Plastic Soldier Review - Revell British Infantry

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Revell

Set 02523

British Infantry

All figures are supplied unpainted (Numbers of each pose in brackets)

Stats

Date Released	2002
Contents	48 figures
Poses	12 poses
Material	Plastic (Medium Consistency)
Colours	Brown

Average Height

25 mm (= 1.8 m)

Review

The difficulty for many companies wanting to produce a wide range of World War II sets is that they would simply be repeating the output of others. Revell have avoided this problem by making their long-awaited British Infantry set suitable for the late war period, a unique distinction.

The set has the now standard Revell 12 poses, with two men attaching to a separate base. The poses are reasonable though not exceptional, and should prove satisfactory for most uses. The men are clothed and equipped in a highly authentic manner, with mostly late-war items but some variation to reflect the uneven appearance of all armies of the period. This is most obvious with the helmet, which is the Mk III 'turtle' shaped replacement to the familiar Mk II with its rim. However, though all assault troops were issued the new helmet prior to D-Day, the Mk II was still much in use even at the end of the war. The men also wear the standard 'Battledress, Serge' and the Pattern 37 web equipment, which correctly varies between the men as some have got extra ammunition pouches etc. Several also wear the leather jerkin.

Weaponry is equally well represented, with rifles and Sten sub-machine guns being the favoured types. One man is running carrying a Bren Gun while another is prone firing his Bren. We also have a figure carrying a PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) over his shoulder. Finally the 'pair' piece is of two prone infantrymen firing a 2in mortar. All the weapons are appropriate for the D-Day period and nicely detailed.

Sculpting is uniformly excellent, flash is almost non-existent and animation cannot be faulted. At an average of 25mm in height the figures are a little too tall however. Still it is good to see Revell using a bit more imagination and producing a set that adds to others already available rather than simply duplicating them. This is the only historic set Revell have produced for several years, and its quality merely serves to remind us what we are missing now that new sets from them have slowed to a trickle.

Ratings

Historical Accuracy	10
Pose Quality	9
Pose Number	8
Sculpting	10
Mould	10