Airfix Modern British Infantry: 1/48 Plastic

I recently purchased a box of Airfix modern infantry with the idea of using them with my Green forces.  On paper, this seemed like a good idea as my few 1/48 HLBS modern infantry figures (a range now sadly defunct) match pretty well with the other figures I have.  The back of the box image sold me on the purchase. The poses are fairly static in patrolling mode but there looked to be some useful guys in the box.

The raw materials.  The figures aren't multi-part in the sense of having a lot of options right out of the box, although not doubt some customization can be done.  Things fit well enough together (except for the scrawny necks), although the arms aren't clearly defined as to what angle they need to be mounted in order to grasp the spindly assault rifles. Using plastic model glue there's time to make adjustments before it sets, super glue is a lot more problematic in that respect.

As soon as I saw the size of the parts, I knew I had a problem.  From left to right, Airfix, HLBS, plastic army guy:

The Airfix soldier measures 33mm from the boots to the eyes, HLBS is 38mm.  Seems hard to believe a major model company could muff the scale, so we can say then that the HLBS were "heroic" 1/48, a virtual 40mm. Still, I'm curious how the Airfix might scale up against the Tamiya 1/48 WW2 figures, although I'm not about to purchase a box purely in the interest of research. 

Despite his deformity, Private Pencil Neck somehow passed the army's physical exam.

No, they just won't do.    

BrickArms Conversions 2 - Plastic Army Men

Now for some Green army troops.  The BrickArms HCSR sniper rifle is a dead ringer for a Barrett .50 cal.  Although that's large piece anyway, if I had it to do over I would shaved a few millimeters off the stock as the figure is still undersized relative to the weapon (although this is somewhat exaggerated by the angle of the photo).  The prone figure started life as a New Ray machine gunner.  The spotter is New Ray as well.  The guy converted from an M16 to the MP5 was shown unpainted in the previous post.

Painted in acrylics as always, photographed outdoors.  Gloomy outside today outside but the rain held off just long enough to take a few photos.

Re-Arm with Brickarms: 54mm Plastic Army Men

Recently I looked into Brickarms, the miniature weapons line designed for Lego minifigs.  I have little interest in collecting Lego figurines and doubt that I would have at 7 years old either, had something like that even existed back in the 1950's.  Aesthetically, they just don't appeal to me.  The weapons do, however.  Chunky in proportions but capturing the essence of the real thing.

http://www.brickarms.com/

I wasn't sure about how they'd suit 54mm, 1/32 plastic figures, but ordered some examples to find out.  The idea was to test how they'd work out using cheap clone soldiers as the guinea pigs for conversion.

Let's see what we've got here.  First up, our subject comes from Toy Soldiers Depot, "Modern Plastic Figure Set #2".  These are US-styled troops, something of a mixed bag in scale and style but plenty of useful guys in this set. The Combat Storm rules specify MP5's for Special Forces squads, so here goes the first attempt:

Original left, conversion right. Shimmed the base for stability. 

Next up, TSD's bizarre set "Modern Style Rambo "Punk" Soldiers. What you get here is 50 guys in 5 different poses, molded in green and gray plastic. The sculpting varies from decent to comically bad, often on the same figure.   But, at 10 cents per man, not a huge investment.

Bulked up the weak left arm and hand a little.

The mini SMG works out rather well for Cpl. Hair Gel

Okay, how did I do here ?  While somewhat oversized, the Brickarms didn't turn out too bad. Particularly as the Rambo figures are cartoonish anyway.  I used Green Stuff (my first experience with it) to build their hands around the weapons and bulk up certain areas of the figures. The beret conversion on the Mohawk guy wasn't a success, his head is rather oversized to begin with and what I did just accentuated the flaw.

And the final result:

"Mullet Squad, move out !"

All in all, I think the result is satisfactory. I'll be able to make an acceptable squad of Tan Army soldiers out of these.

Green vs. Tan - Send in the Clones

On the home stretch now with the A-H Hussars.  Should have pictures in a week or so. In the meantime, here's some more miscellaneous stuff from the not too distant past.

These are mostly all cheap plastic army men straight off the discount and grocery store racks. You know the type, "Attack Force !" etc., 40-45mm clones of their superior 54mm brethren. I wonder how many kids actually play with them these days ?  As a lark, I tried out painting them like wargames figures. 

Green. Mixture of guys here, the tanks are LeClercs. One diecast, the other a paper model.

Tan.  The soldiers are a real mixed bag: some Airfix clones, an old Rambo set,  a Timmee style machine gunner who started life as a dayglo Walmart birthday cake decoration, and a couple of Green Berets gone rogue. I built the T-90 and BTR-80 from 1/48 Korean motorized kits. I believe these have been recycled through a few companies, now, Frog-Fuman, Bandai, now Kitech. The fit quality ranges from decent to abysmal depending upon the kit.

Where am I going with these ? Nowhere really. It was a fun exercise but when I get back to building squads for Combat Storm, it will be with the 1/35 - 54mm plastics. There's just more available. For me, part of the fun of playing with army men is the personality of the larger figures.  I've also picked up a few sample Brickarms weapons (intended for Lego minifigs) to convert US weapon-toting soldiers to bad guys. They're quite good, wasn't sure about the scale and consequently didn't get too many. But now that I have them in hand, for the larger 54mm figures I think they'll make for some nice conversions. 

Modern Stuff - 54mm

Sorry, It's been pretty quiet here. I'm halfway through painting a unit of HWG-Modelle Austro-Hungarian hussars and prefer to wait until they're done before I show it.

In the meantime, here's something completely different, things I did a couple of years ago.  First, let's build a Russian tank. $4 from Russian Traditions.  This is a very simple kit produced by Umbum (Umnaya Bamaga). Simple, it uses the familiar old "insert Tab A into Tab B" construction formula.

How's it look ?  Not too bad, really. I've also built a BMP-3 from this company, also an easy build.  That's an ESCI Warsaw Pact figure, a Czech paratrooper.

Now we need some figures.  These are plastic Russian cops, my paint jobs inspired by the Soviet VDV.  Made in Russia, I have no idea if they're still in production but they do pop up on eBay now and then.

And Caipo Americans. Not great, but cheap. You get a bag of guys molded in green & tan (naturally), about half of which look like this and the other half somehow got off a time machine from WW2.