I received the product in about a week from the UK, which is pretty quick turnaround compared to other stuff I've ordered from the UK. The AFVs were very well packed and sustained no apparent damage from their journey. I shall use a series of photos of the product to help illustrate the review, including some comparative shots.
These two shots above give you an idea of the decent job of packaging done by Blitzkrieg Miniatures.
Two shots of the Churchill straight out of the bubble wrap. As you can see the whole thing is only three parts, no super gluing of metal track sections here.
Above is the superb Staghound A/C- it is under their US listing, but could just as easily be under the British list. The little black spots are not flaws, just a bit of dust on the casting.
A comparative shot taken with a pre-painted Dragon Armour Tiger. Looks good.
I am not a rivet counter by any means, and this was the only fault I could find with the AFVs- the Tiger's gun barrel should have those vents on the muzzle twisted around a bit more, like the Dragon version- hopefully this will be easily resolved with some careful cutting and super gluing.
Before you start shouting at your screen, yes I know that the Ready to Roll halftrack is not a Staghound- I don't have another one. The idea of these pics is to give you an indication of the excellent quality of the casting of the Blitzkrieg models. Notice particularly that there are no solid lumps of resin under the vehicles, & and for those who prefer their vehicles unbased you don't have to worry about grinding off unwanted resin.
My verdict is that these are superb castings with a superior form of resin which appears to be less brittle & showed no glaring examples of bubbles or chipping. They are very well detailed, extremely easy to assemble, and should be great fun to paint. If you want to get your tanks onto the battlefield in quick order then this is one of the best options out there at the moment. They are priced at 9.99 (Pounds Sterling) per vehicle or if you buy three of a kind, only 25 quid. At the moment they have a deal running that if you buy any 3 you will get a 4th for free- wishing I'd done this now, but I didn't know what they would be like.
Apart from the little issue with the Tiger's barrel, my only wish was that the option for open hatches was available so I could put my own tank commanders in. Paul assures me that they are planning to do this in the future & may be making some of their own figures to go with them. Keep checking their site for new releases as Paul has indicated that they are working on many other vehicles in 1/72.
I hope you have found this useful. Do yourself a favour and order some, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Sweet! Thanks, we Kiwis had the Staghounds in Italy. Might me have a wee squiz...
ReplyDeleteNo worries Nick. The Staghound is very nice indeed. Not sure what markings to put on mine when I paint it up yet- might have to do a bit of research.
DeleteThanks for posting Sarge. I've stumbled across these myself but wondered if the gun barrels would be brittle and easily broken during play?
ReplyDeleteCheers Steve. I had the same concerns about the gun barrels myself, but they are much more like plastic than resin & appear quite robust.
ReplyDeleteThe Staghound is pretty.... might have to get one.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
DeleteI also like their 28mm vehicles and wonder how they would scale up against Valiant infantry figures.
ReplyDeleteI suspect they may be a bit too big as they are 1/48th & Valiant are large 1/72nd.
DeleteNice looking pieces of kit. Good review John.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. Might not be your cup of tea though Paul, not much to satisfy your modelling skills being as there's not many parts:)
DeleteNot much of a fan of resin vehicles (I own very few), I am very impressed with the crispness of the castings and their detail. Excellent vehicles, and your pics do them justice. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree, many resin vehicles are short on detail & can be brittle. Blitzkrieg utilise 3D printing to help create their masters plus use a type of resin which is less brittle & seems to allow for crisp detail.
DeleteHi John - they do look good. I also like the ready to roll Churchill (metal barrel) who also do a nice Staghound. Another manufacturer well worth a look is Minimi, very crisp castings indeed and tough with it (no, I didn't mean to drop them but in the interests of product testing...)- some of their range is rather unusual, not just the common suspects.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Andy