Plastic Soldier Review - Revell Prussian Infantry

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Revell

Set 02572

Prussian Infantry

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

Stats

Date Released	1992
Contents	48 figures
Poses	12 poses
Material	Plastic (Medium Consistency)
Colours	Light Grey

Average Height

26 mm (= 1.87 m)

Review

The Seven Years War was a conflict of brilliantly coloured uniforms and large set piece battles involving all the major European powers on several continents. It is therefore surprising that for a very long time only Revell produced any figures for it. This set of Prussians was the first of those sets.

First of all the 12 poses are split between musketeers and grenadiers, which means there are very few for each type. Revell decided that all the grenadier poses were to be advancing, and all the musketeer poses static or marching. This means the figures' actions are consistent with each other, but if you want an advancing musketeer or a firing grenadier then some work with knife and glue is required. The poses are generally acceptable, and it is nice to see a flag bearer, a drummer, a sergeant/NCO and two officers, one mounted.

Where this set really disappoints is in the quality of the detail. This must rate as one of the poorest sets Revell ever produced, with vague and often indiscernible detail making painting a real challenge. This is a pity as where detail is evident, the designer has done a good job. The uniforms appear to be accurate, and the peculiarities that identify these men as Prussian are also evident - for example, the hair worn in very long queues.

However there are some issues with accuracy to highlight here. To begin with, all the men carry their knapsacks, which are correctly modelled, but which were supposed to be left behind before going into action, although exactly how often that was possible is unclear. Also, no man has a visible canteen, which should appear between the knapsack and the haversack, nor the tent pegs that were generally carried. Lastly the figures are much too tall for the average male height of the time.

The NCO and officers also have their failings. While the sergeant or NCO correctly bears a cane on his coat as a mark of rank, his half-pike is rather too short, and the same is also true of the spontoon of the officer. Mounted officers would normally wear a coat without turnbacks, but the coat on this figure appears to have both full skirts and turnbacks, though again detail is indistinct. Finally, as far as can be seen neither officer wears the gorget that was standard garb and was plenty large enough to be very visible.

The apparent inaccuracies in representation are much less important than the poor overall look of these figures. Whether this is a fault in the sculpting or in the making of the mould is not clear, but this is a very poor effort from a major manufacturer.

Ratings

Historical Accuracy	8
Pose Quality	7
Pose Number	5
Sculpting	5
Mould	7