Jeff Shiu released a new set of large scale figures depicting British Universal Carrier riders. The figures are designed to fit Gecko Model kit.
I have commented here befor about Jeffs work. I appreciate his posses, but his attention to detail actually sucks. With todays 3d resin options, its a bit much to ask for the amount money for what you get, I am sorry to say. But if you don’t believe me, enlarge the pics and look closely. Caveat Emptor.
I’ve heard similar things from modelers that have actually built his figures; besides accuracy issues they are very rough and require a lot of clean up and the fit of arms and legs etc, was not good. I’ve never built any of his figures myself though.
Well, in this scale you can’t get away with much; yet again, the '37 pat webbing looks adrift with the small pack (that’t the one on the back) bereft of the buckles on the sides and possibly, I can’t make it out quite, the ones underneath which are used to secure the “L” straps in order that the pack can be worn in the first place.
I’ve said it before when commenting on 1:35 figures, there’s not really much excuse for this; there’s more than enough reference material out there let alone the availability of the real things, and say, images of re-enactment groups or even specialist web-sites. It’s not that hard to find.
If, if there’s a photo which shows that the Paras have removed the side-buckles for whatever reason - not entirely inconceivable - then I’ll get back in my box.
One thing that sticks out is the texture on the back pack. Is that a specific piece of equipment or is that just way overdone?
It’s conceivable that it was a fashion amongst some Paras to wrap around the camouflaged face-veil in order to disguise the plain surface of the small pack, (which means this group may indeed have been based on a photo) though I’m not too sure how that would be applied to the straps, as per the pics. The face veil was normally worn as a scarf/cravat (when not, say, draped over the head etc).
Face veil:
Also issued in plain green; used well up until the '90s and possibly beyond. We all had them throughout the '70s and '80s.
Literally used as a veil when the occasion demanded:
Back to the figures; in this scale the trap door for an oil bottle and pull-through which was in the butt plate of the No 4 Rifle would be noticeable:
