Introduction

Armorama recently covered news from a British resin manufacturer called Red Zebra, and earlier this week I received a number of items from their range including earlier releases. The items I have received are Fruit and Veg 1, Public Phones, Sports and Holdall Bags, IDF Bags and Equipment and 0.1mm Aluminium Foil. As indicated I am going to look at the Holdall and Sports Bags offering on this occasion.

Review

This is a resin offering from Red Zebra and arrives in a Ziploc bag with a card hanger with 8 resin parts loose inside, the package arrived in a cardboard tray with flip top lid that has ensured that the item arrived in perfect condition.

An examination of the 8 light grey resin mouldings in this offering reveals no issues that I am aware of or should I say locate. Resin does have an issue of air bubbles that can prove problematic if in areas of complex detail or texture, but after running a thin hard edge down the sides of the bottom I still did not locate any bubbles and this is the area most likely to be affected if a vacuum is used. The other issue I have seen when looking at resin is that you will sometimes come across an area that looks as if it was or is sticky and again Red Zebra has done a good job of avoiding the issue.

The bags provided in this offering from Red Zebra all of different designs or layouts and so if all used at the same time they will not represent an unrealistic appearance to a viewer. The bags have all been attached to their casting blocks on the underside and so when removed will hide any rough areas left by the modeller, I will also say that I am pleased to see that Red Zebra has the casting blocks finish inside the edges of the actual product.

The product itself offers 4 closed bags with a very pleasing level of detail that when painted and washed offers the possibility of a very pleasing element on a vehicle or in a diorama. 2 of the bags are partially open revealing a small amount of the contents; this offers a detail that I cannot recall having seen in other similar offerings. The 2 remaining bags are open to a greater extent and show far more of the contents, but the detail does not really indicate what the contents are and so could be clothing, towels or whatever.

Looking at the exterior of the bags I am pleased with the panel detail of all the examples seen here. The handles are well replicated, but I would have liked to see some space between some of them as handles do not always sit tight against a bag. Another good point of this set is that the crease detail present gives the impression of full bags with some weight present, an aspect that is not always well represented.

Conclusion

After having a close look at this product I am pleased with what is offered for the price of £9. It is true that there are some small improvements I would have liked to see in the case of the handles, but I am otherwise pleased with what I am looking at. The bags will add a nice touch to a diorama or vehicle for that matter and should be of use for any period from the 1970’s/80’s to the present day.