|
Post by Colin D. on Oct 15, 2020 17:26:16 GMT
I just received the new Napoleonic Austrian and American Civil War sets and I have to say they are great. Suburb sculpting, and I especially like that the ACW command sprue has figures that you could use for both sides (although all of mine will be Union).
Well done HaT!
|
|
|
New Sets
Oct 16, 2020 11:06:33 GMT
via mobile
Post by Savoia Marchetti on Oct 16, 2020 11:06:33 GMT
Fortunately Drum and Flag has published photos of the figures, so also we that have not got ours yet can see how they are... Strangely Hannants has not the sets on his website yet, and here in Italy... We will have to wait little more; I hope for the end of this month, if all the things go well 😨
|
|
|
Post by elektrikeal on Oct 16, 2020 17:23:50 GMT
Received my ACW figures from Drum & Flag today ! They were worth the wait. Excellent sculpts & mix well with other brands.
|
|
|
New Sets
Oct 16, 2020 20:31:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by cpn on Oct 16, 2020 20:31:18 GMT
Hi, Sorry for asking but could an ACW specialist explain me what the poses of the new ACW Hat are representing on the battlefield compare to the ones of HaT or Speira? Is it marching to the battlefield, on the battlefield, parading? Thank you again. Have a nice weekend CPN
|
|
|
Post by greentiger on Oct 17, 2020 9:23:21 GMT
Thanks for the heads up (and heads on!) - order sent!
|
|
|
New Sets
Oct 17, 2020 20:34:51 GMT
via mobile
Post by rbhjr on Oct 17, 2020 20:34:51 GMT
I’m looking forward to seeing pictures of everyone’s Hat Austrian German fusiliers very soon!
These will have to hold me over until the 1/32 version sets are available.
Cheers
|
|
|
Post by cpn on Oct 18, 2020 11:55:48 GMT
Hannants is listing them now!
|
|
|
Post by Mr Schmitt on Nov 12, 2020 9:37:22 GMT
Good morning,
yesterday I received the new Napoleonic Austrians. Nice figures and it seems Hät is coming back to his old standard.
BUT: In the command set almost every flag pole is already broken at the sprue. And in the box for marching infantry I found an additional sprue for the command set. Both flag poles broken.
Anybody else discovered this issue?
|
|
|
Post by Brian on Nov 14, 2020 1:46:22 GMT
Good morning, yesterday I received the new Napoleonic Austrians. Nice figures and it seems Hät is coming back to his old standard. BUT: In the command set almost every flag pole is already broken at the sprue. And in the box for marching infantry I found an additional sprue for the command set. Both flag poles broken. Anybody else discovered this issue? I have just checked my 2 boxes of Command Austrians out of the 16 flag poles none are broken but 3 have cracks where the pole meets the bearers chest and will need replacing with straightened paper clips, the remaining flag poles may need straightening with hot and cold water so more could crack. In the American Civil War Command box flag poles are all good. My other observations are the figures are right on the limit of 1/72 size at 24-25mm and could all have been 1mm shorter, in contrast the horse is quite small and skinny and finally the loading figure in the Austrian action set has a lot of extra plastic which is going to be difficult to remove. Hats Napoleonic Austrians sets are all very nice overall and the American Civil war sets are even better so I am pleased.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2020 14:10:15 GMT
Good morning, yesterday I received the new Napoleonic Austrians. Nice figures and it seems Hät is coming back to his old standard. BUT: In the command set almost every flag pole is already broken at the sprue. And in the box for marching infantry I found an additional sprue for the command set. Both flag poles broken. Anybody else discovered this issue? Dear Mr Schmitt, I must have received figures from the same batch as you as from five boxes of the command set (and a sampler for fun) nearly all of the standards on the figure towards the middle of the sprue have a broken pole. Those of the figure towards the outside of the sprue are fine. Fairly easily fixed with some wire (or perhaps gluing the plastic pole) but a fiddle that I'd rather not have to do. The main negative of the figures is the amount of 'sottosquadra' on the loading and advancing poses. All in all though, good looking figures that I'm quite happy with. They will be great to paint and look good when done. Certainly the examples from 'Borodino' suggest that in spades! Regards, James
|
|
|
Post by waynew on Dec 9, 2020 17:41:22 GMT
I received mine awhile back, I didn't notice any issues but have to admit I haven't really had a chance to closely study them.
As far as the plastic goes it's a tradeoff. I'm not fond of the stiff plastic as I've had some unfortunate experiences with breakage in the past. There was one company whose plastic was supposed to be "paintable" and "poseable" the figures were so brittle I received boxes of their 1/32 figures with every single rifle broken off and had their 1/72 figures break as I was cutting them off the sprue with a sprue cutter. Needless to say I stopped buying their stuff, which was sad because they did some nice sculpts.
There were complaints about HaT's soft plastic and I understood to a point, but for me it was always better than broken figures straight out of the box. I discovered the hot water (boiling) treatment with cold (ice) water not only straightens out bent figures but also somehow served to stiffen the plastic in place - admittedly it can take two treatments to get it right. Painting helps a bit, too. But I seemed to have been outvoted.
As I said, it's a tradeoff. The old plastic we had when I was a kid seemed to be flexible and durable - I have some toy soldiers I received for my fifth Christmas in 1961 that are holding up better than some I bought in the 90s - and I took a LOT better care of my recent acquisitions than those veterans of my backyard and sandbox battles. Of course the old plastic was almost impossible to glue or keep paint on. Improvements in glues and acrylic paints have solved a lot of that.
So I don't know what the solution is. I imagine our friends at HaT (and I know of some others) are not any happier about issues such as brittle figures than we are. I'm not a chemist so I don't know the solution these days. Well, I'm rambling out loud so...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2020 0:13:26 GMT
Dear Wayne, It was less ramble and more making some pertinent points in your gentle and positive way! To add and perhaps clarify, I am quite happy with my purchase of these Austrians. They are very good figures without being excellent. To illustrate your 'trade off' and reactions to it, I much prefer the harder plastic over that soft, 'rubbery' stuff that Hat was using for a while! To me, the look and texture were not great, but the figures still had their form and detail and, once painted, you knew no different! I like Hat's choice of a harder plastic for these new releases and some of the re-releases. To me the Ukrainian manufacturers have settled on the best plastic being firm but a bit flexible. Mind you, I have had bayonets to repair from some of the figures in some of the sets! Repairing or replacing a few standards is not ideal, but not *too* difficult. We are 'all' used to doing such things in the absence of standard bearer figures, so having this command set is a move ahead for mankind. It has an excellent mix of useful figures/poses too, for mine. The 'sottosquadra' is more of an annoyance. It can be made largely invisible with undercoating and shading/washing. Plastic Soldier Review gave Hat a work out over it. Of course the role that he/they play for the hobby is to find out what makes a set less than perfect (against his/their criteria and interpretation/biases). The reasons are stated so we can all decide whether we agree with the score. No doubt Hat will work to avoid excess plastic in armpits and the like at the mould-making stage for future releases. So, to future releases. Now that Hat are well and truly 'back' we can only look forward to more. Thank you Hat! Regards, James
|
|
|
Post by plasticpanzers on Jan 6, 2021 5:52:11 GMT
That is the problem with plastic standards poles, especially if they are a harder plastic. It then requires carving out the old standard pole completely and then drill out the hands to put wire ones in (I buy hobby wire as its easier than trying to unbend paper clips). I still think it would be better if HaT would simply include the figures with holes or at least dimples that can be drilled out and include standard poles separately or leave it up to the buyer to make in install their own. Its great to have so many standard bearers tho.
|
|
|
Post by waynew on Jan 7, 2021 16:45:45 GMT
I generally cut the broken staff at the shoulder of the figure. Then I stick a suitably sized straight pin into the end of what's left of the pole. You need to be careful you push into the figure's body to avoid the pin coming out of the body. I find I get a firm lock without glue. Usually the flag covers most if not all the pin and the end of the pin serves as a ball (or even Eagle, with a little work with needle nosed pliars).
I have even converted some of my marching and almost useless clubbing poses into (until recently) much needed flag bearers.
I hope this helps.
|
|
|
Post by pll on Jan 8, 2021 10:38:30 GMT
Hi Wayne
I too have done conversions from the clubbing figures with reversed muskets (1:32 Timpo Prussians and Airfix Old Guard) to create much needed flag bearers. Their hands and arms are already in a suitable position to hold a flag staff. I tend to use thick wire which can be embedded into the plastic to secure the staff and to which a paper printed flag can be attached and glued. This is the great benefit of the HAT MAC format that command sets include flag bearers, drummers, musicians and officers. Few other manufacturers follow this lead - at least in 1:32 and why conversions is so necessary.
|
|