I think this photoshop box art is truly Awfull, accurate or otherwise Im sure it must be possible to find someone who could do a better job... perhaps its reverse psychology...
Cheers
-- Edited by Ironsides on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 05:26:48 PM
where are the days of Roy Cross... This Strelets box"art" seems some strange mixture with potoshopped pictures of re-enactment figures? and some 'painting'. Well, it's the box, but anyhow that matters too I think. And talking about the use of computer drawing programs: a great innovation but sometimes you just get enough from the obligatory embossed and bevelled lettering, the 'water colour' filter etc.
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/STR11472 That´s one of the funniest hobby related things I have seen in ages, I am still laughing as I write this...made my day Thanks
-- Edited by Paul H on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 06:07:38 PM
Yes, my guess is re-enactment photos with the heads of others, probably Strelet employees, grafted on to make it look less obvious (i'd seen this done before - there's a website out there to do with the Royal Signals, and in the WW1 section there's one or two images of a friend standing by one of his WW1 motorcycles, but stolen off my living history society's website and with the website owner's face grafted onto my friend's!)
Oddly enough, although the WW1 British Cavalry figures have the wrong webbing, the puttees, as can be seen by the mounted figure in the foreground, are the correct mounted way (with the lighter coloured tapes at the bottom, showing they've been wound from the top down as opposed to the 'normal' way of starting at the ankle and working up)
Looks like the Mk V at the IWM 'knocked out' on the cavalry box art too, you can just about make out the clear plastic in place of the sponson
I've ordered a box of the British in Gas Masks; they're on their way to me even as I type this! I'll be ordering the others in due course; probably next pay day.
I have many reasons for buying Strelets stuff. I think that Strelets sculpting style has improved a ton lately (have you seen the Sardinians?). Also, I have some of their other cavalry sets (Bengal Lancers, German Dragoons, etc) and they are good figures, despite how they look in any photos. I think the gas mask figures look great, even though many people have said there are inaccuracies in the kit/webbing, and they will look spectacular when painted. There aren't many manufacturers who make WW1 stuff, so I want to support those that do, and also I want to prove all those vanilla-lovers wrong when they say, "nobody wants WW1 stuff" and "nobody will buy it". (I know one little sale won't have much of an effect; but it's a start). Finally, there just aren't very many British sets, so I'll take whatever I can get.
The box art is lousy, yes, but I think they are just experimenting.
Hi PDA I have strelets sets as well I admit it too... Im a hopreless case, I was hooked by the boxart on the WW1 German dragoons ( late war)and wanted more... moved on too the Early war German cavalry sets and then had to have the Russians as well... is there no end to my torture I'm trying to resist and Im happy to say that strelets are aiding me in this enormously......
No its no good I cant resist the pull..... MUST HAVE THE FRENCH.....
I have many reasons for buying Strelets stuff. I think that Strelets sculpting style has improved a ton lately (have you seen the Sardinians?). Also, I have some of their other cavalry sets (Bengal Lancers, German Dragoons, etc) and they are good figures, despite how they look in any photos.
I hope you're right here PDA, as the sculpting style makes Strelets figures usually such a bad mix with other manufacturers' products.
The cavalry sets are all another story. I am happy with the ones I have: There are no sets to mix these figures with, the men look less bulky when on horseback, and some sets represent the best output of Strelets I have seen so far.
So I will certainly have a look at the new sets, and hope they will be worth buying.
I hope you're right here PDA, as the sculpting style makes Strelets figures usually such a bad mix with other manufacturers' products.
The cavalry sets are all another story. I am happy with the ones I have: There are no sets to mix these figures with, the men look less bulky when on horseback, and some sets represent the best output of Strelets I have seen so far.
So I will certainly have a look at the new sets, and hope they will be worth buying.
Oooh. I feel under a bit of pressure, now! I certainly hope you like them.
Harfields has them as well, now. I think the box art looks OK on some of them:
Something else I've been wondering about; could the artillery pieces in Strelets' Russo-Turkish War sets be used in a WW1 setting? Perhaps the Turks were still using them, or the Force Publique in Africa? Maybe?
Ive ordered the French I'll let you know what their like when I get them, I was rather hoping that the Turkish Guns at least would fit in to WW1, I think they might...not so sure about the Russians though...
Something else I've been wondering about; could the artillery pieces in Strelets' Russo-Turkish War sets be used in a WW1 setting? Perhaps the Turks were still using them, or the Force Publique in Africa? Maybe?
In October you were slightly more optimistic about that:
PDA wrote:There aren't many manufacturers who make WW1 stuff, so I want to support those that do,
You're absolutely right. Critizising the box art is a bit of a luxury thing, better be happy with all attempts and releases of ww1 models. And funny box art wouldn't prevent me buying either as it's all about the content.
Something else I've been wondering about; could the artillery pieces in Strelets' Russo-Turkish War sets be used in a WW1 setting? Perhaps the Turks were still using them, or the Force Publique in Africa? Maybe?
In October you were slightly more optimistic about that:
Hi Pat, Well Ive seen pics of the sprues and they seem very chunky in the carriage and wheels and I suspect the barrels are too small, I would be interested to hear any comments on actual bought examples, there has been a number of threads on the forum about old captured turkish Guns and these would seem to fit the bill if they are in fact reasonably accurate if simplyfied reditions of old Krupp breech loaders.... That said for gaming I recon they would do though... in any case I will buy at least one..
I think strelets must have done resonably well with previous WW1 sets or Im sure they would have stopped there... so despite what you may read on other models forums I think there is a demand for it...
I quite like some of the old artwork on Strelets boxes and I do in fact collect but I wont be collecting these for the art thats for sure...
I try to be optimistic, Pat. Doesn't always work, but I try.
I have recently read that the Belgian Force Publique, in Africa, used old (circa 1882) Krupp breech loaders with no recoil mechanism on the carriage. In the small photo, the breech looks small and square, like the one in (one of) the Strelets sets.
Found no further details about WW1 use so far, but the Dutch used similar guns in 1940: http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=84-mm-field-gun-8-staal That is one excellent site btw. It says the Dutch had 108 of the 84mm guns plus 150 of the 125mm guns. More images here: http://www.41afdva.net/ http://www.41afdva.net/Geschut_8%20cm%20staal.htm (main menu: choose Geschutz, then select the gun type, then click onto media)
In model form: http://www.testofbattle.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=35359&sid=06872a3ac9a977871a1273b386f37f70
The Russians used the older Krupp bronze guns during the Russio Turkish War I think made under license not sure if any survived to WW1 as they proved unreliable... details are in here
Page 11 of Armies in East Africa, by Peter Abbott (Osprey Publishing, 2002), when talking about the Belgian troops says,
"The main artillery pieces were the 75mm Krupp mountain gun first introduced in 1883, and the 47mm Nordenfelt."
On the facing page (page 10) there is this small photo of a German Schutztruppe with a Maxim machine gun and a light field piece in the foreground. The gun looks remarkably similar to those in the Strelets set:
I'm sure that at one time I had a lot of pics of guns used by the Force Publique and Lettow-Vorbeck. Can't find them now. I think they might be in a mysterious folder that only appears from time to time. I'll keep looking. A plod through Ebay or Delcampe might turn something up.
In the meantime, i've got this. No idea what it is.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
These arrived saturday very quick delivery, been thinking about how I can say anything positive about these since then...
French Infantry in gas masks... Good! its a subject thats under represented in small scale plastic....
These figures seem to represent Infantry from the later war period and are dressed in a double breasted Capote generally issued from late 1916 on and carry (as far as is possible to tell) Lebel rifles, a Chauchat gunner is also included. All are wearing the mask M2 and have the rectangular metal gasmask box. All the infantry wear a poor representation of the adrian helmet. The officer is an exception dressed in the same fashion as the infantry(fine) but wears a kepi, boots and wields a sword with scabbard, and has infantry webbing rather then a sam brown belt, with the exception of the boots none of this appears to be normal.
The figures are not well finished, they lack some basic equipment such as waterbottles and the riflemen have no rear ammo pouch, some are missing the webbing straps on their backs, although several have been given stick grenades given the date this is perhaps unusual rather then wrong. there are no additinal attendants for the Chauchat or rifle grenadiers included in my opinion an oversight.
Cheers
-- Edited by Ironsides on Monday 7th of February 2011 08:16:38 PM
Thanks for the review, Ironsides. The Adrian seems a most difficult beast to sculpt.
My British lads are somewhere over the Atlantic, I presume, or the chaps at Customs are having a little play with them.
PSR have reviewed Strelets' Russo-Turkish War Russians; both the Summer and Winter sets. I was hoping that the Winter set might yield some useful figures for WW1, but it doesn't appear to be so, at first glance. C'est la vie.
i ordered and received some Strelets figures, Stormtroops and German Infantry in Gasmasks;I promptly sent them back!!. with so many other manufacturers making figures I really could not be doing with what I thought was such bad moulding. I now have Ceasar German Infantry and they are beautifully moulded.