Testors Model Master Locking Tweezers
Testors Mixing Bottles and Pipettes
This is the first time I’ve used Testors’ Locking Tweezers, but it’s actually my third pair. The first I bought from HLJ sometimes back, that ended up warping slightly. The second, I didn’t find out I had until after I purchased the Testors. (They were included in a little model building kit. Forgot they were in there.) Do I need three pairs? Probably not, but they sure do come in handy when it comes to placing sticky things down. Haven’t yet opened myself up to an opportunity to mess with the Mixing Bottles and Pipettes yet, so not much to talk about…but I do look forward to using it for thinning and mixing paints once I get ready to paint my model kits.
This is a cute set. Picked this up to use for scene setting and photography props. They might be a bit too large for smaller scale figures (around 3″), but I believe they ought to be fine for 6″ and larger. They can even be opened, so they double as storage space.
Speaking of photograph, and scene setting props, here’s the big haul. The reason for the purchase in the first place. The Defiants playsets. After spotting the Defiants “Flex-Terrains” sometime back in a Toys R Us, I picked up a set figuring I could use them as diorama place mats. Well satisfied with the results, once Toys R Us decided to put the line on a 1-day sale, I decided to pull the trigger on the rest of the playsets.
Defiants Brawl and Fall Playset
Not too thrilled with this playset. I figured it’d be a bit more interesting, but the sense of scale and idea of the set is curious and off. Why is there a huge shipping container stuck on an overpass? I think I’d liked it better if the company made the container like a bamboo spout, tipping to and fro. That said, I think the shipping container could make a good prop/set piece with smaller scale figures like G.I. Joe, or Transformers.
Defiants Blitz Force Operation Hostile Playset
Defiants Blitz Force Bridge Playset
Defiants Sinkhole Control Playset
I like the Defiants Blitz Force Operation Hostile playset. It includes a mountain/ rocky hill, the “Earthquake” flex-terrain and two bridges cast in a tan-ish color.The other two playsets, Blitz Force Bridge, and Sinkhole control are the same bridges, cast in an olive, and grey respectively. They would of been considered useless purchases, but the bridge pieces stack to form mini-shelves quite nicely (in theory.)
Defiants Badlands Scramble Playset
Defiants Terrain Pack Playset
Badlands Scramble totally makes this order worth it. Consisting of 11 well designed pieces, and includes a Flex Terrain I didn’t know about! Bonus! Amazon describes the terrain as Bridge / Mojave, which the bridge fits the design. There’s plenty of nice little details in this set, that are honestly begging to be painted. The Terrain Pack playset could be considered an add-on to the Badlands Scramble, as it’s the same set minus the Flex Terrain, and the 90 degree turn piece.
Defiants Maximum Mayhem Playset
This is actually the first box of the Defiants set that I opened up, and boy, did it leave me regretting the entire order. It’s easily the largest of the set, at 7 feet of track, but it’s also very bland. The only deco work done on it, is seconds of diamond plating. I thought I could get a neat display scene with it, but it just looks to take up too much space and doesn’t provide much visual interest.
All Defiants items also came with their own cars, but I left them in their white boxes, so no commentary for them.
With all said, if I were a kid, I’d probably love them all and get some fun out of them. At least, in the case of the Defiants. Not sure about the hobby tools or trashbins.
Over all, I think this haul worked out more positively than negatively, as the majority of items purchased were on sale, can be used in some fashion, and it provided a personal lesson to pay better attention to what I’m ordering, or to research items more thoroughly.