Obviously with a
too-long wait for the modern Russians and US troops, the scenario tended to
involve the NATO Germans 'going bad' and having to be sorted out by the British
set, a bit jingoistic maybe, but; kids huh?!
Limited to only seven
poses, they were otherwise a quite good
representation of the British squaddie of the day, and only a few years later
(1984) I would myself be garbed in a similar fashion! Consequently I know the
weaknesses in the set only too well, and they aren't vast.
We'll look at the
webbing/PLCE further down, but suffice to say the gunner is holding the bi-pod
legs which he wouldn't because they just come-unclipped and spring-open, if
you're going to hold them you hold them more firmly as a 'handle' away from the
barrel, also they haven't been sculpted substantially enough, but it's a minor
quibble.
More serious is the
anti-tank gunner, who should be holding something several times the size! The
Karl Gustav 84mm was a huge beast with idiot-legs on a big spring while it's
replacement - the MAW80 (Medium Antitank Weapon) was A) equally huge and B)
still years away when these were issued, so, like Cherilea's swoppets, the
weapon depicted here is a fantasy 'Euroweapon' of the artists imagination,
based on a conglomeration of any number of other weapons.
Puttee's would be
phased-out quite soon after the issue of this set also; instantly dating it!
The real problem with
the set is the belt-order, there are three basic types of belt-order, which -
in order of lightness - are;
- Range-day
- CEFO (Combat Equipment, Fighting Order)
- CEMO (Combat Equipment, Movement (or 'moving' or 'marching') Order)
Range order would be
the two front pouches, a water bottle and - depending upon the whim of the
officer or NCO-commanding - the respirator case. Dropping the respirator case
was rare (as we had to be ready for WWIII to break out in six minutes - even on
a quiet day!), but did occasionally happen.
'Cefo' consisted of
all pouches, but no packs or digging tools, while 'Cemo' was the whole bloody enchilada,
the full donkey-load, large pack or 'Burgan' and digging tool with probably
50-rounds for the GPMG, maybe a couple of mortar bombs or a grenade or two and
(if your luck was in) a spare battery for the radio!
These guys, without
exception, have no water bottle pouch (always present) and no respirator case;
almost always present? Now I think I'm repeating myself here, as the same
criticism is true of the Deetail/Super
Deetail figures from Britains,
who we've seen on the home-Blog several times . . . and the explanation may
have been the same there; the limitations of sculpting?
To wit; that there is
no room in the relatively inflexible world of moulded (set) polymers for the
respirator case at least, the water bottle should be there, and there is
room?
Having just mentioned
them; the first of what will be few comparisons, I'm not going to run them next
to all that 1950's 'Khaki Infantry' output, they are two far removed from what
the Airfix set represents, but maybe
we'll look at the late HK additions to Herald's
set?
Here you can see the Deetail figures suffer from the same
lack of both water bottle pouch and respirator case, but do have the
kidney-pouches closer together which is more accurate than the gap seen on
Airfix's figures. He's a slightly better pose to, leaning into the recoil.
With all four common or 'production'
poses; as mentioned already both ATW firers have some weird thing referencing
most of the weapons of the time (1980's), but both are far too small to be the Karl Gustav 84mm of British army use at
the time (and the SAS wouldn't have bothered faffing about with such an
unwieldy lump of heavy shite), yet are equally too large to be the 'sixty-six'
(mm) licence-built US 'Bunker Buster' or 'door-knocker', which doesn't have a
venturi either - the cone-shaped bit at the rear.
You can see the Britains figures are heading toward 60mm, and while some of that is
explained by the deep, die-cast alloy bases, not all of it is and they are actually
quite big lads!
The gunner; as one
myself, it's obviously my favourite pose of the seven, but the belt of link
round the shoulders is a bit Audey Murphy, good in movies and likely to be seen
in the ranks of the late 'Mad' Mike Hoare's mercenaries or their Katangese
opponents, but frowned upon in the British Army.
A short belt (15-20
rounds) would be carried in the gun, ready for immediate action / return of
fire, the rest of at least 200 rounds would be in the front pouches, with the
No.2 having another minimum of 200 on his person (along with his four magazines
of 20 for the SLR), the rest of the section being loaded with a minimum of
50-round (quarter) belts each.
The reasons for not
carrying belts around like this are myriad, but the obvious ones are;
- Rounds get dirty/damaged and jam the mechanism when used
- Links get semi-parted/stuck/damaged and jam the mechanism when used
- Links break fully and rounds are lost
- Belt gets hooked up on equipment and can't be used quickly
- Belt gets hooked up on equipment which then can't be used quickly
- Percussion cap is accidentally detonated leading to injury or death of gunner or comrade/s
- Can be seen by snipers from miles away
- Are bloody uncomfortable after the first twenty yards
- The rounds and the carrying-strap (missing on the above sculpt but utterly necessary when carrying 26lb's of steel around) can't - practically - occupy the same space
Looks great on a
Mexican bandit, but it's a no-no in real life, doesn't stop people draping the
stuff all over themselves, whenever they get the chance though, usually around
camp/bivouac when 'bombing-up'!
I think these are
relatively current Chinese production rather than the Turkish Pilsen (who did pirate some of those
later sets - thanks for reminding me Chris Smith), and their quality is too
poor for the neighbouring Greece's Solpa,
so China looks likely, but I stand to be corrected.
The swansong of Briatins Deetail was really more of a tragic tailing-off, as an
attempt to stave-off the advance upon the play-rooms' of the world by ravening
hordes of 4, 5 and 6" action figures was met with a stab at popularising
2" action figures, a situation not helped by Britains choosing to anchor their feet and paint them as if they
were attending 'Military-Man Monday Mayhem' at the Blue Oyster Club! Indeed, I think the grenade thrower is already
halfway through the YMCA dance!
4 comments:
I received them in the early 80's, I don't know the source. Hope these photos are useful to you.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JmwQvxwpgAh4Lqt46
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tMiTWy2r2bN2GKk27
Very interesting Atelier, thanks for the links too, they are thicker bases as well . . . are they resin (PE)?
H
Those soldiers are plastic.
Cheers Atelier, so two lots of copies as least! I don't know if the Greeks copied them as well, I know Solpa copied the Modern Germans (as Greeks).
H
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