Legend Productions has become one of the go to producers of late for on board stowage, among other things. Now they have taken some of the very nice ammo crates available in update and stowage sets and made them available in separate detail sets of their own.
Review
Legend Productions have recently released the following three sets of US munition crates; M1917 .30 caliber ammo, .50 caliber wooden ammo crates, and Mk. 2 grenade crates. The .30 cal and the grenades come 8 to the package, while the .50 cal comes with 10 crates in the box. Each of these is very well molded, completely flash and bubble free. The fasteners and strapping, as well as appropriate handles are all there. They do all have a rather large pour plug attached but if that is the price for a perfect casting I don't have any problem with it. Each of the three sets comes with its own small, yet comprehensive, decal sheet.
I had to see what one of each of these little gems would look like when painted and decaled up, more for myself than the review! I cut away the pour plug with a razor saw and sanded the bottom of each of them down flat. I would recommend some kind of a mask when working with this product as the odour gets a bit heavy when cutting and sanding.
After clean-up I painted each with a different shade of green; olive drab, olive green, and panzer green just to have a bit of variety and knowing that the colors would vary quite a bit from different manufacturers. After allowing each to dry I started on the decals,4 decals on each box of .30 cal ammo and 7 for each crate of grenades. The prize went to the .50 cal ammo with 9 decals for each crate! It felt a bit like adding 'No Step' decals to a 1/72 modern aircraft if you have ever gone down that road.
I gave a quick hit of future, then followed up with a filter or two to add a bit of depth, closed with a coat of matt varnish and called it done.
Conclusion
Regardless of the number of decals, I thought each crate looked great. These will work very well as stowage on virtually any WWII US armor or as a load in a softskin. What I appreciate is that you don't have to raid an expensive update set for a couple of nicely detailed ammo crates.
SUMMARY
Highs: Detail is well done throughout. Decal sheets are very comprehensive and really dress up the finished product. Lows: None beyond safety concerns of working with very strong chemical odors from resin. Verdict: Highly recommended. Would look great atop many US vehicles.
Our Thanks to Legend Productions USA! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
About Rick Cooper (clovis899) FROM: CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
I have been modeling for about 30 years now. Once upon a time in another century I owned my own hobby shop; way more work than it was worth. I tip my opti-visor to those who make a real living at it. Mainly build armor these days but I keep working at figures, planes and the occasional ship.
These look to be a nice and very useful set. The decals are the element that gives it the edge for me. If I built US subjects I would definitely get some of these for vehicle cargo or defensive positions. It would be nice if someone did British grenade boxes with markings. I know Resicast do some British ammo cases but no grenade boxes. In fact be even nicer if someone did packs of Mills bombs as as far as I know ICM are the only people that do them in their WW1 set and you only get a couple. I've bought quite a bit of Legend stuff over the years and have never been disappointed as pricewise they seem to be cheaper but of high quality.
What would be really useful is a variety pack, something that a couple of crates of each of the major combatants MG ammo with appropriate decals for each. I would buy one but I might be the only one!
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