The latest offerings in 1/72nd (20MM) soft plastic by Italerei are out, retailing at £ 3.50 a box in The UK.
The first two packs in their American Civil war range are now available. The first of these is 'Confederate Cavalry'. The box artwork boasts a glorious cover, with a unit in full charge . On opening the box, what first hits you is the figures are in a silver grey plastic, no doubt trying to imitate their white metal cousins. However, unlike alot of their cousins the figures are of a quality I have not seen before in soft plastic.
There are sixteen horse riders in total all in slouch hat (except where noted), 3 officer types slashing with sword, 3 firing carbine, 3 slashing with sword, 2 carrying sword in cape - wearing kepi, 1 bugler in kepi, 1 flag carrier in kepi, and another officer with sword at the side. Their is also another figure dismounted and crawling - along with a dead horse figure. The detail on the figures is excellent, and the figures are well proportioned so that mix easily with the better quality white metal figures such as those by 'Qualiticast'.
The sixteen horses are in one piece, unlike the old Airfix offerings. Again the detail is superb.
There are two drawbacks, the first as with all plastic figures - they are difficult to paint, and secondly the figures are a level above any thing else, so it is hard to mix them with Airfix, Esci and Revell figures of the same period.
The second box is labelled 'Union infantry', again in the silver plastic, the quality is exactly the same as the cavalry box, which is highly recommended. On one sprue are 5 kneeling firing figures in kepi, 5 advancing in kepi, 5 walking in kepi, 5 walking in hat with cape and, 5 charging in kepi.
On the other sprue there are another one of each of the above, with 3 figure in kepi rifle over shoulder, 3 kneeling loading in hat, 3 Zouaves loading in kepi, 3 Zouaves firing in tasselled sock hat, and 3 Zouaves charging in tasselled sock hat. There is then a row of command figures, 1 zouave, 1 drummer, 1 standard bearer, and 2 officers.
The same company list Union Cavalry and Confederate infantry for release in July 1998, I for one can't wait.
However, I pray that there are the same quality, as the Crusader and Saracen figures recently released by the same company were not of the same standard.
Again in the silver plastic (which I suspect is going to be the norm) I was very disappointed on opening the box - expecting to find the same quality as the ACW figures, I must say that the figures are well detailed and in each box you get a mix of infantry and cavalry. However they are smaller and the poses are very wooden and flat, in the Crusader box only one pose catches my eye, that of a charging horse rider - however he has a separate lance, and in soft plastic this is purely a pain in the arse.
The Saracens were also disappointing, being of a similar style - that of flat and wooden poses. I was very disappointed.
Taking into account I was comparing them against what was probably the best ever set of soft plastic figures ever - the Crusader / Saracen range had a hard fight. But, then again compare them to a lot of other figures from the likes of Revell, HAT, and some of the Esci figures they are on a different level quality wise. I doubt Italeri will expand this range, but no doubt the ACW range has alot of future potential, as they utilised with their Napoleonic range. Our bank accounts beware, if they venture into World War Two figures.
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© Copyright 1998 by Rolfe Hedges
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