I did a bunch of web searching on this figure to find out just where in the world it comes from. Well, it comes from a series called Ikkitousen (which apparently means something like 'strength to fight a thousand'). It is about a group of martial arts fighters who have somehow become the vessels of ancient fighting spirits. Also included in the premise (which is pretty thin) is that these fighters are connected to seven schools in Japan who come together in various meets to determine who is the best. It is most unsurprising to those who follow anime of this nature that many of the fighters are female and that they tend to rather easily have their clothing torn in most interesting ways during these fights.

This kit is one of the many offered from this series (the 2 Swords figure I did a while back is apparently Sonsaku Hakufu, the main character). As with most of the recast figures I've been purchasing, this one is superbly cast with only small resin mold tabs and the usual seam lines to remove. Though it is quite time consuming, one does have to remove every trace of these items or it will show up in the final product. This is as much due to the size of these figures as it is to anything else. Here's a pic of the parts as they come from the box, for those who are interested. You can see the mold stubs on most of the parts and on some you can see the seams that will need to be removed. You might also note that many of the parts have keyways built into either side to make it easier to keep things properly aligned when you glue them. Some kits are better at doing this than others!

First order of business is to spend that quality time with sandpaper and files. I have found that a quality needle file comes in very handy. Not only to get at areas where it is tough to fit in a piece of sandpaper, but it also is good when it comes time to restore some of the detail that is toned down during the sanding process. After that was done, I looked over the kit to see what could be assembled prior to painting. Since this one isn't fully nude as have some of the previous ones, it was obvious that most parts would have to be painted, assembled and then touched up. However, the two legs could be glued to the butt as those would be basically the same color. I did so using superglue and found that the fit wasn't perfect. The shorter of the two legs had a huge seam on the inside that I initially filled with superglue and sanded, as I did all the easy seams around the leg attachment. Once the initial sanding was done, the assembly was painted Floquil Reefer White. I used this as a primer as it will show up any areas that really need some help. It worked just fine. Since the areas that needed filler were small, I didn't use the normal epoxy putty, but just the regular stuff that I use on most everything else. Epoxy putty really doesn't work well with shallow areas or thin seams and will usually just flake off. It needs a large area to cover to properly function. None of those were present on this part.

When I'd finished getting the lower section all ready to go, I tried to fit in the arms. Well, much to my dismay, they didn't fit. They didn't even come close. Apparently I'd made the legs too close together. So there I was with part of the kit painted (face section in various shades of flesh, arms in pink with a white cuff), and bits that wouldn't fit. As often happens when I run into these problems, I cursed mightily (which had no effect on the fit), and then set the kit aside to gather dust.

Time moves on.......

Nearly two years passed by and I decided my 'started but not yet finished' pile was getting way too high. I had to do something about this and so what I did was try to force the hand parts down in between the legs. I was unsuccessful in this, but did manage to break away one of the legs. This allowed me to fit the hands and the section of sweater in place, and then glue the leg back into position. This time there was quite a gap that I had to fill, but at least I knew that the various bits would be in place with no trouble.

Painting is

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While