Sitting in the stash was a rather nice dragon by Grenadier models.
And the bits in the box:
As can be seen, the parts are well defined and mostly free of mould lines/flash. The only issue is that one on the claws on the wings has broken off, but that should be an easy fix.
The nearly naked lady on the cover art was actually included as well, but she was painted separately ages ago.
These dragons came out in 1988. The numeral II in the name refers to the fact that these were new releases, distinct from the original series of dragons Grenadier had produced years before. Quality wise, the earlier dragons were certainly up to scratch for the time, but the new clutch was supposed to leave them in the dust.
I built the original green dragon ages ago, but even with improved, scratch built wings, it's not that great.
Now seemed as good a time as any other to actually get to work on the newer dragon. Although the box says "blue", I'm actually thinking "red" in this case, mainly because the warmer colour is more suited to the experiment.
I cleaned up the parts and, ahem, responsibly disposed of the 60% lead scrapings and filings by dumping them into the nose cone of a Flanker that needed extra weight to prevent a tail sitter.
Dry fitting shows that the parts fit well, and only really require glue if the model it to be moved; gravity keeps the wings in place, and the hind legs are quite happy to sit alongside the body mostly unsupported. I've decided not to bother with pinning the hind legs, and instead glue a piece of 2mm plastic to the bottom of the "rocks" that serve as a base. That should be sufficient to keep the legs and body in formation.
Some very minor filling with expoxy putty was needed around the joins.
State of play at the time of writing:
