If you were ever a fan of the Saturday morning cowboy series back in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, or enjoyed the classic Sam Peckinpaw movies, this figure should be fairly familiar to you. Labeled as “Pedro Melgoza, bounty hunter”, the beautiful illustration on the box cover bears an unmistakable resemblance to Tom Selleck. As I’ve discussed before, Masterbox is unique in the modeling world for illustrating the products BEFORE sculpting them, and I believe this is a good example.

On opening the box, you find both our bounty hunter figure as well as a very nicely done mount with two complete heads for some variety in the choice of poses. Sorry to say, ladies, but the figure within does NOT resemble Tom Selleck, but appears much more a typical Bandito figure to my eye. The figure assembles quickly, with only the setting of the shotgun across the shoulders requiring a little finagling. No putty was required.

As you can see, the figure paints up very nicely indeed, although it was beyond these old eyes to do the lacework as depicted on the cover. The best I could do was a simple approximation, although I know there are others out there that can do real justice to this piece.

The instructions give general directions on the assembly of the horse, but fail to show or mention either the rifle holster, stirrups or bit. My previous experience with Napoleanic cavalry figures helped me here as did a quick peruse of the internet to identify any differences in harnessing. All reins and other necessary straps were made with flattened solder. Again, I had some extra fun with this one, making a “painted” horse which seemed to me to be a more appropriate mount for an outlaw – sort of the “mutt” of horses. Only a little filler was necessary around the neck area and otherwise this, too, was a quick build.

As with any non-military pieces, there’s a lot of flexibility in how you finish this set, and it would certainly look good with some of the others in the series. My one general complaint about Masterbox’s historic figures is that I wish they were doing them in 1/32^nd scale rather than 1/35^th, as they are not likely to be posed with military vehicles and would more closely match the classic metal and resin figures available on the market already. Still, you can’t beat them for innovative ideas and quality renderings. Have fun with this one, folks – it’s a charmer.

My thanks, as always, to Masterbox for their continued wonderful contributions to this great hobby and to IPMS/USA for the chance to remember a part of my own childhood with this set. Happy trails!