Released under the
World Architecture – The Most Famous Monuments label, Italeri’s Statue of Liberty provides 12 parts and a nice educational pamphlet, and is geared to younger modelers. My 8-year-old son, Nathaniel, tackled it.
Most of the parts are tan except for Lady Liberty herself, which is garish green. In theory, you wouldn’t need to paint. The instructions include a printed paper U.S. flag if you prefer to use it instead of painting the molded part.
Nathaniel started with the star-shaped platform; it took a fair amount of cleanup under Dad’s watchful eye to smooth the four sprue attachment points.
After cleaning up the parts for the pedestal, he placed the first wall section with a bit of effort. The kit is not designed to snap together, but the fit was tight. It was hard for him to keep all four sides in place at one time to get them glued, so I showed him how to use a clamp to keep them together long enough for him to apply glue. We used Testors Liquid Cement throughout.
After the base was dry, Nathaniel test-fitted the riser — and it stuck halfway! A bit of extra hand strength from Dad and a brush of glue from Nathaniel fixed it. It would have helped to open the holes slightly.
Next, Lady Liberty: The entire statue is molded in just two parts; only the crown is separate. Fit was excellent, and we left her off for painting.
“Would you like to hand-paint it or airbrush?” I asked. “Airbrush!” was the immediate reply. Selecting paint from Dad’s stash that looked close, Nathaniel chose Testors Model Master Acryl RAF sky for the statue and Tamiya buff (XF-57) for the base. I mixed the paints for him and he sprayed each color after practicing on some cardboard.
The folds of the statue’s robe were so nicely sculpted by Italeri, I encouraged Nathaniel to try his hand at a wash. We used Flory Models dark dirt wash, a suspension of fine clay in water. He brushed some on, let it dry just a bit, and then removed it with a cotton swab. He was pleased with how it made the statue look. “Just like the real one!” Another wash emphasized the sharply molded stonework and architectural features of the base.
We finished assembly by placing the statue on the base. Nathaniel caught an error in the instructions when figuring which way to mount the statue, based on the instructions; the drawings on the back page are different from the construction drawings and the way he had built the kit. The flagpole should be at the left rear corner of the base as you look at the front of the monument, not the left front as drawn in the instructions. However, you can’t change this easily because the part is keyed.
He added the printed flag to the pole and attached the flagpole to the base.
After an enjoyable three hours spread over a couple of days, Nathaniel had his own miniature Statue of Liberty. Italeri has done a fine job capturing the look of the famous landmark while making it simple enough for a youngster to handle.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2016 issue.