THE FOUNDRY LTD,
1549 MARVIEW DRIVE,
WESTLAKE, OH 44145
440-871-4587
440-892-5887
WWW.ICENTER.NET/~GISBY

THE FOUNDRY LTD continues to add to its growing range of 28mm ACW figures. This issue examines their new artillery, artillerists, and, fittingly enough, their Zouaves.

The 10 lb. Parrott (SSG 81) and the 12 lb. Napoleon gun (SSG 80) castings are but two of the five new arrivals from the workbench of Norman Swales. (The other three available are a 3 inch ordinance rifle, a 6 pound smoothbore, and a 12 pound howitzer.) Both guns are well cast, with very little trace of flash or seam lines, a great boon with artillery as cleaning those bzillion spokes on the carriage wheels can be mind-numbingly tedious. I also appreciated that the wheels were 'true', not exhibiting that puzzling warp that we often see in other manufacturers. (Perhaps we should excuse this to the many ruts found on those nasty pre-interstate Virginia roads...

I particularly liked the attention to detail in such things as the cannon elevation screw, cast directly to the gun, which was molded on the longish side to allow the modeler to cut it down to match whatever elevation he sees fit. I also liked the wonderful wood-grain texturing given to the carriage.

I only have two minor criticisms. The first is that while the guns fit in well with 'true' 25mm figures, they are somewhat diminutive when set next to with Foundry's 28mm artillerists.

Secondly (and this is getting rather particular), it would have been nice to see Foundry offer the appropriate carriage for each type of gun. All of their guns come with the #2 carriage (for medium artillery), which is fine for the Napoleons, but the lighter Parrott rifles and 6 lb. smoothbores would have had the smaller #1 carriage. In reality these are more observations than criticisms, and these guns truly cry out to be used in that "gorgeous field of fire".

A gun, is a gun, is a gun, and quite useless with no lads to load and fire it, so lets look at two crews from Foundry's line of four. ART 1 is a crew in the midst of firing their cannon while ART 3 is a crew loading. Both are smooth, well proportioned sets with the standouts being the excellent animation of the gunner pulling the lanyard in ART 1 and the laconic crewman leaning against the wheel in ART 3. As a bonus, included with each pack is a rammer, screw, water barrel, along with a casting of a powder keg with a stack of shot. It's details such as these which give chutzpah to a wargames battery, but I almost wonder if these little gems wouldn't be better being packaged with the guns, but hey, who's to say...

Next are the eight figure set of advancing Zouaves (ACW Z3). All the castings in this pack are in a sloped arms position with each casting having some head variation. Sometimes Foundry figures can be a bit too 'smooth', making it difficult to pullout those highlights and shadows, but these baggy trousered fellows have an abundance of creases and folds in which a painter can easily detail. Though the head positioning and faces offer some spice I found the body pose to be somewhat generic. (Then again they are supposed to be in a line of battle and thereby should be somewhat uniform. Yadda, yadda, yadda Whatever.)

The new "Zouave Command" pack (ACW Z6) consists of seven assorted figures with various headgear. The figures depict an officer, drummer and standard bearer in an 'advancing' and 'at rest, pose. Also included is a single figure of a Zouave calling to his comrades while gesturing ahead. These are beautiful castings. I particularly liked the officer, sword drawn, growling out an order to his men very elegant animation.

To poison the well somewhat, I found two casting errors in this pack, the advancing standard bearer was missing his left hand, while the pointing Zouave's right wrist lacked the indentation to accommodate his separate hand and rifle.

All of the above figures measure 28M on the Barrett Scale. One of my chiding comments with Foundry figures is that the majority of their models are remarkably healthy and well-fed - they all look as if they came fresh out of the depot. It would be nice to see a runtish, scrawny veteran to spice up the firing line from time to time.

As many may already know, Foundry is moving to offering all its castings only in packs, and will no longer be able to fill orders on the basis of individual figures. While this may be controversial to some, if it can ensure the continued production of its current high caliber castings at a reasonable price then be it.

Nevertheless, with niggling comments aside, it is my opinion that these are amongst the most beautiful models available for the period, and should find themselves a welcome addition to anyone's collection.

More Foundry Figures in Review (Zouave v12n2)

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