Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Pegasus Hobbies Barbed Wire Review

Today we're going to examine the Pegasus Hobbies Barbed Wire kit.
This product interests me because the box advertises over 29 feet of wire, and it's only $8.99 USD.

Let's open the box and see what we get...

We get three sprues of wire and three sprues of posts.  The wire is very fine, and there is way more sprue here than there is product.  It seems so wasteful, but I suppose that is the limits of the manufacturing process.  They are soft plastic, maybe they can be recycled.

No instructions are included with the kit.  It's been so long since I looked at the box and I don't have it handy; there may be instructions printed on the edges of the box lid.


Here is a bit of the wire with the posts.  The wire is fairly flexable, and  hair dryer, heat gun or a flame would help in warming the wire and allow you to bend it to shape and have it hold.  The post come with hooks on them to attach the wire to.


Here is a close up of the wire.  It is well detailed, and the flash and mold lines are not too bad.  Which is good, because I think this would be near impossible to clean.

I have not had an opportunity to make anything from this wire yet, but to me it seems like this kit is a good deal.  I'm confident that I will be picking up more of them.

Tamiya 1:48 Jerry Can Set Review

This time we will review the Tamiya 1:48 Jerry Can Set.  This is a set that is useful for all kinds of gaming, from WWII up through near future to post apocalyptic, and even sci fi.  This kit retails for $11.00 USD.

The box art shows us getting six barrels, 16 jerry cans, some stowage and a bucket.  Let's see how much we actually get...


I got a bit carried away when I purchased this kit, and began assembling the barrels right away.  We do get two sprues of accessories and an instruction sheet.  This very well could have come with an ad for other 1:48 Tamiya kits, but if it did I have already tossed it out.


Here is a close up of one of the sprues.  Though not pictured correctly, each sprue comes with enough parts to make six barrels; three American and three German.  There are enough parts to build 16 jerry cans and 20 pieces of vehicle stowage.


The instructions are pretty straight forward, giving general info on the front and assembly instructions on the back.  Note that there is a big difference between the American and German barrel.  I didn't pay attention to what I was doing and assembled them some incorrectly.  The lids are not interchangable and do not fit on each other well.  Also, the jerry cans are 3 parts each; two halves and a handle.  The handle is thin and fiddly and the cans take care to assemble correctly.


Here is a shot of a sprue with an Amazon Miniatures 25mm/ 28mm Secrets of the Shadow Reich figure and a 1:48 Lindberg Tiger I.


And here is a close up with just the Amazon figure.

Here we see the lovely Greta posing with a collection of the barrels.  They look a bit small next to the model due to the thickness of her base.  She is based on a Litko 25mm round.


And finally a close up of the jerry cans.

Again, the Tamiya kit gives you about double what is pictured on the packaging.  It comes with tons of pieces for customizing and detailing vehicles in all kinds of genres, or anything else you'd want to use them for.  This kit really is a good value.




Monday, February 15, 2010

Tamiya 1:48 Road Sign Set Review

Here's another review of a 1:48 scale kit from Tamiya, this time the Road Sign Set.

From the picture on the front of the box it looks like an OK collection of items for the retail price of $11.00 USD.  The pictures shows us a ton of different kinds of signs, a telephone/ telegraph pole, two street lights and a fence with a wagon wheel.

Upon opening the box this is what we find:


It looks like we get two sprues of accessories, a sheet of waterslide tranfers and an instruction sheet.
I've had this kit for awhile and have already assembled two of the street lights.  Also, I believe there was a small slip with more Tamiya 1:48 models and accessories that has since been thrown out.


This is one of the sprues.  Both sprues included are identical.  There is enough materials on one sprue to do 2 lamp posts, 1 telephone/ telegraph cable, 1 billboard, a long fence (with our without a wagon wheel) and  a pile of small signs.

It appears that you effectively get double the number of pieces pictures on the box cover.  Not bad at all!


This is the real bummer.  You get one sheet of water slide transfers.  There are enough transfers here to do one sprue- worth of signs.  You would have to make your own waterslides for the seond sprue, or paint them by hand or other creative solution. 


The instruction sheet has some info on the usage of signs throughout Eurpoe during WWII and tool and equipment information.  The back side shows which countries each of the waterslide signs would be found.


Here is a shot of a full sprue with an Amazon Miniatures Tales of the Shadow Reich 25/ 28mm figure and an AT-43 walker.


And a closeup of the sprue with the figure.


And one last shot with the figure next to an assembled lamp post.

All in all I think this is a decent value for the price.  You do get a lot of components, but a second sheet of water slide transfers would have wonderful.  The pieces are well done and are a good variety.  I would like to have more of the lamps and telephone poles, but I couldn't justify buying a second, third or more boxes for just those pieces, though even then it's not a bad value.