Italeri AUTOCANNONE 3 RO with 90/53 AA Gun Lancia 3Ro + Italian Artillery Crew 1:72 Alzo Zero Wargames Approved nº7508 Italian Army truck with cannonAq

Today we make a very complete review, one that is a model kit and at the same time a set of soldiers, the Italeri Autocannone 3 RO.

 A quite impressive and big box, with the yellow round so you know it's not the typical Italeri kit. The artwork itself is a bit dull, and it almost shows the troops more than the vehicle itself. But the subject is too interesting to get distracted by the box.

THE KIT -7.5 >>

Being a fast assembly kit the score is a 7.5. I quite like fast assembly kits, as normally I don't see the reason to make a cab into 23 pieces when you can do it in one or two. Modellers that want further detail can add them buying a special resin set or improving with photoetched and plasticard. 

One of the curiosities of this set is that inside the box there are two sorts of plastic; hard plastic for the truck and semi-soft for the crew and the barrel of the cannon (presumably to avoid breakage). 

The kit itself is basic and of easy assembly, nearly not requiring any glue, but still with good detail. You really get a better result than with some old model kits still reissued today. 

One of the bad points is the lights, which should be round and are blended with mudfaces, and don't even detail with them, which sticks out quite a lot because the other things, even if made in few pieces, still have very nice detail.

The other issue is the dimensions. It is made to fit nicely with the figures, but these are a very large Italeri type.

The resulting kit is very sturdy and ideal for wargaming. With some improvements and dedication, can also become a first class model too.

I would have liked, however, to be able to fold up the feet, to make the vehicle into a moving position. But I understand that would have required many extra pieces, so it will be left to the expert modeller with lots of free time, to cut, sand and create.

EXTRAS - 8.5 >>

8 crew is a good extra really. Maybe some ammunition boxes or something like that would be welcome, but it is something you will have to provide looking in your box of spares.

Now we'll speak about the crew;

Sculpting - 8.0;

Nicely done, with a lot of detail and absolutely no flash. The projectiles are blended with the bodies, but it's not too important. 

These figures will not look too good along other 1/72 figures, like Caesar, and not very well either with Italeri's reissues of Esci sets.

Historical accuracy- 10.0;

Completely perfect, everything is right.

Funness - 5.0;

The other thing is the funness. These are absolutely official, completely and perfectly geared up as soldiers. I think it would have been nice to see some loaders bare chested, men without helmet , more casually dressed, or with the tropical one that was commonly used, like in here;

But I suppose it's not too important as Italeri does another artillery set where the crew are all wearing  these helmets, the Italeri 149/40 artillery.

POSSIBILITIES - 4.0 >>

Green or sandy, that's the question here. This vehicle was used until the 1970s, but it wouldn't have changed nearly anything.

So the possibilities here are doing a tanker version, 

PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 4.0 (eBay) 7.0 (Retail) >>

It is surprising that some Italeri models are nearly just not to be found on eBay. I found only one example, which at 12,00 € + 9 € shipping is very expensive in my opinion. In  I bought it retail  for 12 €, which is fair, considering is a big and bulky model of a lesser known vehicle with 8 crew. 

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HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 3.5 >>

"The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they had on the conflicts they were involved in"

Just 150 were built, so it is not a Sherman in production terms. But nevertheless all of them did fight and were in the end destroyed, and there are plenty of wartime photographs. As with a lot of Italian vehicles, they were produced in small quantities but saw a lot of operational use. 

You can find out more here; http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/90/53_su_Lancia_3Ro

WARGAMING - 10.0 >>

This is one of the few model kits made especially for wargaming, as stated in the box. Easy assembly, good results, sturdy build. A 10.

OVERALL - 8.8 >> 

Italeri has made a great choice giving us a model never made before which still had it's share of operational importance, and is nice and powerfully looking such as this one. Thanks to Italeri we can at last represent the Italian Army decently, which without Italeri would be completely impossible, besides buying overpriced resin kits. 

In one phrase; At last a new and interesting vehicle for this period.

IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS  (click on the pics to see them bigger)

Model kit made by myself.

Thanks to José Manuel Chasco, I can show you another great way of building this model (pics taken from this review; http://www.1-72depot.com/miniatures/1-72/scale-models/italeri-172-7508-autocannone-3-ro/);

Italeri CHINESE CAVALRY XIII Century 6123 Medieval 13th Mongols Ming Song dynasty

Time to speak of a quite recent set, the refreshing Chinese Cavalry from Italeri. A much needed set, or just oversized Mongols? Find out!

                                                                       The Box

It's a good box, full of life, maybe the composition is a bit chaotic, and the colour tones are a bit light, but  overall it is good. In the back pic we come back to Italeri bad practices, where we are shown a figure that it would be very nice to have and it is not in the set, and I ask, why on earth? I want to know how to paint a figure I don't -and I can't- have? Okay, it resembles the archer, but he neither wears  armour nor the same hat.

Also, the man with the winged helmet is not so impressive. He has its wings molded on to the helmet, and I would have liked him to have had this pose. So the box art is  actually better than the figures.

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 6.9 out of 10

Here there is very fine sculpting, (fine arrows perfectly represented), no flash at all, quite good poses for the horses, and plenty of detail everywhere, and the weapons are perfectly represented.

But (and this is a but of epic proportions) these men are gigantic! hey are big for 1/72 men, and gigantic for 13th century Chinese. They are even very big compared to other Italeri sets, and even comparing them to the most recent Italeri sets (you could say they are in a new style of the company which makes the figures bigger and taller) ,they are as tall as dismounted soldiers of other nationalities. 

I can normally overpass this common evil of new figures, for example, the Gothic Cavalry they are tall and big also, and the Arab Warriors  but some of these are even taller than them, and it just seems very wrong for  Chinese.

I need a pic to reinforce my arguments;

He is, without stand and flexing his knees, taller than the Caesar Lybian, and only slightly than the Italeri Italian Artillery Officer. Give him a stand, make him stand up, and he'll conquer the 1/72 world!

The horses also, don't look like nomad horses, which would be the primary source, but european heavy and big horses. Probably they had some big horses, but it doesn't look right. And the horse without armour seems bigger than horse with armour.

I could still maybe overcome this with very good painting, but we come to the faces, and they don't look like Chinese! There are and there were many racial groups in China, but these men could only pass as half-arabic men of the western frontier. If the set didn't have much detail, it wouldn't be a problem, but the faces are there and they are nicely defined. 

Italeri has done Mongols before  (set 6020, don't confuse with reissues of Zvezda nor Italeri Mongol Cavalry set 6124) with perfectly oriental faces, so I don't understand why  they now haven't been able to do it right.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10.0

There has been a good work of research, and the Chinese culture has left us many examples of the warriors.

The only flaw I see is that these men should be labelled as "Chinese Heavy Cavalry", as they all wear armour, which would be most surely in nearly all kingdoms reduced to few men, not the 100 %.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 7.5

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

Besides making all of the different Chinese kingdoms, with some modifying they could be Japanese, or just more Mongols or late nomadic tribes if you still don't have enough of them. 



FUNNESS - 7.0

All of the poses are more or less active, with two passive men and the others engaged in combat. We lack really more poses here. The unique style of weapons of the chinese and horse decorations gives them a special touch however.

WARGAMING VALUE - 7

No unique leader, no flag bearer and no musician, this is a very regular army set. With a bit of easy conversion you could get a General, using the head with a feather over the body of the man with sword. The 15 men are much better than 12 for wargaming purposes. 

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.0

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between any shops you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

Roughly 8 GBP shipped is the price, for 15 cavalry men is good. On retail stores you could maybe get it at a better price too. As the figures are very big, the positive point is that it will give you a sensation of having better invested  your money !) .


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PAINTING AND GLUEING - 9.5

They are made with a semi-hard plastic, which is really adequate for painting them. It also works well with glue. The details are sharp everywhere, and this makes painting them a very easy task.


OVERALL VALORATION - 7.7

A very good set spoiled by huge dimensions, probably the set I have in my collection in which this aspect is the most annoying, and I combine sets of all diferent manufacturers. Some people maybe won't notice too much, if you only collect later Zvezda and Italeri figures, they would more or less blend in correctly. But if you think that the true 1/72 is Esci, and you collect all manufacturers such as Hat, Caesar, Airfix, early Italeri, early Zvezda, etc, you maybe will think twice before buying them.

One of the strong points of this set is that it has no competion- no other medieval Chinese Cavalry are available on the market. The weak point is that there are no Chinese infantry for this period either,so you willl need to modify some late RedBox infantry 16/17th century to do the job, or get a Caesar set, and both would look as dwarves compared to these cavalry. Plus you'll also need light cavalry, and you would need to modify Italeri Mongols to do the job.  This leaves this set a bit alone in history, besides fighting on their own against Mongols, or some frontier-war against muslim kingdoms which you would have to get by modifiying too.

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua for the permission to use his nicely painted miniatures.

Thanks to chuckster from Benno's Figure Forum for giving permission to show his beautifully painted miniatures.

Make any comment! We´ll love to read it! If you want to share your painted version of this set, send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com with the subject "Painted Soldiers" and I will include them in this post.

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

Caesar Miniatures - ARAB CAMEL RIDERS AND BEDOUIN - Arabs Bedouins Biblical Era

Another Caesar set to review, will this be another top notch set with excellent sculpting, or a boring and meaninglesss set?


The box;

Maybe one of the best Caesar box arts, at least they seem rather human. All the same, compare it to nearly any other manufacturer and you won't buy these for the box. The camels seem gigantic, and the perspective is not right, but it gives a sensation of heat, and depicts correctly what you get (which is not difficult, you'll see why later).

SCULPTING - 8.5 out of 10

I am not complaining about the quality of details, lifelikeness of the figures, nor anatomic proportions, which are nearly a 10. But there are a couple of weird poses with spears, that although they could win a prize on "never done before" this is probably because you would never be in that pose if you carried a spear.

Besides that, probably the camel is a bit too big, and seems very strange looking, ( a bit like an elongated hamster ) , if compared to camels from other manufacturers.



HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 10.0

This is a double-edged question; did Bedouins in this period wear turbans, that sort of skirt, and were their weapons  spears, sickles and bows? Indeed, for what we know (mainly some egyptian reliefs) that is a big yes. And the reliefs normally don't lie, so that is that.

But will everybody wear absolutely the same, including having nearly the same face and beard? Most probably not. God, they didn't even make someone without a turban, besides the camel riders. It is like having the same man in all the different poses, you could make a stop-motion movie with them!!

So yes, they are historically accurate. But in my opinion, after buying this set, you have just "Light and Medium Bedouin Infantry".

Caesar many times strives for total historical accuracy, and they don't want to enter in any sort of controversy, so if they find a relief that just shows a warrior, you'll get 42 figures of that warrior.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 6.0

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

Besides representing Bedouins from Biblical times until nearly the advent of Mahomet, you could use some as light skirmishers in medieval arab armies, some with a bit of conversion for Indian and Muslim kingdoms. The good thing, is that you just have to add something with sculpting , so they could be a very good base to represent Arabs and men with turbans throughout the ages.
FUNNESS - 3.0

"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 just boring. So I feel that this is an important point when deciding if you buy this set"

I was quite disappointed after buying this set. It was an expensive one at that time (11,99 €, when most sets were 7,99 or less) and I expected something like the Trojan army, also from Caesar. Instead, even the supposed leader is exactly the same as the other men. I know that there isn't more information, but I think that with a bit of research and a bit of imagination you could have made them more interesting and appealing.


It seems that, for example, with sets like the Trojan Army, there was a very deep research, and the result was very good. Here, it seems they looked the Osprey where the camel riders appeared, saw a relief which showed the standard Bedouin, and here we go, we have a set. The funness in this set it is on the double-ridden camel.

WARGAMING VALUE - 6.5

This is a very good set for wargaming. You are given all the different sorts of troops, and in good ratio (albeit if a bit too many armoured men without spears maybe, this seems to represent an  elite Hittite army), so it scores high here. Some sort of standard bearer and king is the only thing it lacks to be a ten.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 7.5

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

As with most Caesar Miniatures, you can find them for 8 GBP shipped from Hong Kong, which is better than what I paid at a retail store.
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PAINTING AND GLUEING - 8.5

As can be said for all Caesar models, the plastic is a sort of rubber that is rough and not slippery. Even if maybe a bit too dark , a lighter grey would have been better. They can be nicely glued. A bad thing is that they come many times with bent lances or bent bases,(which in theory  can be solved with hot water, although many return to their bad poses again.)

OVERALL VALORATION - 7.0

"A complementary set, just for the very enthusiastic of the period"

Disappointment, that is the feeling I had when I opened them 5-6 years ago, and that is the feeling I have now after doing this review. Okay, maybe I am wrong, and really all Bedouins even their chief and aristocracy, rich and poor, old and young, wore the same clothes and used the same weapons. But even if that was the case, without a absolutely historical confirmation, it would have been better to be bold and made something more special.

Why make Bedouins and not Babylonians, Hurrites, Gutis, Amorrites or Elamites? peoples that destroyed and forged great kingdoms? it escapes me. But I won't complain for getting an obscure tribe.

PAINTED EXAMPLES
"Your figures could appear here if you want! just send me a email with the pictures to tam_cob@hotmail.com and I´ll gladly include them"

Painted figures by  Miniaturas Aconcagua.

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

Hasegawa G.M.C. CCKW-353 Gasoline Tank Truck 1/72 USA Army General Motors Company

My first Hasegawa review, the M3 Grant.

Let's see the boxes;

BOX ART >> As usual, with the second everything is brighter, and it loses a bit of character. Although the image is sharper, the resulting colours are wrong, the green becomes too pale and makes it look strange.

THE KIT - 6.5 >>

An old kit (first released in the 1970s) which still looks good to this day. Instructions are clear, it doesn't have too many pieces (59), can be built quickly, and it doesn't have any super small or super-complicated pieces. One of those models you enjoy making.

As normally with Hasegawa, you get nice metal axles, that gives the model a sensation of die-cast once built (beware, as they are too long and they will have to be cut). This is something that all model kits should have in my opinion, a good and functional model kit is doubly  good.

The bad? well, the chassis is slightly warped, so you will have to heat it slightly, or leave it under a big weight overnight to try and correct it.

Perhaps the most notable setback of this model is that the engine seems too big in comparison with the wheels and the overall body, and it is also a bit more square than the real thing. I maybe like it better as the model is, but I can understand who says "that's an odd looking GMC!".

EXTRAS - 7.0 >>

A  driver and two crewmen are good extras, maybe some petrol cans/barrels would have been nice (such as Hasegawa gives with the Isuzu truck (plus a small wagon), but it seems that only their fellow Japanese get such treatment :) ).

POSSIBILITIES - 2.0 >>

If you have bought the tanker version, I'll assume you don't want to reconvert it into a normal GMC or other GMC types, so we'll stick to this version, which leaves two choices, hence the 2.0 score. Besides green, you can paint it yellow.

Although it is not the same version, it is just to give you an idea of how it would look more or less.

PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 6.5 >>

You shouldn't have problems in getting it for around 10 GBP shipped, maybe less in retail stores or getting it in a eBay auction.

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HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 7.0 >>

"The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they had on the conflicts they were involved in"

Tanks and airplanes need petrol, so both for wargaming possibilities and diorama, it is a useful piece. Not the most important vehicle in WW2 but a necessary one.

WARGAMING - 8.5 >>

Lovely for wargamers. Probably very handy if the wargaming rules requires logisitics representation, and very sturdy.

OVERALL - 7.5 >> 

This model kit serves nicely it's purpose, and even if it is not the most fully detailed GMC on the market, it is the only tanker version. 

In one phrase; Get it when you start to get bored with the typical things.

                 IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS

Comparison with the GMC dumper.

Model kit made by myself.

Official build by Hasegawa.

Italeri BRITISH LIGHT CAVALRY 1/72 - American War of Indepence - 1776 - nº6044

Welcome to another Italeri review, this time the British Light Cavalry, representing the 17th regiment (with the insignia of Death or Glory). 

The Box

A lively and interesting box, with the cavalry immersed in a formidable charge through a forest, although it is not the best place to charge it makes for a good artwork. 

Once open, this is what we see;

SCULPTING - 7.5 out of 10

This is Italeri, a big and powerful company (well, so big and powerful as a model kit & miniature can get!) and there is absolutely no flash (or I have been very lucky, or I have yet to see flash in a Italeri set). 

The horses are very well done, very dynamic, some of the best horses I've seen. They have also poses that are not exactly the same as always, which is very welcome.

The figures have very sharp detail, even if they have the typical problem of oversized heads. The poses are active and quite realistic,  except the man with the sword (the only figure you get 2 of.) that is really doing nothing, like just speaking with a companion. The rest are really doing something and not in the same poses as always.

Besides this, we get plenty of men using their fire-arms. This is probably what I like the most of this set besides their quantity and unique figures, as always having  the cavalry just with  swords and all their fire-arms kept in their holsters is boring, and cries for modification, and transforming a sword-holding pose into a fire-arms pose is sometimes very difficult.

If they've had smaller heads, this would be nearly a 10.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY - 7.5

There are some minor flaws,but I am not a enthusiast of this era, and really I don't care if a holster was on the left or on the right, or if I can hardly distinguish the sash. The biggest flaw is the standard bearer, who shouldn't carry a flag, but a guidon, which can be easily fixed.

ARMY REPRESENTATION - 0.5

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

Besides cutting the logo in their hats, to make another regiment, you can hardly make anything else. You would need to cut their hats at least, and all the same the jacket is very distinctive, so if you buy them, they'll have to be what they are.



FUNNESS - 8.0

This figures are quite "alive" (as alive as can be a miniature!) with 5 unique men, which is great and very uncommon from Italeri. They are nearly all active, and the man down with the horse trying to get up is a fun addition. Sometimes you think that just Napoleonic and similar eras can't be fun sets, as the brands tends to always make the same poses, with same numbers, with zero imagination, but this a truly different set.

WARGAMING VALUE - 10

Here we have leader, musician, standard bearer, and even captain or sub-commander, which is simply perfect. We have also plenty of men with fire-arms, so you will be able to make something like two regiments, and the quantity is good, 17 figures. Just the wounded man will be unsuitable, but knowing that normally you get 12 men, that is just not losing a bonus. So a full and nice 10 for these men.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 9.5

"The price value ratio of this soldiers will vary between any shops you go to, and the best I can do is judge by their average price on eBay"

8 GBP, which is the cheapest eBay price, is very good for 17 cavalrymen. And you can easily spot it in retail shops, so even if you are not a super-enthusiast of this period, you will be attracted to buy it.
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PAINTING AND GLUEING - 9.5

They are made with a semi-hard plastic, which is really adequate for painting them. It also works well with glue. The details are sharp everywhere, and this makes painting them a very easy task.


OVERALL VALORATION - 9.2

Just that had they smaller heads and the faces a bit more normal (they seem a bit childish) this would be a full and nice 10.0. They may be very limited to the American War and not much more, but it is a set where thought and energy have come to it, which instead of a boring typical cavalry set, it becomes special. Add a good price here, and if you are for any reason  a tiny bit interested in the period, this is recommended for your next purchase.

Thanks to Miniaturas Aconcagua for his beautifully painted British Light Cavalry.

Make any comment! We´ll love to read it! If you want to share your painted version of this set, send a email to tam_cob@hotmail.com with the subject "Painted Soldiers" and I will include them in this post.

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