1/6 DID NS80175 U.S. Civil War Union Army Lieutenant – John Dunbar (Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves) + E60076 1/6 Horse (Cisco)

[Asta]

I was working on figure #1, the one that will eventually be riding Cisco, and had fully assembled him apart from the gauntlets... and the bleeding obvious suddenly struck me like a lightning bolt.

A very annoying lightning bolt.

Figure #1 would be wearing gauntlets. So you're not going to see that there are missing buttons on his cuffs.

So I disassembled him, removed his perfect jacket and put it on figure #2.

Figure #1 is back to where he was yesterday with buttonless cuffs.

As for gauntlets I didn't want to use DID's fabric ones on their bendy hands if I could help it, so I searched through my spare parts to see if I could make some.

The starting point was a spare pair of Sideshow X-Wing Luke gauntlet cuffs. The hand sections came from a Hot Toys bootleg Blade II figure. The gripping hand should be perfect for the guidon, though the left won't great for holding the reins.

I painted the parts with Games Workshop Bleached Bone, and was surprised it took so well. The wash with Graveyard Earth ended up a bit heavy handed, pardon the pun, so I'll go back and tidy them up later.

It's either these or DID's oven gloves, and in hand (blimey, another unintended pun!) from a couple of feet away these look more convincing to me.

I couldn't have the sash sitting as low on the jacket as in the film because the length of the cross strap wouldn't allow the belt to drop that far down. I couldn't work out how to lengthen the cross strap, or even if it was intended to be altered.

I wrapped the sash once round the waist, tied two knots in it, and pulled one end back up under the sash to hang over the belt as it was in the film.

Figure #2 is using DID's Colonel Mackenzie sculpt:

Used up some of the spare parts to see what the cape coat looked like on a figure:

 

[Asta]

 

[Garret]

Brilliant job on the gauntlets! I agree that real gloves just can't look convincing and moulded would be much better overall.
Bravo!

 

[Asta]

Brilliant job on the gauntlets! I agree that real gloves just can't look convincing and moulded would be much better overall.
Bravo!

Thank you.


I wish I could've found a better gripping left hand. However, Costner did hold the reins between his fingers, and since DID's Cisco is standing, the figure could be flexing his fingers.

 

[Asta]

DID Action Figures​

[INSIDE DID] E60076 1/6 Civil War Brown War Horse (Standing) is coming soon.


View attachment 716123

Someone on the 1/6 Scale Western Figures Facebook group pointed out that the factory has assembled the S shaped part of the bit upside down.



In every promo photo, the unboxing video, and even the photo of the one showing Cisco packed in his tray, they had it correct.


Unless DID already caught the mistake after posting their factory video it's looking like another quality control black mark against them.

It might be fairly simple to fix by unbuckling the bit, turning it upside down and rebuckling it, without needing to detach the reins.


EDIT: I rewatched the video, and it's not every horse. They actually got a few of them right. Near then end they alternate between shots of the end of two lines of horses, one lot assembled correctly and the other incorrectly. The error is obvious once you know to look for it, but will QC simply look the other way and slap their stickers on the box?

 

[Asta]

Upside down...

One the right way up...

 

[Asta]

Kit's told DID about the error with the bits, and they said they'll fix them.




Meanwhile I tested the hat from KP's Django Unchained outfit on the boss-eyed Dunbar sculpt.

It pulls down far enough on the front, but the hair is restrictive on the sides:

Aside from the eye decal placement, I think the sculpt and paintwork, especially the skin tones and stubble, is one of DID's best.

The hat was close enough for me to go ahead and break down the Django figure, which was never great because I used a floppy Sideshow Lando Prometheus 1.0 body to get closer to Jamie Foxx's height.

Reassembled on a QOrange body with CC Toys' TLOU Joel winter shirt:

The figure's more 'Little Joe' Cartwright from Bonanza than Django now.

While putting him together I was seeing him as a working cowboy rather than a gunslinger, so I tightened up the gun belt to bring the holster to his hip.

If he was a gunslinger his targets would never be sure who he was aiming at.

But under the shadow of the hat, and with a tilt or turn of the head, his vision issues are eliminated.

 

[Asta]

It's all happening.

Kit's sending the replacement sculpt and buttons today, and Cisco is shipping tomorrow today as well.

 

[Jaro]

Unfortunately I also received a figure with a really bad paint job on the eyes (wandering eye and black wash). I've never had anything like this with DID heads before. But Kit is already taking care of it.l .

 

[Asta]

Unfortunately I also received a figure with a really bad paint job on the eyes (wondering eye and black wash). I've never had anything like this with DID heads before. But Kit is already taking care of it.l .

Something's definitely up with their factory at the moment.

Heads, buttons, and almost bridle bits as well.

They used to be so reliable.

 

[Rzeznikk]

This is one of those characters I never expected we would ever see realized in 1:6 scale. But I'm happy that DID made it happen. Recieved my "Dumb Bear" last Monday but been busy with work and my remodel of the collection room. Got around to getting him set up last night. The colors really pop on the shelf. Now just waiting on Cisco to finish the display!

 

[Rzeznikk]

 

[Rzeznikk]

Rocco just commented on my post on Facebook.
Apparently DID isn't treating him well as a sculptor so I wonder if this is the last sculpt Rocco will be doing for the company? Never a good sign if people don't play well together.

 

[mystolle]

Just got Dunbar in today, incredible figure, many options for display. Definitely recommended.

 

[Pizza]

yep really a great figure ...

 

[Garret]

Lots of good in-hand photos here! It's interesting to see how much better the figure looks overall when not wearing the hat. In general I prefer my western and military figures to be wearing their appropriate headgear, but in this case I'll likely display as the above.

 

[Asta]

Cisco's here.

I haven't attached any of the parts to him yet, apart from the bit which was detached in the box. The two halves simply plug into each side of the mouth, but I had to lengthen one strap so it would reach without popping straight back out.

The bit feels like rubbery plastic, so you may have to futz it back into shape.

I tucked the forelock under the headstall to tame it, and gave it a haircut as it was left far too long.

 

[Asta]

The replacement buttons and sculpt also arrived in a separate package.

Interestingly, they sent six buttons which is the historically correct number for an officer's shell jacket (three per cuff rather than the figure and movie's two).

 

[Garret]

Cisco looks really good! Nice texturing/detailing on his coat. Really looking forward to this release! Kit handled the replacement items really quickly. Nice to hear.

 

[Asta]

Putting the accessories on wasn't as easy as DID's video made it look.

Clipping on the rifle scabbard was nightmare fuel as the hooks on the saddle were bending and looking like they were ready to break.

The final piece of the puzzle was the 'US' decal. Well, that turned to garbage the moment I tried to lift the letters from the water with the tweezers as they pulled themselves together into a sticky knot that couldn't be undone.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. With no usable decal I resorted to drawing the 'US' on with a black pencil with the movie still as a guide. It's kind of passable in hand, though looking at period photos the style of lettering varied and some looked quite rough.

Frank, who participated in 14 battles from Gettysburg to Appomattox, serving with Battery D, 1st N.Y. Artillery, 5th Army Corps:

With everything on I struggled to get Dunbar to sit right down in the saddle, and to futz his legs with his feet in the stirrups.

Comparing the figure on the horse to a still from the film, DID's horse doesn't really resemble Cisco. The model is stockier, with a shorter back and shorter neck, and the distances between straps and equipment don't scale the same.

The still also shows that DID's stirrups should be longer than they are out of the box. I lengthened them to the last hole and pushed the saddle further from the neck to create more leg room for Dunbar. Yet I still haven't managed to get him to sit more naturally as he appears in DID's photos. Though DID fudged that by not having him sit right down in the saddle - in at least one of their photos you can see daylight between the saddle and his leg:

Another thing DID faked is the guidon blowing in the wind, because there aren't any wires in it.

This is the best I've managed so far:

His feet aren't level because his legs are still too long for the stirrups.


EDIT:

I used an eraser to erase all trace of the 'US' as it was bugging me.

Apart from sloping up a little too much compared to the still, I started with a regular pencil before darkening it with the black pencil, which left a graphite shine.

I'll try again and see if it's any better.