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Great Figure Debate 2007
AlanL
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: August 12, 2005
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Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 03:48 PM UTC
Greetings all,

Those of you who were around last year may remember the Great Figure Debate of 2006, lol, lol.

So my questions to you all are:

1. Has there been any significient developments since last year?

2. If so what do you think they are and who is leading the field?

3. Have any of your expectations been met since the last discussion? If so what were they?. If not what didn't appear?

4. What is still missing form your dios figures/animals etc?

5. What messages do you have for the manufacturers this year?

"discalaimer lol, lol"

This can get quite heated, but say what you want!!!

end"

Lets hear your thoughts about developments and what's missing, what's good and not so good and most importantly what you as modellers want?

Cheers

Al
Bodeen
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Joined: June 08, 2002
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Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 04:18 PM UTC
Wow...what a series of questions!!!!

There have been great strides in quality as well as subject matter "diversity".

I must say that I rarely build or buy resin figures, so my only option is injection molded.

IMHO Dragon is leading the way with their Gen2 and "Premium" kits. However....Masterbox, Mini Art, ICM and other Eastern European manufacturers are making great strides. I think the biggest strides have been made in subject matter.
There are far more Russian and American figures (I am primarily a WWII modeller) available now.
There still need to be more British and Commonwealth figures. There are more artillery and armored figures now. Mini Art Models is really steps ahead of everyone else in this respect.

I think the introduction of civilian figures in military kits from Masterbox is also a great development. We need more of them!

My message to the manufacturers.....Keep up the good work! Great strides have been made in the past year.
I would, however, like to see more diversity. Why not a British tank crew or an early war French tank crew or infantry (Oddly enough Tamiya has taken the lead in the French sector)? I would like to see colonial troops, Japanese soldiers, and civilian figures and vehicles to go in dioramas.
Many people I know would buy the more unique or obscure sets.

That's all!

Jeff

RedwingNev
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
Joined: February 07, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 05:57 PM UTC
Dragon may lead the way - as long as you only build German stuff, which is what 95% of their releases the last 12 months have been

Thank goodness for Masterbox with their range of diverse and interesting releases.

All we need now are some more British/Commonwealth releases in plastic...........
AlanL
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: August 12, 2005
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Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 11:53 PM UTC
Hi folks,

I'd have to agree there seems to have been some great releases this last year, mainly on the German side of life but that's to be expected.

There are a lot more French subjects around which is good to see, but no sign anywhere yet of any additional British/Commonwealth chaps from the big boys, apart from some paras I haven't see yet.

Biggest bonus for me are the New Jakeri Figures, great subjects and well sculpted, so that's wher my hope lie for the future.

The Russians seem to be doing well, some good stuff coming out there and the Americans aren't doing too badly although I'm surprisded that with the variety of half tracks coming out there isn't more choice of crews.

The bigggest difference I notice is the shift in subject matter with what seems like lots more versitile poses,

No advances on the WW1 side of life that I know off which is a pity and I'm disappointed not to have seen some new British Plastic Tank Crews but..... who knows.

There's a good range of civilian subjects around but animals, birds and critters are in short supply or very expensive.

For the future I'd like to see more French and British subjects, and I hope manufacturers continue to try and make their offerings as interesting and versitile as possible.

Cheers

Al
Kinggeorges
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Barcelona, Spain / España
Joined: August 31, 2005
KitMaker: 1,380 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:15 AM UTC
Hello,

It's been a long time since I post here.
But witgh a nice subject like this ine, I could not resist !
here are my answers :

1° most significant developments relied in the poses. Either the poses are relaxed, like the skatsspieller of MB, or the germans pows, or in action, but very dramatic and dynamic, like hand to hand fight of MB of the stalingrad german telecommunication group (MB also). For me Dragon is unable to produce this type of set.

2° Masterbox and Miniart are really leading the way. And they are afordable !!! For me Miniart has more artistic talent in the figures sculpting, maybe it's because it's the same guy who work for Tank..I'm not really found of Dragon Gen 2. Ok they have amazing equipements, details, but the construction is so painfull, the torso in two parts needs putty, like the heads...

3/4° regarding poses, I'm fully satisfayied. regarding the nations represented in figures, I'm very disapointed : even more germans, more russians, but no british/commonwealth and no French. It's strange because french and later free french had very handsome uniforms, full of colors (tirailleurs sénégalais, goumiers, infanterie de marine, légionnaire etc) and it change a lot from the traditionnal german helmet or US leggins and webbings....

5°Continue to amaze me, MORE FRENCH AND BRITISH figures, keep the prices afordable.

Best to all of you figures lovers

Julien
jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / España
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 12:16 AM UTC

Quoted Text

1. Has there been any significient developments since last year?


Yep. MasterBox and MinArt



Quoted Text

IMHO Dragon is leading the way with their Gen2 and "Premium" kits. However....Masterbox, Mini Art, ICM and other Eastern European manufacturers are making great strides. I think the biggest strides have been made in subject matter.


All the real ground-breaking work is being carried out by MasterBox - poses, subjects and a truly imaginative approach...
exer
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Dublin, Ireland
Joined: November 27, 2004
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 01:51 AM UTC
Good questions Alan
The response from the Irish Jury


Quoted Text


1. Has there been any significant developments since last year?
2. If so what do you think they are and who is leading the field?


Yes the emergence of Masterbox and Miniart, I think they are the frontrunners in the figure field in Plastic. Jakrei (Note Spelling ) are a very welcome addition as Pete is producing figs not covered by other manufacturers e.g., his “Copper” and “Commonwealth Desert Tank Crew” In resin The Commonwealth tank crew in Battledress from Ultracast was also excellent and though I don’t have them the Para gun crews from Resicast look good. Mk35 are producing some good civilian kits and Alpine Miniatures continue to produce outstanding work.

I’m not that pushed about the Gen 2 sets from DML, for me they are too complexity of build doesn’t justify the end result



Quoted Text


3. Have any of your expectations been met since the last discussion? If so what were they? If not what didn't appear?



To be honest I don’t remember last year’s discussion but then again I don’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday

A commonwealth tank crew didn’t appear but I think we will see one of these from Masterbox eventually.


Quoted Text


4. What is still missing form your dios figures/animals etc?



Some Commonwealth sets along the lines of Miniart “at rest” sets would be welcome or imagine an Eight Army/Afrika Korps “Hand to Hand combat set”


Quoted Text


5. What messages do you have for the manufacturers this year?


Keep it up Masterbox and Miniart, Resicast and Ultracast and Pete from Jakrei keep on trucking.
Hodson
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British Columbia, Canada
Joined: February 11, 2007
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 02:48 AM UTC
I am happy with new kits from Masterbox, ICM, Tristar, Miniart

I just bought the Tristar Afrikacorps and think they are very well sculpted. I would love to see a similar set of Commonwealth Desert Rats in plastic or maybe a set of North Africa special forces containing SAS and LRDG figures in plastic.

An set of Italian Bersaglieri or civilian Partisans would be cool too.



AlanL
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: August 12, 2005
KitMaker: 14,499 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 05:44 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Good questions Alan
The response from the Irish Jury


Quoted Text


1. Has there been any significant developments since last year?
2. If so what do you think they are and who is leading the field?


Yes the emergence of Masterbox and Miniart, I think they are the frontrunners in the figure field in Plastic. Jakrei (Note Spelling ) are a very welcome addition as Pete is producing figs not covered by other manufacturers e.g., his “Copper” and “Commonwealth Desert Tank Crew” In resin The Commonwealth tank crew in Battledress from Ultracast was also excellent and though I don’t have them the Para gun crews from Resicast look good. Mk35 are producing some good civilian kits and Alpine Miniatures continue to produce outstanding work.

I’m not that pushed about the Gen 2 sets from DML, for me they are too complexity of build doesn’t justify the end result



Quoted Text


3. Have any of your expectations been met since the last discussion? If so what were they? If not what didn't appear?



To be honest I don’t remember last year’s discussion but then again I don’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday

A commonwealth tank crew didn’t appear but I think we will see one of these from Masterbox eventually.


Quoted Text


4. What is still missing form your dios figures/animals etc?



Some Commonwealth sets along the lines of Miniart “at rest” sets would be welcome or imagine an Eight Army/Afrika Korps “Hand to Hand combat set”


Quoted Text


5. What messages do you have for the manufacturers this year?


Keep it up Masterbox and Miniart, Resicast and Ultracast and Pete from Jakrei keep on trucking.


Hi Pat,

That sums up well what I'd been thinking although I don't see all the releases. I thought it worth raising this again this year as so many good suggestions got put forward last year.

I can see some great changes but not really on the Plastic British side or French side of life. On that score DML haven't moved forward at all which is a bit disappointing but maybe Mini Art or MB will fill that gap, they seem much more creative.

The resign and metal makers are still dropping in some nice figures, I mentioned Jakrei, but of course Accurant Armour have a couple of new Brit Drivers and the last lot of Tankers from Ultracast were great. Apline and the Ninrod still have a small range so things have improved a little.

One day I might see that .303 Vickers team

Cheers guys

Al
grom
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England - North West, United Kingdom
Joined: July 28, 2005
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Posted: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 05:55 AM UTC
Hi everyone,
got to agree with everything thats been said re MB,Miniart,ICM with the minimum amount of effort and some careful painting you can produce some passable little dios virtually out of the box so to speak.Dragon gen 2 are excellent but they seem stuck with the standard four figure senario two of the more recent releases showed some promise Stalingrad inferno and the gerbirgs mortar set .Yes to more commonwealth stuff a don r would be nice complete with m/cycle directing traffic etcJapanese ,Chindits Aussies complete with owen gun.It could happen!
Regards Phil
Grumpyoldman
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Joined: October 17, 2003
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Posted: Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 07:04 AM UTC
I like the new Masterbox, and Mini Art figures sets. I think they are doing some pretty innovated poses and subjects, and hopefully will continue to move ahead, and bring out more.
I've never been one for the more action poses, but I don't deny those that like them the right to look for more and better sets in the poses they like, as I personally prefer the more relaxed coffee break types. A few more corpses would be a nice touch though, awful lot of shooting and fighting yet no one dies.... Just like American TV.
More diverse subjects would also be nice, again I don't deny those that do German figures the right and opportunity to own a figure of every German that served, but it would be nice to see a few from the CBI, and Pacific. I'd even like to see a new improved set or two of French resistance fighter's, like the old Esci set. How about a set of Filipino guerrillas, Chindits, and maybe some Indian and Gurkha's.
Canjuaan
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Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Joined: June 08, 2007
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Posted: Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 07:45 AM UTC
I'm not mainly a figure modeller and I only built two or three of them in the vast last time, though I've purchased quite a few and was happy with every new kit that was announced because the quality is so good. I love DML Gen2 figures even though they are not as easy to build as a Alpine kit, which is a good crossover. Alpine is the best producer of figures at moment, in my eyes. Hopefully they can keep this high level (they pretty sure will).
I hope there will be (more) modern US soldiers, especially in resin from top-producers like Alpine or Nemrod.
squeeky1968
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: June 06, 2006
KitMaker: 315 posts
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Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 07:35 AM UTC
IMHO,i have to agree with Bodeen on all of his points. NOW FOR THE RANT !!,why is it so damn difficult to find any modern british and german figures,the only way to get these is to pay an arm and a leg through the aftermarket boys (if you can track any down)and i for one cant afford to pay as much for one figure as i did for the kit itself.With all the united nations peacekeeping going on at the moment there is a demand for it among modellers.

Not all troops out there are wearing old glory on their sleeves !.
Kinggeorges
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Barcelona, Spain / España
Joined: August 31, 2005
KitMaker: 1,380 posts
Armorama: 845 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 09:00 AM UTC
Hello,

After reading again the thread, I've notice that nobody talked about Zvezda. Ok all their kits are not really top notch, but I would like to make a special mention to their russian sniper set, which is amazing, original and perfectly detailled, for' only 6€. Such a pity that we cannot find them anymore in the market..cannot be so fast a piece of collection..
And I predict that Zvezda is going to strike again with 2 marvellous kit on mountains troops. I guess they will be released soon as I found on diorama.ru an interesting article (in russian ) gathering informations on german and soviet mountain troops....
www.diorama.ru

Best and nasdrovie

Julien
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