Introduction

The first set of Iraqi figures from Warriors is labeled Insurgent Guerillas Set #1 (WA 35582). The figures are packed in a small zip-lock bag inside the clear clamshell box. After opening the bag I found the front sight of AK broken. Not something super-glue can’t fix, however adding a protective bubble wrap inside the box would probably be a good idea to minimize the possibility of delicate parts being damaged during transport.


The parts are cast in cream resin. The running figure’s torso is molded in one piece with the legs, while the separate parts include arms, the head and the right hand holding the RPG. The shooting figure is made out of five parts: a torso with the legs cast as a single piece, two arms, the head and the AK with both hands attached. Figures are dressed in casual clothes and both have masked faces. The shooting figure carries a large bag probably filled with military supplies and spare AK magazines around his shoulder. A nice touch about this figure is the sandals on its feet.

Construction

I found a couple of small air bubbles in my Insurgent Guerrillas #1 set, but that could be easily filled with some putty. The clean-up didn’t present a problem; however I managed to break the RPG launcher during the process. Try being patient while removing large resin blocks from delicate pieces during the clean-up as they tend to snap and damage the fragile pieces if you are not careful. Using a sprue cutter for removing larger bits, then gradually cleaning the part with an X-acto knife followed by fine sanding usually does the trick. Locating pins are added to the arms and heads to simplify the construction of the figures. Joining the parts revealed a relatively good fit; some putty filling is needed in the gaps between the torso and the arms. Also, be careful when connecting the arms and hands holding the AK on the shooting figure in order to align the parts properly. In my experience, the easiest way to do this is first joining the hands holding the weapon to the arms thus ensuring the correct fit followed by aligning the arms to the torso. Be patient here; try dry-fitting hands, arms and the torso before even considering opening the super-glue… test fitting will save you the trouble of debonding misaligned parts.

Conclusion

This is the first figure set representing Iraqi insurgents in a fighting scene; one of the figures is running for cover while the other provides support. The poses seemed a bit awkward on the box art, but the figures look very nice in person. If you are thinking of making a close-quarter fight scene in Iraq, this set is an obvious answer.


Thanks to VLS for the review sample!