"PSC US Late War Infantry" Topic

link

Review/painting guide walk through on my site

Tim

They look real good. Thanks for posting that.

Nice – good poses.

Thanks madaxeman, always enjoy your stuff. However I am with you. I can't find a ready reference to that style webbing brace with a single belt straight down the majority of the back.

Regardless if the webbing is right for the US soldiers, I have the German box and these are NOT recycled poses.

Hmmm – how weird!

I can't find a ready reference to that style webbing brace with a single belt straight down the majority of the back.

Agreed. The same anomoly also applies to both the PSC US and Commonwealth halftrack crews.

Further to the PSC US infantry, didn't one of our fellow TMP'ers (Number4 maybe – I'm too lazy to search this morning) also point out quite a few issues with the ammo pouches and some of the other equipment carried by these figures?

I'm not enough of a rivet-counter to be that fussed about equipment – as long as my Germans have that ribbed cylinder thingy I'm happy to be honest, but the webbing is just a really really weird error to make…. Nice figures though!

why I stick with metal, no stuff ups there, gave up playing with plastic toys when I was about 18

Here is the thread I was thinking of (wrong ammo pouches for weapons carried etc):

TMP link

like I said, give me metal, AB preferabbly any day, but the Kelly's Heroe's figures and Britannia are pretty good as well

I've just looked at the price of AB… Ouch!

A shame really. I see that their more recent late British Infantry set is getting very good reviews.

@Marc,

I noticed people were getting a bit excited about the British. From the images I saw I didn't really care for the anatomical proportions – I thought the heads looked big and the legs rather short. That's the complete opposite of what others are saying though… :o)

Mea culpa on the earlier criticism….. and yes, the US army has never, ever used "Y" straps like those depicted here, the same goes for the rectangular pouch on the back of the figure's belt. That and the impossible angle that the canteen is molded in clearly shows the sculptor doesn't understand his subject.

But why?? This is what baffles me me. Snide criticisms about plastic being for kids aside (I site Pegasus, Caesar, and a lot of other fine sets by other manufacturers) Plastic Soldier is coming in late in the game, directing their product to the wargaming market, and are going head to head against the lead manufacturers.
There's no logic to this.

@Bill

For people like me, who enjoy the cheapness of PSC and could care less of they have a Y strap on their backs instead of what they really have. You don't have to be a rivet counter to enjoy historicals, and I'm probably never gonna notice most of what people are bickering about when it's on the table-top anyway.

Sure they're late in the game, and it was probably a research and sculpting goof, but that's not gonna keep me from giving them money for otherwise nice and usable mini's

I assume the "Why?" question is why is he selling these at all. If so, it's because he makes for the most part quality products at great prices, and people are buying a LOT of them. So I guess it's to offer a much less expensive and mostly just as good product as all the metal manufacturers (AB excepted for me, though).

So I'd say making a good profit is logic enough!

Nazrat
Sorry. The "why" is the screwed up webbing. Thought that was obvious.

Washout77
I'm not a rivet counter either. This is basic uniform. I've bought PSC as well and like what they do. But I also work in the real world where something as basic as this should not have passed unnoticed, so it puzzled me.

I'm with Bill on this one – maybe the sculptor was lazy and used part of a German master figure, but such a basic and obvious error should never have gotten past quality control. They may be cheap, but so are Airfix (and a lot of the Airfix sculpts are actually better!)

Serving pork to diners who ordered steak is also a way to make a profit – but I wouldn't expect the restaurant to stay in business long, even if they do have a nice wine list. Calling others rivet/button counters isn't helpful – would you be happy with warhammer space marines marketed as WWII GI's?

Agreed. They are nicely posed, good value figures with a lot of well thought out features. But the webbing thing seems, well, actually quite a "difficult" mistake to make, as it's hard to see where the idea came from given the lack of historical, and even other figure-range-copying-type precedent for it… And also, especially given some of the other stuff (helmets with netting, decent mix of carbines etc) seem arguably to be better thought through than many other ranges.. Is this the case with the heavy weapon pack too?

I'd also maybe think that having a command mini sprue would have been a good idea, and it looks like PSC have learnt that lesson for the retooled Brits, so maybe the yanks will get retooled at some stage too?

each to their own, but it does seem a basic mistake to make when some of the other comments made here indicate that they have done some research into stuff. Anyway as previously stated much prefer metal toy's

I like the PSC stuff a lot, when I gamed 15s they were all I had because they look great and are a one stop shop (I hate mixing manufacturers)

Mea culpa on the earlier criticism….. and yes, the US army has never, ever used "Y" straps like those depicted here, the same goes for the rectangular pouch on the back of the figure's belt. That and the impossible angle that the canteen is molded in clearly shows the sculptor doesn't understand his subject.

Rivet Counting, if that term bothers you, oh well. Perhaps you could make a better one, or point us to a set that is EQUALLY cost effective and on the same quality level, odd pouch and canteen "angle" aside.

Serving pork to diners who ordered steak is also a way to make a profit – but I wouldn't expect the restaurant to stay in business long, even if they do have a nice wine list. Calling others rivet/button counters isn't helpful – would you be happy with warhammer space marines marketed as WWII GI's?

Completely illogical comparison. If that one Y strap is that much of an issue they wouldn't be selling as well as they are. I would rather see a wrong strap than useless poses or ugly "heroic" proportions. The space marines comment is too foolish to even bother addressing…

As I said above, PSC makes great stuff; good anatomy, good mix of poses and weapons, and one stop shopping for most people. If you're so anal about a strap, which you probably won't notice on the tabletop anyway after painting and basing, then by all means sculpt your own, seeing as how most manufacturers have some form of historically inaccurate blemish on their figures.

Sales figures are not a guide to quality. AK47's sell well because they are cheap maintenance free bullet sprayers not precision made firearms. Dollar store army men probably sell more in a week than PSC will sell in a year, that's not the point.

PSC does make great stuff, I have their Panzer IV's, German infantry, T.34's, Bren Carriers, T70's and Churchill tanks, but when they get it wrong, criticism is fair and deserved. In this case they did get it wrong.

You know, I actually agree with you about the useless poses and ugly heroic proportions – I wouldn't give the Italeri or Valiant sets house room for those exact reasons

Perhaps you could make a better one, or point us to a set that is EQUALLY cost effective and on the same quality level, odd pouch and canteen "angle" aside.

Perhaps I could; I'm open to offers of investment – how much are you willing to kick in?

Caesar miniatures already do two superb US WWII sets that offer excellent value for money without compromising accuracy. Airfix "US Marines" are cheap as chips, nicely sculpted, anatomically correct and a 'good mix of weapons' – so they don't have any BAR's but you can substitute grease guns instead if you don't get too anal about it…after all you probably won't notice once they are painted and on the table :)
(sarcasm off)

Happy New Year!

so they don't have any BAR's but you can substitute grease guns instead if you don't get too anal about it…after all you probably won't notice once they are painted and on the table :)

Off point. there is a difference in most rule sets between the two, so you would need to represent your model's particular weapon accordingly. What you're suggesting is proxying is the same as an incorrect strap, which is a totally different beast. If someone wishes to be a Rivet Counter and point out a flaw, so be it. As you said; fair game since there is a flaw to begin with. Adding in your opinion of, "Sculptor doesn't know jack diddly, That's rubbish, You shouldn't buy this because my research indicates that Y strap is incorrect." is another matter, and is open to disagreement by people who don't fuss over a strap, or the angle of a canteen.

As everyone knows (and as this thread is proving) the ratio of "opinions" to "wargamers" is always going to be in excess of 1:1, but I'd always thought of the Y-strap as being one of the defining things that makes German WW2 infantry look, erm, "German"… and that probably goes back to when I was reading war comics as a kid in short trousers, rather than a miserable old git playing with toy soldiers.

I think this is why seeing it on US infantry is a little odd. If I knew it when I was 10, how come it snuck past QC here…?

It won't stop me using them, but it's a niggle.

(and I tend to play WW2 games where the differences in infantry weapons aren't that important!)

Kind of surprised so many call the wrong straps, which do stand out very plainly, as rivet counting. It is plain incorrect as are some of the other uniform details. If they were the only figures available could understand but they are not. It also supports sloppy research and QC.

Kind of surprised so many call the wrong straps, which do stand out very plainly, as rivet counting.

Strongly agree. Quality Control has been an issue with quite a few of PSC's products. Some of these have been in relation to accuracy. Others have been more minor errors or omissions including the construction plans and even what is printed on the outside of the box, eg:

TMP link

Somewhere on this board there is a very old thread (which I will look for later) where I did suggest to Mr PSC that some basic proofing prior to the release of products could mitigate a lot of gaffs. This was born out of my frustration with the fact that when they are 'right', PSC's products are so very good and I'd like to see a lot more in that category.

well it sort of depends on how many rear views sculptors get to look at.

Heres the fully finished pictures in poses copied from PSR !

Ugh – I'm convinced – never touching these. The 'German' straps jump out a mile to me. The poor definition and blob faces even more so.

Blob faces may be my heavy handed painting and varnishing style to be fair – have a look on Plastic Soldier Review for the bare plastic ones

madaxeman – no, I haven't a problem with your finish.

I have compromised! I've decided to enjoy doing a rescue job on the Heavy Weapons box. When I costed filling my Hasegawa mortar half tracks with metal figures, it seemed crazy not to swop to plastics for these at least. I can regard all the crappier stuff as 'free'. I'll ditch the mega 50 cals and odd mortars, cut down the chemical mortars, add proper extras to the M1919 MGs. – 3 decent units for £4.00 GBP each. I can live with that.

Nice figures, however the German webbing makes them standout to me as being WAY too off. I liked the British as well but they have the webbing reversed, correct but the scupper must be left handed. lol

The old Matchbox figures look much better.

I've got the heavy weapons pack but not actually unpacked it fully yet – other projects in the way… !

I'm also not entirely sure how I will base them as individual figures (for Chain of Command) as quite a few look a bit tricky to base separately to the weapons.

I was going to say they're too small but I just measured them and they'er smaller than my Peter Pigs. It must be that they're too skinny and smooth for me. And I don't like messing around with seperate arms and weapons in that scale.

If I want plastics in 15mm I'll go with the FOW.