MAD MIKE | 18 Dec 2012 10:03 p.m. PST |
So i just started working on the figures in the title and I have to say that the plastic these are made of is the absolute worst I have ever encountered. Cereal box figures from the 1960's were made of higher quality material. So having managed to write that without swearing, I now pose a question: Are there any metal figures of WW2 British 3in. mortars (ETO) that are a good match for 1/72 plastics. I'm looking for realistic body proportions i.e no giant heads. MIKE |
Hornswoggler | 18 Dec 2012 10:21 p.m. PST |
Or stay with plastic and try to get hold of the Zvezda British 3in mortar, if you don't mind a bit of assembly and the Art of Tactic format
|
Mad Monarchist | 18 Dec 2012 10:22 p.m. PST |
AB, Warmodelling, Battlefield, SHQ, Wartime – take your pick. I'm looking for realistic body proportions i.e no giant heads. This ain't the 90s any more. |
MAD MIKE | 18 Dec 2012 10:23 p.m. PST |
@ Hornswoggler: No problem with assembly, i'd forgotten about those. Thanks |
MAD MIKE | 18 Dec 2012 10:25 p.m. PST |
@ Mad Monarchist: thanks There are some there I had never heard of |
Martin Rapier | 19 Dec 2012 3:16 a.m. PST |
Yes, the 'giant heads' were more the preserve of Brittania, although I have some Platoon 20 bloaters as well. SHQ, AB and to a lesser extent, FAA are all nicely proportioned. Funny thing with the HaT stuff (I have tons of it WW2, WW1 and Ancients), the plastic is very variable. Much of it is a joy to paint, but they seem to do some ranges in a dreadful soft bendy almost greasy plastic which not even multiple coats of PVA stick to (sadly, much of their WW1 artillery is in theis spawn of the devil). I ended up underoating the base plastic is black acrylic spray, then going over the top with PVA, then starting the painting from there. It was the only way I could get it it stick together as well, but even now gun shields fall off in the course of use. Extra strength UHU worked OK. |
Shark Six Three Zero | 19 Dec 2012 6:17 a.m. PST |
You really should wash them in warm soapy water and rinse them. That greasy coating is the release agent for getting the figures out of the mold. It will repel paint. The Brit WWII mortars are one of their worst kits. Very little detail. |
Dexter Ward | 19 Dec 2012 7:06 a.m. PST |
SHQ mix very well with plastic stuff Their mortars and MGs are fiddly to assemble, though; one usually ends up with bits of mortar stuck to fingers with superglue. |
Hornswoggler | 19 Dec 2012 6:26 p.m. PST |
Woops
Just saw the following mini-review. Looks like the Zvezda set will only work for 39-41, depending of course on how picky you are: link |
spontoon | 19 Dec 2012 6:29 p.m. PST |
Yeah, the entrenching tool holder is the problem. In plastic though one could just cut it off. |
MAD MIKE | 19 Dec 2012 9:01 p.m. PST |
@ Hornswoggler I also noticed the Zvezda was the wrong time period, but,being Canadian I was far too polite to point it out. . Thanks all for the suggestions, I will most likely go with AB and SHQ. As I have not ordered metal figs for a while I am building up a list to fill a lot of holes in my collection. MIKE |
MAD MIKE | 19 Dec 2012 9:05 p.m. PST |
The respirator case on Zvezda is also in the wrong position for BLA troops. A very nice looking set though I might buy one anyway as I like the posing,very dynamic |
number4 | 19 Dec 2012 10:55 p.m. PST |
The mortar set isn't too bad and I personally had no problems with it, but their machine gun set is just terrible. I bought the Zvezda version which is much better, and it was fairly easy to trim off the respirator case. |
Martin Rapier | 20 Dec 2012 4:26 a.m. PST |
"You really should wash them in warm soapy water and rinse them. That greasy coating is the release agent for getting the figures out of the mold. It will repel paint. " I always do, the greasiness actually seems to be a feature of this particular type of plastic, but restricted to just a few of the HaT sets. |
Who asked this joker | 20 Dec 2012 7:25 a.m. PST |
Mike, Why do you find the plastic bad? HaT paintable plastic is kind of rubbery but does, in fact, hold paint really well. Most, if not all, of their figures these days are made of it. John |
Bill Slavin | 20 Dec 2012 7:42 a.m. PST |
I had no problem with the HAT mortar crew. I actually quite liked the poses, although the detailing is a bit chunky, and paint adhered no problem. That plastic is a to carve off though, if you want to do conversions. No problem with the HAT MG crew, either. I guess I'm just a pushover, but I'm simply happy to be able to get this stuff in plastic now. As for gluing, everyone knows about the soft plastic Loctite glue, right? I'm converting my plastics like crazy with it this these days. It's opened up a whole new world of obsession. |
MAD MIKE | 20 Dec 2012 9:42 a.m. PST |
@ Who asked this joker-The rubbery nature is precisely what I find objectionable. Even with a new blade the plastic tears instead of cuts and trying to assemble the mortar was like trying to push cooked spaghetti with another piece of cooked spaghetti (what a way with words I have ). I have already painted a couple of the 2in mortars from this set and even after aggressive cleaning the paint beaded up and required some extra work to get decent results. Also if assembly is required use plastic that responds to glue as Pegasus does in their newer sets. Loctite Plastic glue is good but with small contact areas a solvent style glue is far superior. |
MAD MIKE | 26 Dec 2012 10:43 p.m. PST |
Well these are now complete and look quite decent if I do say so myself. The only flaw in the finished product is the mould lines that defeated my attempts at removal. I have noticed that some of the figures that came with my Caesar model kits are also in rubbery plastic. I hope this is not a new trend in plastic figures. Thanks to all for advice and input. |
Hornswoggler | 27 Dec 2012 4:35 a.m. PST |
Well these are now complete and look quite decent if I do say so myself. So where we can we see 'em ? |
MAD MIKE | 27 Dec 2012 10:48 a.m. PST |
I have no camera so, like all my stuff. it will remain unseen and unappreciated by the world at large . |
Hornswoggler | 27 Dec 2012 5:51 p.m. PST |
Too bad ! But good to know I'm not the only luddite without a camera
:o) |
Grumble87106 | 17 Oct 2014 7:29 a.m. PST |
Odd, I haven't had any problems painting the HäT mortars or machine guns. Maybe different batches of plastic?!?!?! |