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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

1/72 Napoleonic Miniatures Review, Part III

Hello everyone!

The other box of 1/72 plastic Polish infantry arrived yesterday. Here are my thoughts.

(Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

Waterloo 1815 Set No. AP 008 Polish Infantry, 1812/14

Initial Impressions:

I really liked the box art on this set from the moment I saw the listing on eBay. In fact, had it not gotten my attention I would have never even considered getting Poles for my French forces at all. When I first got the figs themselves out of the box (knowing from the Plastic Soldier Review site that each sprue was identical), I was quite pleased to discover that the figs were cast in hard plastic, which I really like. This was a big plus for me, as I believe that the softer plastics make it easier for paint to chip off figures.

Front of the box: more cool box art.
Scaleability:

These guys are a hair shorter than their Strelets-R counterparts, though I don't think it would stand out too much when put together in a unit. They are also slimmer, not nearly as beefy as Strelets-R, Italeri or Revell, but not as anorexic as the Hat Russian artillerymen. They really look like overgrown AB figures, which is not a bad thing at all.

 

Back of the box
Quality:

The quailty on these figures is top notch. As I said before these are cast in hard plastic, meaning that detail is very fine on the figures. They look awesome in the flesh, about as good as metal figures. They really look like oversize AB figures. As far as overall quality goes these are probably the best that I've purchased so far, even surpassing that of Italeri. Uniform details are good, but there are a few nit-picky things, including pretty much all of the figures being armed with sabre-briquet when these should technically be reserved for the Light and Grenadier companies, as well as the fact that the drummer's drum is too small, though overall they are excellent figures.


Sprue with nine poses (there are four of the same sprues in this set).

 
Price:
 
I bought these figures off of eBay, paying $9.95 plus $3.92 shipping and handling, totalling $13.87. Divided amongst the 36 figures taht you get in the box, you end up paying about $0.38 per figure, which is on par with what I paid for the Strelets-R figures from my last review. Not a bad deal considering the quality of the product you're getting.
 
Overall Impression:
 
I really like these figures. My two biggest gripes are that you get far too many of poses that you really need only one of (standard bearer, drummer and officer poses, I'm looking at you) and the fact that the standards are cast onto the figures. This wouldn't be so bad if they were plain, but they had a big cast Polish eagle on it, which doesn't do me any good since I wanted to paint the banner of the Vistula Legion, which does not have an eagle.
 

Combat Rooster for the win. Gotta love the Poles.
 
As you can see, it in fact has a rooster (which is awesome in its own right), not a big eagle. But really these are both rather minor gripes. The figures themselves are excellent, made of the hard plastic that I really like in plastic figures with sharp details, and they fit in well size wise with the Strelets-R figures that flesh out the rest of the battalion. Simply put, this is an excellent set.
 
Coming up: I'm still painting all of the things I've been painting now for the last two weeks, as well as starting on the 1e Régiment de la Légion de la Vistule. All I can truly promise anymore is that something will get done.
 
Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for looking!
 
-Chuck

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