Stormweaver on Unicon (Part 1)

I was excited when GW put up this old classic Marauder Miniatures era High Elf Mage on Unicorn for Made-to-Order last year. So much so that I bit the bullet and ordered it, thinking in regards to it's scarcity and value on the secondary market. Yes, I caved to FOMO.. This particular release was to coincide with the Higb Elves Arcane Journal and this particular fellow on the unicorn  being rebranded as a Stormweaver. 

 

Then it arrived half a year later, I was quite bummed by how sloppy this thing was actually produced. Mould lines everywhere, flash, bumps along the joins, and a leg that I had to bend back into place. It was the physical manifestation of nearly everything that could go wrong with metal casting. After a half a year of waiting, this was a disappointment. 

Flash, ah-ahhh

The flash and mold lines on the rider are going to require some time to work out. When it comes to connecting his two halves together I will definitely be drilling and pinning him for a stronger connection. 

It looks so simple too...

After a lot of scraping, filing, sanding, swearing, and leg bending, I was able to super glue this thing together. There is not joins to guide with connecting the two haves together, you got to just eye it and feel it. Once I got it where together I used a rubberband  to apply some pressure to maximize the bond and help keep it together. I already know that the next step will be filling in the gaps with greenstuff, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Wound up and bound up so tight

The unicorn from this kit was sold separately for many years. Here in the USA it sold at least through '98 in stand alone blisters. So I am curious to know if anyone reading this recalls getting this miniature back then and if they recall the clean-up being as extreme as what I am going through with this piece. 

From thw GW US 1997 Fantasy catalog.

Hopefully whenever I post part 2, I'll have made significant progress on this thing and not gone mad in the process of doing so.