Dragon continues its Marvel figures with the Iron Patriot from Iron Man 3. Let me say right up front that this is one of the finest molded figure kits I have ever seen. Dragon uses the same slide mold technology they use on their armor on their figures. For example, the lower legs are one tubular piece. The kit is 80 flash free excellent gray parts with 2 clear parts, three vinyl parts, a metal piece and a large base. The plastic is excellent and sand beautifully which is important because he is metallic.

Construction starts with subassemblies; two arms, the main body, two legs and the head. Some parts are trapped between others so test fit things. The main body is built around a central core and the fit is superb. By test fitting pieces, you will find that some seams don’t need sanding as they are covered later. Some sanding was required on the side panels but no filler. The same with the head- it is built around a central vinyl core and has clear eyes so lighting would be a snap. No filler was used on the head either.

I did not build the entire arm sections or legs. The hip, ankle and knee joints are sturdily keyed so that you can build and paint all the pieces and assemble after the painting is done. When I looked at my shop table, Iron man was laid out in pieces. The legs and arms are specific to left and right so I laid them out as such, I did have to sand both knee joints and hips, and did use a little filler on the thighs but not much. A quick note- the plastic is the same as all Dragon kits and is rigid and sands easily. It was no effort to sand and polish seams. Once all the pieces and parts were sanded and ready to go, I ended up with about 20 sub-assemblies ready for paint.

I wanted an eye-catching version of the Iron Patriot who was basically red, blue and silver. To prep everything, I primed the kit with Alclad gray primer. This important as the hands and head bottom are vinyl and putting down a lacquer primer blocks any effect the vinyl would have with enamel (they never dry). I based the entire kit with decanted Tamiya rattle can gloss silver. This gives very tough, quick drying gloss silver similar to aluminum. I fixed a few boo-boos and sprayed again and contemplated the red and blue. I could have used insignia red and blue but they are opaque and I wanted something more transparent. So, I decided to try Alclad’s hot metal red and blue. I masked off and shot the red slowing building it into a transparent color. When I was done, it did not quite have the effect I wanted so I grabbed Tamiya’s transparent red and shot it over the Alclad. Looked pretty good. And I did this with every color on the body. And then I touched up – over and over. I got a thank you note from Tamiya as their tape sales had risen 25%. I used a LOT of tape. In the end, I was pretty happy but I would have given $20 for a masking set had someone made one.

I started assembly and left the base simple. I built the legs and attached them to the body. I attached the arms and then the forearms. The head was added and the various armor parts. The kit comes with various small decals and those were added. Lastly, the chest reactor was sprayed yellow along with the eyes and the entire kit given three coats of gloss. I added the clear chest cover last.

This is a fantastic kit and worth every penny. Definitely convinced me to buy several. If you are fan of the Iron Man or any of the Marvel heroes, Dragon can give you a fix with superbly made kits of a great cast of characters. Highly, highly recommended.

My thanks to all the excellent people at Dragon Models USA for the opportunity to build this superb kit.