Miniatures News

PSC Africa korps and 8th army figures

Posted by zulu`s 1000`s of em on 19 Jan 2021, 15:57

I am trying to find somewhere to see the full sets of these guys, PSC seem reluctant to show them, and that alone makes me wary of buying them. Has anyone seen them,bought them (AFRICA KORPS OUT AT THE END OF THIS WEEK) or know of pictures of the full sets, a link would be appreciated,thanks in advance.
zulu`s 1000`s of em  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by Fire at Will on 19 Jan 2021, 17:30

My mate Andy bought the PSC Waffen SS also in Ultracast and he was not impressed. Lovely figures but lots of underfilled castings especially and sticking out elbows. He's not planning to get more until they fix it.
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Posted by zirrian on 19 Jan 2021, 20:08

I wouldn't bother...heads are too big, hands are too small, the Italeri box is much better. Or go AB if you want the very best.
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zirrian  Hungary
 
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Posted by Arkoudaki on 20 Jan 2021, 00:19

My experience with PSC is that they don't post pics of the actual sprues very often due to the fact that they aren't very good. If you can't show me your product I won't buy...but others might...their choice.
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Posted by Minuteman on 21 Jan 2021, 12:43

Fire at Will wrote:My mate Andy bought the PSC Waffen SS also in Ultracast and he was not impressed. Lovely figures but lots of underfilled castings especially and sticking out elbows. He's not planning to get more until they fix it.


By the sounds of things, hardly 'ultracast' then? It is daft (and misleading) to use a brand name like this unless the production quality of the figures really is a lot better than any other casting, surely.

I have a great deal of respect for PSC and have bought many of their products over the years, almost entirely 1/72 AFVs and artillery. I doubt somehow that I will be buying these ultracast figures, especially if they are too 'small' to fit alongside other 1/72 figures...and why would a manufacturer of 1/72 AFVs and vehicles produce a range of figures which are not 1/72 ?? I am also not a great fan of the 'big heads/big helmets' dwarf-like look, which seems to persist amongst some 'serious wargames figure manufacturers' and which looks entirely unrealistic.

The lack of detailed sprue images is annoying. From what I can see these Germans look as if they are all wearing trousers, and have a definite Mediterranean (Italian) theatre look to them.

I note also that support weapons sets are due for DAK and 8th Army. The DAK set will have to be pretty good to better the recent Strelets Mortar set.
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Posted by Ben Bob on 29 Jan 2021, 15:41

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Ben Bob  United States of America
 
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Posted by Fire at Will on 29 Jan 2021, 16:50

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Posted by Minuteman on 29 Jan 2021, 16:57



Thanks Ben Bob,

Both sets look as if they have some strengths and a few flaws as well.

Positives first: The poses are good and useful for the most part, and I particularly like the moving and firing support weapons teams: the British 2 inch mortar is good.

Less positive: There seems to be a fair amount of flash, not major but enough to require a clean-up of mould lines on almost all the figures. It may be my imagination but a few details have also not been fully moulded, eg: two or three of the 8th Army chaps seem to have chips in their helmet rims....battle damage perhaps, but I suspect that these rims are meant to be complete?

The 'big heads, big helmets' issue is less apparent here than on some 20mm metals, but anatomically I'd say that these are less good than, say, the classic Airfix 1/76 Afrika Korps set.

I am intrigued that all of the Afrika Korps figures here are wearing trousers. I'd have thought that a few token shorts would better reflect the 'mix and match' nature of uniforms on campaign in the desert?

Overall?: I'd give these a 7 or 8 out of 10. Will be interesting to see what PSR think.
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Minuteman  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by Fire at Will on 29 Jan 2021, 22:43

I can't find the details, but I remember an instruction from Rommel that shorts were not to be worn because of the number of injuries due to abrasion and subsequent infection/infection bites.
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Posted by Minuteman on 30 Jan 2021, 06:39

Yes, I think you are right on the Rommel directive, I remember reading something along these lines too.

Having said that, the squad here somehow still looks a bit 'smart' to me, but then most figure sets are. One great advantage of having all the figures in trousers is that they can serve as 'summer' German infantry just about anywhere for the 1942-44 period era.
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