Plastic Soldier Review - Accurate Union Artillery Team

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Accurate

Set 7204

Union Artillery Team

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

Stats

Date Released	Unknown
Contents	18 figures, 8 horses and 2 guns
Poses	8 poses, 2 horse poses
Material	Plastic (Medium Consistency)
Colours	Blue, Grey

Average Height

23 mm (= 1.66 m)

Review

The American Civil War began with mostly muzzle-loading smoothbore and rifled cannon, but many technical advances meant that by its conclusion much more powerful breech-loading rifled ordnance appeared.

This set closely resembles the equivalent set from IMEX as both shared the same sculptor. Two guns have a crew of four each plus an officer. The poses are reasonable, with the man covering his ears being a realistic touch. The kneeling man is too large, being almost as tall as his comrades, and the man pulling the lanyard is missing that piece of equipment entirely. The officer is the best figure, raising his sabre either as a signal or in sheer enthusiasm.

The limber is the biggest problem in this set. It is pulled by a team of four, whereas six horses were actually employed on most occasions. The horses attach via bits of plastic that peg into their sides - hardly the 'accurate' model that might have been expected. Each team has two outriders whose pose is very strange, but the two men sitting on the limber are realistic.

The guns are also far less than perfect. They seem to be generic cannon, with no effort being made to portray the two common types of gun, the Napoleon and the Parrott, both of which have a quite distinctive shape and are considerably longer in the barrel. The 3-inch ordnance rifle would be a better match, but again this was a tapering shape so this would not be a good model. The carriage is a better effort, with some attempt at representing all the details.

The artillerymen wear short coats and forage caps, which reflects the most common uniform worn at the time. Personal equipment is minimal, as would be expected while serving the guns.

The detail on these figures is sufficient, as are the poses. However the limber, with its lack of detail and toy-like attachment to the depleted team, is pretty poor, and the guns are little better. When this set was released it was the best yet made on this subject, but better sets have since been produced by others.

Ratings

Historical Accuracy	5
Pose Quality	7
Pose Number	6
Sculpting	7
Mould	9