I bit the bullet, and bought a couple of boxes of WARGAMES FOUNDRY ZULU WARS BRITS from THE WARSTORE in the USA.
i read a lot of back and forth about the quality of this company's products but i needed to assemble a plain jane company of BRIT redcoats for gaming in the 1870s and 1880s for overseas service. and since these were offered up at really nice prices by THE WARSTORE, i dood it!
i cannot comment on the quality of other toys from this company, but, i am very pleased with what i got for my money; a 40 bod company (sans officers, NCOs or muscians) of nicely detailed 28mm multi-part plastic BRIT infantry usable for a stationary firing line or slowly advancing soldiers who are firing and reloading on the move.
in each box you get 20 plastic soldier bodies, 20 seperate noggins with seperate pith helmets, and several noggins wearing glengary caps. the bodies come "light equipment" cast on them, as well as small, nicely cast, plastic bases attached to them. there was apparently some confusion about the suspenders supporting the SLADE-WALLACE gear, but i can live with that. also included in the box is an assortment of arms and MARTINI-HENRYs with fixed bayonets. the rifles are detailed, clearly reconizable as MARTINI-HENRYs, and the plastic bayonets are both in scale and sturdy!
these soldiers are made of very robust, hard plastic that glued together with plain jane TESTORS model cement, which was a very pleasant surprise (i was worried about the MONGOOSE SST plastics problem with regular model cement). assembly was simple and fast, even though these are multi-part plastic soldiers. the last step of assembly was to glue them onto 25mm round slotta bases from GW that i had on hand.
the assembled soldiers took water based acrylic primer and paint very well. more detail JUMPED into view when these guys were painted. i was very pleased with the way the TOMMIES looked when i was finished (sorry no camera to provide photos for y'all). i use simple terrained bases (sand and tiny gravel mixed together and bonded with watered down white glue; when dry i got back and paint a base color, then add highlights to that).
i use the brands available at HOBBY LOBBY, MICHAEL'S and other hobby stores in the USA, not the high falutin' overpriced acrylics made for painting soldiers. i get 2 ouces of very nice paint in a incredible variety of colors for about $0.90 USD per plastic squeeze bottle. another bennie to these paints is that all come with a screw on cap that has a flip-top to allow you to "pour paint" without removing the lids, so spills and paint dried on caps are a thing of the past as far as i am concerned.
to give them a bit of "heft" el cheapo 25mm round washers were glued to the botom of the slotta bases.
when and if the WARGAMES FOUNDRY folks decide to release a "command box" of 20 or so soldiers, i hope it is designed to included at least one senior officer, two junior officers, a company sergeant major, with needed sergeants, corporals and muscians.
for now, my plan is to pick up some metal officers, a sergeant major, NCOs and muscians to round out the company (soldiers made excess by these will go toward the second company of REDCOATs).
now these troops are almost ready for TSATF, COLONIALS ADVENTURES, or PITS.
a very good buy, highly recommended by DAWGIE.
DAWGIE
takes another stab at building a more perfect flight stand.
