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| KITS |
Post WWII/Cold War Era (1946-1990) |
IDF AFV Crew |  |  |
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IDF AFV Crew
Scale: 1/358
Manufacturer: Wee Friends
Price: Unknown
Material: White metal
Introduction
Wee Friends is a brand of white metal figures supplied by Friendship Models,
and recently they have released a set of three Israeli Defence Force(IDF) half figures in 1/35th scale.
In the kit you get three torsos, three heads, four arms, two left and two right, and two “stubs” of arms. These come without any hands and are for the driver, the other two figures represent the Commander and Radio Operator/Gunner. The arms of the Commander and Radio Operator/Gunner look under size to me, bordering on the skeletal and I would suggest they need “bulking” up if the modeller is going for accuracy or wants to show the model that these figures will crew.
The figures I received were clean of flash and do not need any clean up, nor bear any unsightly mould lines, something I have seen on other white metal figures. The three torsos are identical, as far as I can tell, as are the two left arms and the two right arms. The heads are all cast with helmets attached, with the appropriate headphones but no throat mics or helmet chinstraps. The faces show a neutral expression and the detail is a little bit on the “shallow” side when compared to other companies resin replacement heads. However, the facial detail is on a par with other white metal faces I have seen from other manufacturers.
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The webbing detail on the torsos is well done and the various pouches, six on the front and three on the back, all look convincing and in keeping with modern IDF equipment. The fit of the arms is very good, almost on a par with a GEN2 figure from Dragon. However the heads are another matter entirely. It seems to me that the best way to deal with the heads is to file the neck to the appropriate angle rather than use a lot of filler. However even doing this there will still be the need for some filler I believe.
Conclusion
These three half figures make a welcome addition to the IDF figure kits that are available, but considering that many modellers place IDF subjects as second only to Axis subjects in their interest, I cannot but think that Wee Friends have missed an opportunity here. If you want a crew for your Merkava, or any of the M-60 IDF derivatives, then these three half figures should be up to the task. However, if you want to crew a Nagmachon, or Nagmashot, then I would suggest you look elsewhere.
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The torso only figures would mean the large access hatches at the rear of the fighting compartment on the Nagmachon would have to remain closed, otherwise you could see that these are not full figures. Having these hatches closed would not allow the modeller to display the interior in all its glory, thus defeating the purpose of the interior. However, these figures do work well with the aforementioned Merkava kits, etc but could have been much better, especially when you consider the lack of facial expression and the 'skeletal' arms.
My thanks to Ian Hanratty of Friendship Models for the review sample
For full information on all the Wee Friends range, please see
Friendship Models
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| | Discuss this article, 1 of 7 messages, read more: |  Vinnie Branigan | |
| Posted: 21/04/08 10:24:23 23 | A review of a new IDF Crew about to be released as part of the 'WEE' Friends range.
Vinnie |
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