Tuesday, November 30, 2010

FiB Russian Mortars and MGs Review

Next up from FiB are 15mm Russians R-INF02 and R-INF03 Mortar and Maxim teams. These appear to late-war platoons (short collared uniforms). Each blister has four weapons and twelve crew.

THE GOOD.
- Again, this is a quality product. Well packaged and crisp detail as well as minimal flash.
- White metal is of very high quality. Very strong.
- The single-piece cast weapons are of very good detail, accuracy and quality, better than most.  In fact, these are the best 82mm Russian mortars I have seen yet. They even have the wheels molded into the base. Maxim MG model is also good.
- Great posed prone MG crew! Ammo belts and figures are all very well cast. There is no "He's laying down so we will skip his face detail" bullshit.
- Face and hand detail is very good. Better than average from other companies for other weapon teams.
- Uniform detail is accurate and very well sculpted.
- Again these mix well with most BF figures.

THE BAD.
- Aside from one figure per team, all of the weapon teams are exactly alike. Not really any different from most other companies out there but...
- Again, most head sizes on figures with caps are much too large.
- Again, helmets look more like UK paras than USSR. Too rounded and no ear-protection bow on the bottom. Strangely enough, they have modeled the outside rivet detail - while a nice gesture, it is completely out of scale for 15mm. Chin straps are also out of scale. IMHO, these are better left off to be painted in.
- There are some issues with the Maxim MG cast. The barrel jacket groves are only visible on half the model; top and left side. This is a small issue in an otherwise excellent one-piece cast.

BOTTOM LINE: 36/40. Highly Recommended!

Accuracy 9/10 - Great overall detail. Poor helmets bring down a 10/10.
Variety: 9/10 - A few excellent poses but repeats bring down a 10/10.
Quality: 9/10 - Strong metal, good packaging, good casting. MG detail issue brings down a 10/10.
Scale: 9/10 - Mix well with BF. Large heads on some figures brings down a 10/10.

Troy

1 comment:

Inkub said...

Thanks Krieg, You just convinced me to buy some Polish early war infantry from FiB:)