Landships II

Oscar Zulu · Sergeant

RE: What 1/72 or 1/76 figures are available?

James H · Legend

By the time they reached the Front, almost all Canadians were equipped with British pattern kit. Some older tunics, with stand collar and 9 buttons, and some earlier types of webbing were used�by training units in Canada and GB. I think one Division briefly wore the Slade-Wallace style webbing in France. In other words, the H�T Canadians are fine for British. And when the H�T kilted figures materialise they'll be OK for Canadian Scots.

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Don't be sorry for hijacking the thread; its good to have this discussion. There are quite simply no decent sets of the average Tommy (and there are no decent kits of the British tanks; but that probably should be in another thread)!

Some conversions I have tried; put some steel helmet heads (from Airfix British 8th Army) on some of the HaT ANZACs (http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=435), and on some of the HaT/Airfix British Infantry (the laughable one). This head swap didn't work too well, for me, with the Canadians because they are quite a bit bigger than the 8th Army. To bulk out their new heads I put some putty on the helmet and painted it to represent a helmet covered with a cut-up sandbag (which I've seen in some photos).

Another option would be to use metal figures. I haven't seen any resin figures of Tommies in the attack.

James H · Legend

If I might venture, it is possible to produce some acceptable BEF from the Esci WWII figures. http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=84

Pare very carefully from the gaiters to just below the knee for puttees, or, at least, legs thin enough to give that impression. Score a line round the figure at crotch level (that's a horrible word, isn't it) and pare up to it to represent the hem of the tunic. Cut the top and bottom off the 1937 ammunition pouches to leave something like the 1914 pouches (which, as we have discussed, are OK for the Western Front from 1915 onwards). The belt even has the S-fastener, which is also OK. Some other bits and bobs need trimming off, but these figures do have the entrenching tool and so on. They're not a perfect job but tolerable in this scale. The helmets with netting aren't suitable but the ones without look pretty good.

Of course, a brand new set is what we want, but it doesn't seem likely.

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Thank you, James. Those are nice WW2 figures and good ideas for converting them. I think that once I have unpacked I will try it. Instead of a knife I will use a hot pin; I saw it demonstrated recently, for removing flash,�and thought it was a good idea that might work for scoring lines into a figure.

And there is a slim chance that Zvezda might make some Tommies, now that they have entered the WW1 arena (with Russian and German infantries).

James H · Legend

Hmmm. I understand that the hot pin method is excellent for removing flash and mould lines. In the case of the Escis, quite substantial amounts of pastic need to be removed from the calves, and it needs a sharp line around the top of the thighs to depict the tunic. I shouldn't have thought the pin method would be able to cope with that, but�I shall be most interested to see your results. Ironsides kindly gave an admirable demonstration of how to separate the RHA limber riders with some careful knife work.

Whence cometh the�Zvezda rumour? I hope it's true - it might put H�T on their toes if there's some decent competition.

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

"Whence cometh the�Zvezda rumour?"� On the Strelets forum 'Jerzy' wrote that they had read it on Benno's forum:
http://pub33.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=2833323740&frmid=6&msgid=972335&cmd=show

I tried to check the source on Benno's forum, but I don't know how to drive Benno's forum, so I haven't checked the veracity of�Jerzy's assertion. Therefore, I unilaterally�declare�the status of the rumour as�'tenuous'. In the USA I believe it would be given the status, 'aubergine'. smile �Which approximately equates to 'cautiously optimistic'.

Another rumour just starting (origin is again the Strelets forum) is that Revell will re-issue their WWI Germans in 2010. No mention of their French.

And the rumour of the imminent arrival of Pegasus' French has already been mentioned in this thread.

-- Edited by philthydirtyanimal on Sunday 3rd of January 2010 11:58:50 PM

Ironsides · Legend

Hi the Zvezda WW1 Germans seems to be confirmed by dealers listings,�as yet no confirmation of the Revell re-issue.... as for Pegasus or Caeser�who knows.... confuse
Two sets of WW2 Brits from Caeser and Airfix as well,�but no WW1 BEF yet we can only hope...

Whos the best person to order WD figures from? Im rather interested in the French...

Cheers smile

Rob · Legend

WD Models Barry�Williams himself! He's a forum member, goes under 'Baldwin' - if you haven't seen their stuff 'in the metal' before it's superb, gone are the days of hacking about plastic figures to make them useful for dioramas

-- Edited by Rob on Monday 4th of January 2010 05:04:53 PM

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Zvezda's WW1 Russians and WW1 Germans are confirmed by Plastic Soldier Review (Zvezda don't answer emails).

baldwin · Hero

Good news on the figure front re W^D I have just got the "tests" from the casters for the Americans,british tankers and a driver/passenger. So they will be out very soon.Will send pics once I have assembled them.
Barry John

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Spreadsheet has been updated. Attached is the latest. Can someone let me know whether it works or not, please.

hans · Lieutenant-Colonel

Works perfect over here!
Thanks for this page,very helpfull.

greetings,Hans.

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

HaT have recently given a listing number to some future releases, making them 'official'. Amongst these are WWI Highlanders, various nation's gun crews and some French and German heavy weapons sets.

I will update the spreadsheet soon.

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

Here's the latest version of the list.

I have�not included�HaT's artillery sets�in this list because the guns will be released without crew figures, and in hard plastic. I think that makes them 'models' rather than figures and I have made a separate announcement of them.�Other sets, such as the French 37mm and Austrian Mortar, will contain quite a few figures, so are included here.�HaT's artillery crew figures in this list,�are to be released, perhaps as soon as the 3rd quarter of this year, in soft plastic.

Strelets have given an 'August 2010' release date for their WWI cavalry sets, and added a 'British cavalry late war'�set.

W^D Models have listed 3 new American sets, British driver/passengers and British tank crew in overalls. These are expected 'soon'.

-- Edited by philthydirtyanimal on Monday 12th of April 2010 01:23:01 PM

baldwin · Hero

Phill
An update the figures are ready,will put them on the website later this week.

Pat · Commander in Chief

philthydirtyanimal wrote:
I have far too much spare time.

Somehow I strongly doubt this is still the case, but anyway:

Many thanks for this initiative. The many upcoming releases from H�T (artillery crew sets due soon), Strelets and Zvezda (their WW1 Germans are available now) will keep you busy. You might also consider the MIR sets although their use might be very limited.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=11

The fun starts when thinking about which sets might fill in for a WW1 set with a paintjob or just a minor conversion but I reckon that would equivalent a full-time job.

Not knowing of your database, I have set up a similar file for WW1 artillery kits in 1/72-76 . If someone could volunteer for proofreading, it would be much appreciated. The list is also thin on the ground as far as British artillery is concerned.

PDA · Legend

I'd be glad to proof read your list, Pat. Hope you still have my email address.

Anything British is thin on the ground. You'd think they were never there, judging by what is available for them. C'est la vie. It makes it more of a challenge to model British subjects; look at the lengths Brennan went to, just to make one very common mountain gun:
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=63528&p=3&topicID=33157571

I am tempted to convert/re-write the figures section/article. But I am not very good with tables and links in html.

I have less free time, yes. But as I am typing this with one hand, I am rocking the baby with the other. So it's not so bad.

Pat · Commander in Chief

Thanks - E-mail sent.