Introduction

Verlinden Productions has become less well thought of by modellers in the last 10 years or so, partly due to a lack of genuinely new releases and the large number of competing companies. Due to these circumstances and the perceptions of modellers being relayed to new modellers to the hobby and those that have never previously examined products from Verlinden Productions you do not see examples of their products as often as once you did.

Armorama has received from Verlinden Productions a series of products listed as new releases and I will be taking a look at a product titled “Rise and Shine Vietnam”. This product features two figures in their sleeping bags. The main purpose of this review is to give a product from Verlinden Productions a fair assessment without any preconceived opinions.

Review

This release from Verlinden Productions arrived in cardboard box with a flap on each end, on the front of the box is an image of the included product painted and laid out. Inside the box is a Ziploc plastic bag containing all of the cream coloured resin castings. The product consists of 2 figures in sleeping bags with personal equipment.

The two figures depict a soldier in a seated position who is trying to wake himself up and the other who is out for the count. Equipment supplied in the set consists of two jerry cans, two piles of discarded clothing and equipment, one rucksack, one knapsack and a small backpack.

The resin castings look to be free of the air bubble issue where it matters, so the areas seen once placed in a setting are free of air bubbles. The same cannot be said for the hidden faces which have quite a lot of air bubbles present, in this product though that is not an issue. Flash on the other hand is plentiful and in some cases quite heavy; I should also warn those of you unfamiliar with resin products, the flash can be very sharp as I found to my cost, the flash cut through both my sanding pad and me so be careful. In the case of the seated figure the flash was very heavy, particularly at the head end and this will be an area where clean up will take time. To remove the flash I recommend wet and dry paper and the parts being sanded in water, I know I wish I had done it that way rather than wearing a mask. The only issue I found on areas of the castings that will be seen is on the face of the seated figure, on the left side of the figures mouth there is a pointed piece of resin, I believe this is due to the mould having been damaged.

Moving onto the equipment supplied with this set, I was pleased with what is included. The jerry cans are supplied with four separate handles, which is just as well because 1 had broken free and was broken up in the bag and one of the other handles is partially broken on the casting. Everything else looks good with the exception of flash in a number of cases and in others the need to remove the casting block. One odd thing here is that Verlinden Productions has only supplied one rifle. One possible concern is that I am unsure if all of the items in the equipment piles is Vietnam War specific.

Another area where Verlinden Productions has been given a hard time is the subject of scale. I checked the figures against figure by Dragon Models, MiniArt and MasterBox and found the figures to be very slightly on the large side, I will admit I found it difficult to check these figures due to pose and so I measured from below the buttocks to the shoulder. The only place where size really shows up is the hands, or more accurately the fingers which do look a little odd. That being said humans come in all shapes and sizes and as the equipment appears to be well scaled I do not see this as a big issue.

Conclusion

Having looked at this product from Verlinden Productions, I am reasonably happy with it. This pair of figures has been presented doing something everybody does, but an act that is rarely portrayed in model form. Because of how these figures are portrayed I found any scale concerns pointless due to them laying on the ground and not shoulder to shoulder with any other figures and they will make for a nice vignette in their own right. There is no construction to do and so these are easy to use as there are no seams to fill. I do feel that Verlinden Productions should try harder to cut down on the thickness of the flash, but that is the only real complaint I can address to this offering.