Plastic Soldier Review - Esci 'Scots Greys' British Cavalry

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Esci

Set 217

'Scots Greys' British Cavalry

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

Stats

Date Released	1985
Contents	12 mounted figures and 12 horses
Poses	5 poses, 3 horse poses
Material	Plastic (Medium Consistency)
Colours	Brown, Cream

Average Height

24 mm (= 1.73 m)

Review

This first cavalry set from Esci depicts the famous Scots Greys at Waterloo. The 12 figures are made up of four poses waving their swords about, plus a trumpeter. The poses are OK without being anything special, but they are competently executed and the detail is good. All the men wear their waterproof oilskin covers on their bearskins, as they did at the famous charge, and are accurately clothed throughout. Unfortunately the swords look less than daunting, as they are sculpted with blades of between eight and ten millimetres. This gives a scaled blade length of 58 to 72 centimetres, whereas the real thing was a much more terrifying 89 centimetres. These men seem to be wielding knives by comparison, which detracts from their supposed heavy cavalry appearance.

There are three horse poses, all with pegs on their hooves to fix them to separate bases. Unlike the Airfix cavalry sets, however, these pegs are a good size and fit the holes tightly, so they will stay standing. The horse poses are also OK, but none have reigns. The tails should be docked, or shortened, as was the custom for British dragoons, but these are sculpted as natural. Also there should be a rolled cloak across the front of the saddle, partly covering the pistol holsters, but this is missing. Finally all the animals have circular mould marks on them, which greatly spoils them and is not easy to remove cleanly.

This was an improvement on earlier cavalry sets by other manufacturers, but the limited range of poses and the complete lack of an officer mean this could have been a lot better.

Ratings

Historical Accuracy	8
Pose Quality	6
Pose Number	7
Sculpting	8
Mould	7