"Perry''s Plastic Union - Bit of Dissatisfaction " Topic

My Union Infantry are a mix of the original plastics and their metal range, with all the plastics having metal command figures to match the 100% metal units.

The only totally plastic unit to date is my sole Zouave Regiment which at the time I found a pain to put together in terms of getting the separate arms the way I wanted.

Assuming that it was me, I purchased the new style box of Infantry when they came out so I could have another unit at "Right shoulder shift".

I have to ask if any one else has found them a little short of the mark?

The arms if any thing are even more annoying than the Zouaves – the standard bearers being a particular pain in the butt – to the point where I had to resort to figure conversion techniques to get them into a decent pose without serious gaps showing. The bugler was also the subject of some "cut and shut" work too, in order to avoid a somewhat odd way of carrying a rifle!

In addition some heads are not that well produced and equipment detail is blurry in places which I would have thought might have sharpened up a bit considering the number of different plastics the company has produced over time.

I note that nobody else has moaned so again it could just be me.

I might also mention that I found their original ACW cavalry, while making up into good looking horses, were also a very poor fit due to the bad join at the base of the neck where the two halves of the body fitted together.

OK a lot cheaper than their metal counterparts but a lot more work to complete a unit too!

I will turn 59 in one week. I've been collecting and painting miniatures for 49 years. I was happy with Scruby's back then, saved money to be able to buy Suren, and happily welcomed Connoisseur. I guess that sets my standards, but I keep reminding one and all that I think we may be in the "Golden Age" of this hobby. So many manufacturers, so many periods, so many scales. It is amazing. And I love it all. I am in the midst of putting Perry ACW Confederate and Union armies together as our group is now including this period (Fire & Fury). I cannot wait. I think they look great. I just put them together the best that I can and then put putty in the joints as needed. That used to be standard practice on multi-part 54mms so it is old hat for me. Part of the process.

Been working with styrene for 50 year. I have all the Perry's plastics except the Zouaves. I haven't run into any of the problems you state.

Yes, I have noticed some of those problems too. Usually, with arms, I manage to make them work without too much trouble once I get the knack of the miniature. More annoying is the loss of detail in some parts of the miniature.

On the other hand, their plastic boxes are very good value. It is up to you if you believe that the problems and the little extra effort required are balanced by the price or not.

I struggled a bit with the confederate set advancing arms, which are the same in both sets I believe, but the RSS arms went on no probs. All plastics are a bit of a fiddle IMO.

I had troublewith the standard bearers as you describe, but everything else was fine….

Yes in total fairness the standard bearers are the worst, the men are just irritating.

That said, I must agree with Frothers that the advancing arms ones are also a real pain. I made up some of my Zouaves in that pose to use as skirmishers and they were terrible.

On the matter of detail, it looks like Perry's have slipped behind here.

If you look at what Victrix are doing with their Ancients they are miles ahead.

I found the kneeling skirmishes was a pain to assemble and has a gap at the back, otherwise no issues.

I have none of the infantry. I had no problems with the ACW horses. The WotR horses are mostly fine but it is a pain to deal with the join of the two halves on the horses' rumps. After a lot of experimentation I've found the best way is to putty and smooth it which isn't too much trouble.

Like many, I am new to plastics. (I helped my son with 40K Warhammer and I could not understand how or why he was willing to spend the time laboring over these "models".) But it seems to me that for all efforts to make it easy and quick to assemble, there just is a process to the construction. It is not as simple as "cut, snap and glue." The parts have to be cut off the sprue and cleaned and it never seems perfect i.e. even after all the work, you can still see a seam since I am reluctant to spend the time to file every visible seam. Check YouTube for the professionals and it is amazing how much time they spend on the prep. More than I can stand.

That said, I forgot to say -- and second Londonplod's comment -- the kneeling Union figure is defective. It has an enormous gap at the back that I have to fill and even sculpt to some degree. Happens every time with that sprue. That is a defect. But again, still good stuff.

Prepping the figures seems to be an issue regardless of which materials they are made from. Hard plastic is easier to prep than soft plastic.

Generally agree with the rough fit, can deal with that, but the biggest problem I have is the obvious size difference with their artillery and Zouaves sets as well as some of their metal range. They do not match well at all. Really not happy, as I had planned to use them to outfit my troops
and will have to look elsewhere. But, have not found this in the Napoleonic range. The clean-up is still much easier and faster than metals

the biggest problem I have is the obvious size difference

Yes that's a little odd. I have their metal artillery so I can't compare those. I think its just in the torso and head where the Zouaves are just that fraction smaller, height wise they seem pretty much the same.

The mad thing is if you examine them carefully the arms/rifles for both the new Union infantry and the Zouaves are exactly the same.

I suspect that's true for the later box of Confederates too. I've not seen any of those but I would expect a size difference over the Zouaves there as well.

Personally, I love em. Great price, lots of variations and the confederate infantry box sets are a awesome – lots of character, lots of Dixie!

I enjoy building them .I use Liquid Poly which give just enough time to reposition the arms as necessary before they set. Building the figures gives you chance to examine all the detail before painting.