I am very disappointed in Mitches Military Models’ Vietnam figures, especially when their figures from other time periods are pretty darn good. I do not understand how someone can get so many details wrong in 120mm when examples of the actual uniforms and equipment are pretty plentiful in the collector world, not to mention the numerous reference books and millions of wartime photographs in publications and on the internet.
I first saw this figure on Facebook and I remember one person commenting on how great the figure was and that the sculptor obviously did their research. I normally do not reply to FB comments much, but this time I had to because if the sculptor had done their research there wouldn’t be so many details that wrong.
In regards to what Klaus-Adler said about remembering someone doing a build and correcting a whole host of issues the kit had, I am not sure I if it was the same person he was thinking of, but I know my friend Rod Crisman built and painted the figure of the Marine behind a tree looking back to shush those behind him and he had redone the pockets (the figure had the RDF pockets from the late 1970s and early 1980s) and a few other things that were incorrect with that figure.
I like the fact that Vietnam subjects are becoming more popular, but I wish those who are producing them would make sure of the details before putting them into production. It is frustrating that all other time periods and Armies are treated with a lot of care and attention to detail, but when it comes to Vietnam War figures, it seems like many are just thrown together with a mish-mash of gear. I remember seeing a few examples of 3D printed figures where the machine gun was a mix between an M60E3 and a M249 SAW. This is crazy when there are so many examples of the real thing out there. It is sad that details in 1/35 scale figures from Bravo 6, Evolution, Paracel, and even injection molded figures like Dragon, Masterbox, and ICM have better details than a 120mm figure. But it may also be because those companies and a few others that I had not mentioned take pride in trying to get the details correct and although sometimes some details may not be quite up to par, they do listen to the feedback of their customers and improve their subsequent releases.
I wish this figure was better because it had the potential to be a pretty good piece, but the inaccuracies kind of ruin it, at least for me, because if I have to correct that much stuff on it, I might as well sculpt my own.
Well, that is my 2 cents on that.
Cheers,
James