leo charron (no login) from IP address 70.49.201.167
Has anyone (especially in the UK) tried the North Star 1/48 figs? They're intended for wargaming but they are well animated with expressive features (from what I can see on their website). At least they are more robust and varied than the Tamiya set. Would they stand up well in a diorama?
I've got pretty well all of them, from when there was little else available. They are generally quite good, though the weapons are rather chunky. The British paras are particulally good. I'm not so keen on the German infantry, something about the helmets looks odd to me. The Russians tend to look rather samey, as the sculpter cut corners and used the same four leg positions for each group (he may have done the same with some others, but they seem more obvious en masse.) Probably better to keep clear of the MF coded sets, these are earlier figures cast in one piece and done by a different sculpter. The other figures generally have the weapons cast as seperate parts, usually incorperating the hands and/or an arm. The figure hights are roughly the same as ICM, and they've certainly had their three squares when compaired with the Tamiya examples. They are detailed enough for a large battle scene,but perhaps not as a center piece.
This message has been edited by GeoFF03 from IP address 81.154.173.119 on Mar 15, 2008 10:19 PM
I looked at these, and you are right; there is a lot to recommend them as at least background figures in dioramas or photographs. The clothing needs more folds and creases to look more realistic, but the poses and proportions are very good, and they aren't the anorexics Tamiya keeps giving us.....
To me, the heads & hands are often Troll-like and the weapons too large. They certainly have a large variety of figure sets though. I wonder if little amputations would work well with another figure line. Maybe the TAMIYA HANDS AND WEAPONS??? Heads are another question as to what to use cost effectively? Some of them NSF look pretty decent, but for the price I'm sticking with Art of War, ICM, or Dartmoor (and hope they expand their range).
Greg
The prices aren't that high (about $12 Can/US for a set of 4 figs), roughly the same as Dartmoor sets, and there are several sets of Brit inf. Granted, they are not as detailed as the better 1/48 brands, but where else are you going to get such a variety of combat posed figs? The North Star Brits seem to be among the nicest sculpts, and the most flexible as they can be used to represent any Commonwealth unit, ie: Brit, Canadian, Polish, etc. And still no peep from Tom Meier or Fox Figs!
I agree many of the North Star Figures (NSF) look pretty decent, but the overall majority of their figure proportions just aren't quite going to do it for me. Some of them in the set look more the part than others is what I'm trying to say. Nothing wrong with them, we all have our own favorite figgy's.
Yes, like everything else, you have to choose which figures meet your needs. Several of the sets are well enough proportioned and posed that they would be starters for me, though if I were going to use them in a vignette or small diorama, I'd take a Dremel tool and a small dental ball tip and carve on the uniforms to get more realistic folds, etc. And a change of weapons would be a consideration also. Still, until Fox comes through or ICM sees the light..... In the final analysis, they appear to be a good starting point for good painting jobs or some detail modeling, at least for the newer, better sculpted sets.
This sounds like a job for Super Dave Reed. Maybe we could all go to the Fox Minitures Blog and bombard him for figure requests. Let him know there's a huge enough interest to make it worth his while to go into production
Greg
