The massive and improbably armored Sgt. Connor, Serpentian Heavy Infantry, is the first figure in Andrea Miniatures’ new Dark Nova product line.

Andrea figures have long been equated with remarkable detail and high production value, and Sgt. Connor doesn’t disappoint. Inside the box are eight white-metal parts (two legs; two arms; two hands, one holding a weapon; a head; and a base) and one resin piece (torso). The detail is fine and includes all sorts of minutia: packs, vents, hoses, wires, rivets, and countersunk screws.

There was a very faint mold line on each leg; I decided not to touch those up on the thigh armor for fear of obliterating surrounding details. This proved to be a good choice, since the lines all but disappeared after painting.

However, I did clean up lines on the knees and feet; minor touch-ups on each of the shoulders was the only other filing required.

Typically, for figures this size, I like to use 1.5mm brass rod for joins. But I decided against them with Sgt. Connor as there is so much positive contact for the arms and legs. I used a file to roughen the attachment points on the legs and torso for more tooth, then super glued them in place. Be sure to use the base to help correctly position the legs.

The beauty of science-fiction modeling is that you can turn your imagination loose when it comes to finishing. I thought dazzle camo would be cool.

I airbrushed the torso and leg assembly, along with the arms and hands, with Acrylicos Vallejo black primer; I used Vallejo white primer on the head. 

I picked out the hoses, wiring, and thermal covering exposed at the joints using Vallejo Game Color moon yellow and extra opaque red, blue, and green, as well as Panzer Aces dark and light rubber. The belt and pouches were finished with colors from the Panzer Aces Set 2, mixed with varying amounts of white or black for highlights and shading. Once these were dry, I masked all the joints and torso details with Silly Putty.

I painted the dazzle camo with Vallejo opaque heavy red, German splinter base, and splinter No. 1 from Panzer Aces Set 6.

A quibble about the scale listed for this figure: The 80mm is a reference to its height (without the base), rather than an accurate reference of scale. Its scale is 54mm (or close to 1/32). This can be a little confusing, considering that other common miniature scales include 90mm (approximately 1/18) and 70mm.

I spent 25 hours on Sgt. Connor; much of that time was used masking with Tamiya tape and Silly Putty. It’s a great figure that I’d recommend to any interested modeler. 

A version of this review appeared in the December 2011 issue of FineScale Modeler.