Sunday 15 June 2014

Chain of Command Supports (2) Ready to Roll \ Rapid Fire

Not the Dinky Diecast Daimler Dingo's (DDDD or 4D?) I should add.



These are a pair of Bren Carriers and a Humber MkIV from Rapid Fire \ Ready to Roll range, pic also shows the "de-crewed" Valiant 6Pdr. They were bought because they are supposed to be closest to Valiant Miniatures in size \ scale. The static grass is still loose btw and needs work, and there is a fair amount of decalling and detailing to be done if I can be arsed. I think the Carriers are OK but the Humber is still too small for my liking. I'll still use them though.

I would add the Ready to Roll stuff is OK. Less work required than to build a plastic kit, but at the expense of detail and the fact they have a solid resin base. I think they are a stepping stone between the old metal wargaming products (Hinchcliffe \ Skytrex etc) and the new plastic stuff (PSC). They come ready with stowage so all you need do is paint them.

The whole scale \ size thing drives me to distraction. While I appreciate that the height of a man may vary from person to person, the length of a Lee Enfield, or a Bren Carrier on the whole does not. You would therefore assume that getting a suitable scale model would not be too much of a challenge. The problem is we have become used to accepting "20mm" and "25mm" as a scale, which they are not. Valiant are the worse culprits, being too big for "20mm", too small for "25mm" and certainly not 1:72 scale, which is what they say on the box. I should follow that up with some more on Valiant as I have a love\hate relationship with them that is probably worth a few lines and even if not helpful or enlightening to the reader it will probably be cathartic for me :-)


4 comments:

  1. I had a painted platoon of Valiant Germans and another one of British. After spending ages trying to find supprts and vehicles to use with them the hate overcame the love and I sold them both for buttons.

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  2. Scale creep or shrink
    It's enough to drive a man to drink ;)

    Viewed from six foot away nobody can see the difference
    But you know as well as I do, that through the lens of the Wargames Illustrated style camera it don't look right and causes sleepless nights

    ;)

    Nice, nice kit

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  3. What paints do you use for the British Armour Green?

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  4. I used the new PSC British tank green spray on these - but it is pretty much an exact match for the Vallejo "Russian Uniform" (I think its that - or Russian Green?). I'm too old to worry too much about paint colours - in "real life" they vary enormously anyway. I think we get too hung up on paint colours and styles, a bit like in the late 70s \ early 80s when there was a "Historex" style of painting, I think we have a "FoW" style that predominates. It looks nice but "cloned". I think in truth most tanks in the field end up covered in mud and dust

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