Review; Revell Panzerhaubitze 2000 1/72 Model Kit Modern Auto-propelled artillery tank

Today we review the most modern vehicle we've reviewed yet, the Panzerhaubitze 2000. Developed in the late 1990s, it is still in use and it is considered a state-of-the-art tank, and is starting to be exported to other countries. Probably, it will still be on use for several decades. We'll review the highly detailed Revell kit.

The Box; In the line of Revell, a very detailed artwork, with a lot of convincing power. I am not a fan of modern vehicles, but I specially searched for this kit, as it looks like a modernization of the Tiger Elephant.

The Kit;

it is a fully detailed kit, as one could imagine from such a modern subject. The detail is perfect and plentyful, and with virtually no flash at all. AS you can see it has many intricate details small bits and details on the top of the hull and turret, which have been all nicely done. It's a bit surprising that some of the tools and other removable parts are moulded on to the hull, and others require assembly, the ones of moulded in the hull look quite flat, so the advanced modeller will definitely remove them and substitute them for separate parts. The assembly is easy and the only complicate part could be the tracks which are rigid plastic and have to be glued bit by bit (although you get good long stretches of it).
The biggest criticism I have for this model is the lack of modern crew, at least one men would have been much appreciated, and even more when he is shown on the box artwork, and maybe even more knowing that it is nearly impossible (if it is indeed done) to get modern tank crew for a German tank just like it looks on the box artwork. Besides this, there is no option of leaving the hatches open, as even they are a separate part there is no hole underneath, so you will have to drill and modify if you want to include a driver and give a bit more of life to the model (only the hull hatch has a hole).

The Veredict; 

a very nice and perfect model kit, that can be very easily translated into a superb display piece. Also, being a modern Revell kit you can pick it from a shop or from eBay at a very reasonable cost. As a recommendation, I would suggest buying it from the Revell special set with tank transporter and armoured car, which I tried to search for but in the end only found the separate tank.

The Shown Example

I went for a camouflage I found in the net, a experimental digital camo. I am not sure if it has really been done, but as his operational history is still not over, why not it could be painted like this in a near future? I only applied the generic decals, leaving it without nationality, but it is supposed to be a Qatari example, where it has been exported. The other options are only Germany, Netherlands and Greece, at least up to this date (September 2015), which their camouflages are very similar and standard (the three-toned german modern camo).
 I used Tamiya Clear Blue to get the mirror effect on the visors, and painted with different tones of orange and yellow the lights so they look as if they were open. I applied various coats of dark brown and black paint, thinned with water, to make pop up all the details that Revell has offered us.

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MODERN RUSSIAN PARATROOPERS SPETSNAZ Esci Italeri Soviet Special Forces 80s 1/72 review nº6169 Mars Afghanistan Wars

Hello again and be ready for my friday review, continuing with the Esci saga, the Russian Paratroopers Spetsnaz!;

Box;Firstly, the box leads to confusion. Are they paratroopers, or are they Spetsnaz? are they both? this means everybody is both paratrooper and Spetsnaz, or just a half and half? leaving aside the title, the artwork is nice and better than standard, although it will be much better for paratroopers than special forces such as the Spetsnaz.

Italeri has decided that they are indeed Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces, equivalent to commandos or SAS), and has given them the new artwork, so very like the 1/35 ones, but nice all the same. 

Finally Mars in his copy gives us a unusual box, which seems from a bad 80s movie (I usually hate real pics on boxes, and this is no exception). Although I agree that in this artwork they seem more commandos and less paras, but they don't have anything to do with the contents inside. (attention to the painted figures, which most wear white sports shoes! certainly not very communist!)

THE FIGURES - 6.0 out of 10 - (50 figures, 15 poses)

x6

x3

x1

Detail; 9.0
Pose Quality; 4.0
Anatomical proportions; 10.0
Funness; 3.0
Wargaming Value; 5.0
Historical Accuracy; 10.0

Well, first clarify something; Spetsnaz doesn't have a regular uniform, they just wear any uniform or combination they choose for the job, and they can wear any official or unofficial uniform. 

So let's judge them separately; for Paratroopers, they are just a bit dull, for Spetsnaz they are awfully boring. Really, I think that Esci meant this to be just Russian Modern Army, just a sort of a equivalent for the US modern infantry. Why not making a proper Russian Army? did the Warsaw Pact set fulfilled that role? not really.

If they were to be Spetsnaz, they should be doing all sort of exciting and undercover things, and the only pose that seems doing something of the sort is the crouched sniper. If they are to be paratroopers, at least one pose should be getting his chute, or ready to jump, or whatever Esci wanted to do with a man and a parachute. So thumbs down for funness.

And then we come to examine the figures, and no, I haven't repeated the image of the same man, there is actually 4 (!) poses gripping their gun to the air with berets and just moving along marching slightly. One is moving a bit faster, the other is completely still, and their weapons are slightly different. I call this the worst misuse of a pose in a set I have still seen. It was quite bad with the Vietcong set from Esci, but that was nothing compared to this.

Again we receive no prone man, and no grenade thrower, as in the US Modern Infantry. Neither operating a radio.

Let's continue on the bad. All men seem to be wearing a size less of uniform than the one they need, so although the anatomic proportions are perfect all uniforms seem that they have shrunk in the wash. 

Let's come on the good to brighten this gloomy review. We get 5 unique men, one of them actually writing something, one of the few soldiers to do it. We get a sniper, some anti tank weapons (the pose firing to the air is very good), there is no flash to speak of (but be alert, the Italeri reissue has missing the ends of various machine guns and this can be annoying),  and you get 50 men.


ARMY REPRESENTATION - 6.5
"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

They can be very easily used to represent other paratroopers from other Soviet/Communist countries, or they could be used as Marine troops with some modifications.


PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay and online stores"

Quite good for 50 soldiers, and you can always get some second hand ones from Esci at very reasonable prices.


OVERALL VALORATION - 6.0

Disappointing, for those looking for lively figures. Good if you just want a Russian Army for Afghanistan. But so much more could be done, and they are a bit too similar in poses to other Esci sets. Still, even the failure of Esci can look quite good and decent in modern days.

Conclusion; Lacking style and force, it just covers what is asked for. 

Scroll down to see the painted figures;


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PAINTED EXAMPLES

If you have painted these figures I would love to include them in this blog. Send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com.

Soldiers painted by myself in five different styles;

Here you can get inspiration on other painted sets gathered from the net;

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

Esci MODERN U.S. SOLDIERS Italeri Review In-Depth 1/72 Miniatures Soldiers Figures

Today we review another modern set, in this case we make another Esci review;

Box; The first Esci box, not too bad, but not very good either. The uniform seems small, not as bulky as the modern uniform is. Esci managed much better artworks in other sets. Then comes the Italeri one, with this new style showing us 5 full size soldiers, which makes it kind of look like a 1/35 figure box. The drawings are nicely done, looking much more modern and proper. And it really depicts the poses you get, unlike the Esci (curiously, Italeri labels this set "1990s US Soldiers" when this set was made in 1987!). 

As a final curious note, Mars has copied these figures, without any modification, and not reusing the mould (which strangely they haven't been sued by Italeri) and has released them, giving less figures. There are two versions, in one of them you get 45 figures, in the other 30. The figures are the same, just worse quality and harder plastic. As the image suggests, they try to make you think you are buying modern forces for Irak or Afghanistan, with modern gear on the helmets, and really you get exactly the same figures.

THE FIGURES - 8.0 out of 10 - (50 figures, 15 poses)

x6

x3

x1

Detail; It is a Esci set, so it has a very nice level of detail. Note that the Italeri's reissue has lost quite a lot of sharpness. It is slightly blurred (in the Italeri reissue there are some minor problems like a missing gun point). Everything is well defined and easy to paint.


Poses; I must say they could be better, but all the same, they are much better than some modern sets. You get 15 poses, and the main criticism is that some poses are too similar. Three of the unique soldiers are nearly doing the same, and there are two crouching machine gunners very similar. I miss a prone man a bit; it seems that Esci considers that in modern warfare this isn't common, or maybe just it took too much space in the sprue.


Anatomical proportions; Perfect. I usually consider Esci proportions as the absolute 1/72, the most lifelike soldiers ever made, and this is a very good example of it.


Execution; (how the company has made the figures) In the original, flash was absolutely non-existant - in the reissue you can find a little bit, but nothing to worry about. 


Plastic used; As always Esci used an elastic plastic that when bent, will lose the paint. But Esci used different plastics, brown and tan, the brown above pictured is very shiny and slippery, while the tan grips the paint much better. The Italeri is a semi-rigid plastic, very good to paint and glue.



HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10.0

With such a modern theme (1990s seems today to me) accuracy surely doesn't represent any problem, and thank God Esci didn't make any error with these subject.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 9.5
"The army representation score is the potential of the soldiers to be used for other purposes different to the one originally intended"

One of the problems of the collector of soldiers in modern times (post WW2), is that modern armies have lost their ancient characterization and diversity. One wonders how, if in a neighbouring war in many countries, a soldier will be able to distinguish friend from foe if not close enough to look at the small national flag some modern soldiers carry on their shoulders. 

If for example two South American countries started a war, I wouldn't want to be a sniper having to decide if a enemy is indeed an enemy.

Anyway, these soldiers could easily pass once painted as a myriad of South American, European and Asian armed forces, as many of them use US weapons and a very similar if not copied helmet. 



FUNNESS - 7.0

"I feel that many reviews are oblivious to this point - there are fantastic figures, which you can´t say anything against, but they are just too "correct", maybe too static, and so just boring. So I feel that this is an important point when deciding if you buy a set"


Not bad, it has good and active poses, and plenty of commanders and officers. There could be something better though, like a general or some medical troop.

WARGAMING VALUE - 6.0

 Not good really, maybe in modern armies there are not many different troops to represent, and everything is very standarized. But in this set there are really too many machine gunners. A proper general, a medic, maybe a wounded, a sniper, a grenade-thrower, other sorts of heavy weapons are missing here, and I sense I am even forgetting some other type of soldier.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between every shop you go, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay and online stores"

Again, average. Lately all soldiers are moving around 10 €, and here there are 50 soldiers, so the price is quite good, although you could say "hey, that set has been on the go for 27 years, couldn't it be cheaper?".


OVERALL VALORATION - 7.5

lt has a nice 80s touch, a sort of life which is not to be found in other sets, specially some men like the "Rambo" style machine gunner. But the serious gaps of prone men or grenade throwers makes the 50 figures a bit repetitive.

Conclusion; Still the king on the subject, but with room for improvement. 

Would I recommend buying them over other alternative sets? ; Yes, the Revell soldiers are awkward in many aspects, with very strange choices for poses, even though you do have machine gunners and grenade throwers.

Scroll down to see the painted figures;


If you have enjoyed this review and want to say thanks, the best way is to click in one of the advertisings in the blog. Every little help will be appreciated. 








PAINTED EXAMPLES

If you have painted these figures I would love to include them in this blog. Send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com.

Soldiers painted by myself in three camouflages; Woodland, Desert pre-Operation Desert Storm, and Desert camo post Iraqi War.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!