Introduction

Riich Models’ “Livestock Set Volume 2” continues their line of animals suited for 1/35 (Military) modeling. The “Volume 2” set comes with a standing grazing horse, a standing cow, a lying down cow, and two birds, one a black pigeon and the other a white pigeon with wings spread. The cows have horns and are not grazing whereas the horse has its head down, nose barely touching the ground with mouth closed. The pigeons come with oval bases although modelers may opt not to use them.

Contents

Horse

• Head
• Ears
• Mane
• Two body halves
• Tail

Standing Cow

• Head
• Horns and ears piece
• Two shoulder halves
• Two body halves
• Udder
• Tail

Lying Cow

• Tail
• Right rear leg
• Two body halves
• Two shoulder halves
• Horns and ears piece
• Head

two pigeons with two oval bases.

Review

The animals appear proportional and look very realistic. The light gray plastic moldings do not have any sinkholes, air bubbles, blobs, or apparent errors. I did not detect any noticeable flash although there are some minor seam lines along the body halves that will require sanding.

The thick plastic offers advantages when assembling these animals. The plastic’s thickness allows for ample gluing surfaces and also prevents the hollow body halves from caving inward when assembled using the pin-to-hole construction method. The pins themselves are short and rounded, typical of the pins and holes found when assembling model airplane body halves. Nonetheless, Riich Models sculptors engineered plenty of pins and holes so the body halves should not separate once glued together.

The Horse
The horse appears proportional with a height of around four feet in 1/35 scale. The sides have subtle creases to denote the rib cages and most of the major anatomy muscles are delineated by soft curves and folds. Protruding veins around the top of the legs add an interesting realistic feature with no two veins appearing alike. The mane and tail have sharp ridges and trenches, very crisp and fine, to symbolize hair as if groomed and combed by a handler. Most of the sprue connectors are in locations that won’t appear to the eye, such as on the bottom of the hooves and the gluing surfaces; however, there are some sprue connectors on the top of the horse’s back and neck that require sanding flush in order not to show. Overall, the horse looks great in terms of proportion, size, scale, sculpting, and realism.

The Standing Cow
Similar to the horse, the Standing Cow looks very well done. I did not see any noticeable flash or casting errors. There are noticeable seam lines running down the legs and belly that will have to be sanded smooth. The sculptor added soft subtle rounded protrusions for the major rear limb bones that add character to the hips of this cow. The udder has four teats that appear nicely done with a large gluing surface underneath the belly. The wrinkles in the leather have a nice soft appearance, especially on the shoulder shanks. This has got to be one of the most realistic-looking 1/35 cows one could buy in plastic and a strong competitor against even the resin cows on the model market today.

The Lying Cow
Again, soft grooves in the body indicate where the ribcage is, making for a nice touch. The smooth curves and indentations match the box art well and seem to correspond with the anatomy of a real cow lying on its belly. The tail (along with the tails of the other animals in the set) appears to have the proper length with a nice thick peg at one end to fit in the hole at the cow’s rear (no pun intended). Once glued on, there should be no way the tail will separate from the body. The shoulders, heads, ears and horns do not have pins-to-holes and should be assembled using the thickness of the plastic as gluing surfaces. This could be tricky as one has to align the halves perfectly to each other and to the other body parts.

The lying cow’s left rear leg seems to be missing, the piece just wasn’t made to indicate one hind leg being tucked under the cow’s belly. At first, I thought this was odd…a three-legged cow…but thanks to the internet’s online photos of a real lying cow, the position of the leg tucked underneath has merit and realism and when the leg is tucked under the belly, there is almost no hip muscle hump to show this. Thus, the sculpting of Riich models lying cow’s hind quarters appears accurate. The underside of the belly has been sculpted flat to lie level with the ground and the front legs protrude out from each body half, but not very far outwards. The lying cow should make a nice addition to any 1/35 vignette requiring one.

The Pigeons
The birds are cast in one piece with their triangular feet cast as a separate piece. Proportions appear accurate with practically no flash and very minor seam lines. Cast a little plump, both pigeons don’t have much detail at such a small scale except for the engraved lines indicating the feathers on the wings and tail. Eyes are merely indented holes. Two optional oval bases are included.

Conclusion

Riich Model’s “Livestock Set Volume 2” could be the answer to modelers seeking farm animals for their vignette. The sculpting quality and realism has the hallmarks of a top-notch plastic kit with nice soft subtle wrinkles in the animals’ leather and smooth curves to denote muscles and bones on the flanks. Engineering features are well thought through with plenty of pin-to-hole fittings and sprue connectors in places the viewer will not see. The only noticeable downside apart from the seam lines could be the subtle softness in detail and molding, but being animals with leather and skin, the fat of the animals often hides refined edges. The animals and birds included in this set are some of the best 1/35 plastic offerings on market and will give even 1/35 resin animals a “run for their money” in terms of competition.