East Coast / Woodland Indian weapons set

By Adrian Hopwood Company – El Greco Miniatures Price – £8.00 Scale – 75mm Material – White Metal Code – EGM-ACC10 Sculpted by – Dave Sparrow Weapons sets aren’t a new idea; but with the rise in popularity of 75mm figures, I can see this set along with any that El Greco release in the future, becoming a good thing to have on the spares shelf or in a spares box. Sculpting weapons is fiddly and difficult – most folk accept that to change a complex piece like a musket, then either you find an alternative from a different kit, or try and form putty and plastic into what you want. This set gives you a better option than either of the above choices, and is reasonably priced too. Sculpting and casting is good to exceptional – there’s a few small tool marks on the stocks, but the firing mechanisms are really, really well formed, and certainly any work with a file or a scalpel blade will be far outweighed by the fine looks of the finished weapon when it’s got a lick of paint on. I’ve got to admit that the Native American weapons enthuse me less. They’re perfectly serviceable, and are well formed. There’s even space for you to sculpt further decoration on the knife scabbard and add some bits of leather binding to the war club. I think though that these are probably going to be secondary to the attraction that the muskets will have to the prospective buyer. Having said that, and being honest, the set is worth the price for the pair of guns, and the other bits and bobs are a bonus that might come in handy for a project that comes up later in the day for the modeller – or even just for discarded weapons on the groundwork of a base. One thing that I do think is that whilst the guns are very good as they are, there’s the opportunity to research the weapons and individualise them to your taste. The Brown Bess for example hasn’t got any metal binders around the barrel / wood section of the musket, and it would be simple to add some very fine foil to the piece to make one, two or three of these that I’ve seen on examples whilst referencing pictures of the gun. Similarly the Pennsylvanian rifle could benefit from a slightly more bent angle between the stock and barrel, a shape that characterises this gun from other similar shaped pieces. Again, decoration can be added, or in the case of the pattern already on the stock, simplified by removing what’s there. I’ve seen examples with no metal stock ends or decoration on the stock side at all. I’m not being picky, nor calling the accuracy of the sculpting into question here, the guns are fine as they are, simply that with being handed them for review, I seem to see the potential for further conversion, because I’m already thinking “what figure can I add these to ?” The “75mm scale” figure seems to have gained popularity with modellers. Perhaps this is “us oldsters” beginning to realize that our eyes are failing a little, and that 54mm is a bit too small for the detail we’d still like to add. Perhaps the fact that on figures just that little bit bigger, there’s a whole load more detail possible; might be the other way of looking at it. Either way, this is a good set to get hold of. I do hope that it sells well enough to encourage El Greco to commission more from Mr Sparrow. Thanks to Matt and Celine at El Greco Miniatures for sending this along for review, the model is available from them at the address below, or by visiting their website. Adrian. El Greco Miniatures 63 Glebe Drive Brackley NN13 7BX United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)1280 840364 Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Home Page: http://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk