[MoMo]

I decided not to buy this particular set at my local Target store. Everything included with the set has been sold before with the sole exception of the artillery piece (which looked good at the store). Since that's all I'd be interested in I decided to pass as I don't need another halftrack or any of their figures which I don't like the look of anyway. You'd think they would have included a crew for the artillery piece rather than figures that have been available before.

I agree absolutely with LegioLXXll,

I had a good look at the " Treasure Bunker " yesterday, and found all the new FOV items which I was looking for. Please remember that all the items are " Collector " standard, with full weathering because hobby shops here do not carry the cheaper, unweathered versions.

First, the Half-track + 105 : I had a really good look at this item in the shop. The soldiers had all been cured badly, so most of the weapons were bent! The Half-track was fine, except that the weathering looked cruder than on the previous issue. The 105 was a blob of metal with little to distinguish it as worthy of purchase ( unless you are a completist ! ). I think that it is the crudest of any metal vehicle issued by FOV, and should be consigned to the dustbin of history as quickly as possible! If this is the best that they can do with small metal items, they'd be better casting them in plastic or resin. I can remember Dinky Toys from the 50s ( e.g. the 25 pounder ) which weren't much bigger than the 105 being beautifully cast and painted in metal which would show this heap of rubbish the door!

I didn't buy one.

I did buy the Dragon Wagon, which I feel is a fine casting and assembly job but, after seeing LegioLXXll's pic of the cheaper, unweathered version I wish that I'd had one of those instead. The weathering on the tyres was half-assed. The road surface contact-points are weathered well. The tyre walls are partly weathered here and there, but not to a uniform standard. Some tyre walls were devoid of weathering paint, so they stuck out as glowing rubber/plastic.

Now to the " scraped metal " weathering : it was just awful! There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to some of the crudely dobbed metal paint on the side surfaces of the trailer. The handles of the gear shifts for the winch were dobbed in too much metal paint....grossly over scale! Where there should have been wear on the protruding areas of the flat bed, there was little! Weathering only makes sense if it appears in logical areas, not as an artistic or fantastical flourish.

I took my time selecting the best of the Dragon Wagons....some of these weathered ones were just unacceptable!

I did buy one Dragon Wagon at £18.99, but I would only buy another if I could get hold of an unweathered version and weather it myself. At £18.99 I expect better!

Now :

WARNING

I had a good look at all the new soldier sets from FOV. They were all priced at £6.99 and I would have bought the German Cavalry set and the Cossacks and the US Medics for the look of them, and to add variety to my existing sets of 1.72 model soldiers.

I did not buy any of the sets because all the horses which I viewed ( and I went through about a dozen boxes ! ) were DRUNK ! They fell this way and that way. In fact any way, but upright!

Also, most of the figures were a bit wonky, and almost all of their weapons were badly bent out of shape! This is the result of bad curing ( when plastic is cast it should be left to set properly for up to 48 hours, according to the type of plastic ), or the result of two months travelling in an over-heated container!

Whatever the problem is, you guys who buy your stuff by mail-order should be aware of this.

I liked the sets which have become available, but I looked through about 20 boxes of various sets and could not find one which I would buy. The German Cavalry set is a particularly useful one because it depicts soldiers on the move, but not in combat, and it would suit any of our members looking for a few figures to animate a display of German armour. There is a handcart, telegraph pole, some sandbags, etc. The mounted german appears to be asking directions, and one of the soldiers is helping him. I would have bought this set in a flash if it had not contained a drunken horse!

The US Medic set is dramatic and animated. I would have bought it too if the two medics had not been running at an angle of 60 degrees from the horizontal ( perhaps they were dodging one of those guns which fires round corners ! )

The Cossacks set is just as animated as any of the earlier soldier sets. The Mounted figure has his horse leaping at the enemy, sabre drawn and looks deadly. His horse appears to be over-scale. The crouching/kneeling figures are well done, but unremarkable. A good set to go with all those T34s from Dragon!

Check these out in a store, if you can, and insist on buying them only if they come up to an acceptable level of "set ", as far as pose and weapons are concerned!

HAPPY HUNTING,

MoMo