Introduction

Some time ago now Zvezda started releasing 1/72nd kits for a series they titled “Art of tactic”. This is a Zvezda product line used for war gaming. Although this is a scale modelling site and not war gaming site I feel and belief that these figures deserve a closer look from a modelling perspective as they are perfect for Braille scale dioramas, simple bases or vignettes. This set is dedicated to World War 2 British infantry.

Contents

In the box we get five dynamic figures in 1/72nd scale, of which one is duplicated, a simple base and flag for playing a game and a game card. For the purpose of this review I have named the figures with the letters A, B, C and D. When I will refer to a particular figure I will use one of these letters.

Review

I realize that during the six years of World War Two uniform detail and types of equipment changed, but in this scale all these changes are impossible to be noticed. At least I can't from my point of view.

Zvezda have designed the figures in the snap-fit style what means they do not require glue for assembling. The figures consists of three or four parts except the one of the kneeling officer “A”, which is moulded as a complete figure. A test build of figure C, which represents a walking/marching soldier, revealed a very tight fit of the parts, so tight in fact it was difficult to separate the parts. Although generally good, the fit is not of the same quality as in some premium quality resin figures and there will always be visible joint lines with attached limb, these will require some filling according to the best scale modelling standards but thankfully you won't have too much work here.

To judge the details in this set is a bit problematic for me. For sure cutting the whole figure into a few separate parts enabled the producer to enhance the details in the places which otherwise would not be possible. This also has one more advantage; if you have some sculpting skills you can easier adjust the pose of particular figure to the scene or terrain, just as you like. Before assembling you will need to examine parts carefully to find and remove the seam lines, which are very small but still noticeable. The fineness and sharpness of details can't be compared with resin by any means; however for the injected moulded plastic technology in this scale it is still good. Some details especially on areas like the face seem to be somewhat fuzzy. The same parts are also made with different quality. Take a look please at the satchel on figure C, it is missing straps on the front and details on the side while on figure D (part No. 8) all these details are present.

Conclusion

Some of the very strong assets of this set are the attractive poses of the depicted soldiers which can be arranged in a wide variety of situations: such as guarding, a marching column, a fire fight or even attacking. Another good point for this set is its low price, which makes for a good ratio of price to happiness worth serious consideration.