Then glue the arms onto each end of the pin. Pay attention to where his guns are aimed and how the shoulder joints match up.
Now glue the hat on and this model is ready for primer and paint.
Overall the quality of these resin models is very good, though the occasional mold-half misalignment can really ruin a model. My biggest complaint would be how brittle the resin is, especially considering how thin some of the section of the sculpts are.
So how do they look with paint? I’ve made it through three models so far. With a quick coat of primer (from the airbrush in my case), they take paint very well. Rather than painting a titanic amount of brown leather I decided to create my own Lawmen color scheme and chose the color green. Here’s what I’ve got done so far:
Wyatt Earp – Lawmen Boss
Boss refers to his type of model in the game (he’s top of the food chain, akin to a Warcaster in Warmachine), but it’s fair to say he’s the boss of the Lawmen in general. He sports a shield and a powerful shotgun.
Doc Holliday – Lawmen Underboss
Doc Holliday sports a pair of pistols and special breather mask that presumably keeps him alive as the he was known to suffer from tuberculosis.
![Lawmen-Mic_Ironclad-Front]()
Sheriff Mic Ironclad – Lawmen Underboss
Mic wields two double-barreled shotguns and is based off one of the Kickstarter backers who relentlessly fielded questions on the KS forum.
