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Fierce Battle - American Civil War (DS3519) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The American Civil War was triggered partly by disagreements over the future of slavery in America, and the fact that the Northern or Union states had abolished it, while the South or Confederate states wanted to retain the status quo and keep their slaves, who were a source of very cheap labour by seceding from the union. It began in April 1861 and lasted for a gruelling four years, at the end of which General Lee signed the surrender almost exactly on the four-year anniversary. By that time much of the infrastructure of the Southern US was in ruins, although some Confederate soldiers carried on fighting until later that year. Some four million slaves were released, with their rights established during the following Reconstruction era, although progress on true equality is still ongoing. The Boxed Set This is a reissue of four separate figure kits and multiple instances of weapons sprues in one box, totalling sixteen figures, eight on each side. Each figure set is separately bagged inside the box with a single sprue for the figures and two identical weapons sprues, plus the four instruction sheets that are securely stashed in a white card folder. As always with ICM, the sculpting is excellent, especially the faces, moulding is clean, with excellent natural poses and drape of materials. Parts breakdown is sensible and generally along the seamlines of garments, with separate arms, heads, torso, legs and various types of hats. The equivalent of modern-day webbing is also present on the sprues, looking quite ungainly by comparison, as do the massive flint-lock rifles, made even longer and less suitable for close quarters engagements by their bayonets. The weapons are on the two smaller sprues, along with pouches, water bottles, mugs, loose bayonets, holstered and loose pistols, swords in and out of scabbards, and even a trumpet for rudimentary battlefield communications. Each set includes a combined sprue diagram and instruction sheet for reference during building and painting that shows the finished figures as drawings with part numbers in black and paint codes in red boxes. The paint table on the opposite side translates to codes for ICM’s new paint system, but also gives numbers for Revell and Tamiya brands. American Civil War Union Infantry Set #1 (35020) This four figure set depicts two soldiers aiming, one kneeling, the other upright, with a third reloading his musket with the buttstock on the ground, and he appears to be biting the top off a powder packet before tipping it down the barrel, ready to tamp it down. The fourth unfortunate has just been shot, and is in the throes of recoiling, losing grip on his rifle as he falls. Either that or he’s doing a dramatic air-guitar riff using his rifle in place of a guitar, but that seems unlikely. American Civil War Confederate Infantry Set #2 (35021) The four figures in this set are in fighting poses, an officer firing his pistol with his unsheathed sword in his off-hand, while another kneels to fire with a bedroll wrapped around his torso. A third ‘reb’ is reloading his musket while standing engrossed in the process, and the last figure also has a bedroll round his torso, and is probably picking a target with his rifle gripped loosely in both hands. The two bedroll wearers have wide-brimmed hats, while the others have a peaked cap that is typical of the soldiers of the day on both sides, just in different colours. American Civil War Union Infantry Set #2 (35023) This set depicts a squad of four Union soldiers in action, during what appears to be a close-combat engagement, with weapons drawn and aggressive stances. One man is using the bayonet at the end of his rifle, another is running forward with bayonet out in front of him, while a third is about to use the butt of his presumably empty revolver as a cosh against some unfortunate, although he has a sword languishing in a scabbard at his waist. The fourth soldier is shouting and leaning forward with his rifle raised, as if he is about to bring it up to take aim or run headlong toward the enemy. American Civil War Confederate Infantry Set #2 (35024) This set, like those preceding it, contains parts for four soldiers of the Confederate army, who generally wore a grey tunic and pants, as opposed to the blue tunics of the Union. The figures are shown in battle, striking various close-combat action poses. One man is wearing his bedroll diagonally across his chest and is bringing the bayonet of his rifle down over his head in a stabbing motion, possibly over a barrier, another is carrying out a similar action but with his butt-stock, while the third uniformed soldier is running forward with his bayoneted rifle held to the front. The fourth soldier in a wide-brimmed hat is not in uniform, but is wearing civilian clothes and has a bedroll worn bandolier-style across his torso, defending himself with his rifle braced in both hands diagonally across his body. Conclusion All sixteen figures are well-sculpted with realistic poses and fabric drape to their clothes. They would be perfect for a skirmish, or with more figures could just as easily be used in part of a massed attack, as occurred regularly in the set-piece battles of the war. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Most of the work in progress was done last weekend however I managed to get some hours in this week. I battled through the fit issues of this old kit, it didn't come with any white wall tyre inserts or any decals. I used Alclad black base over a grey primer, I then used an Automotive 2K clear over the Alclad base to give the shine. For the seats and the interior door panels I used Revell Purpurrot Aqua Color which was brushed over with a Automotive 2K clear matte lacquer, this gave the effect of a leather type material on the seats. I was struggling to get certain items correct as I was trying to copy the on screen movie image of the car which is shown at the end of the list of pictures. There was a badge under the front left headlamp which was the "Super Deluxe Legend", I decided to make something that looked similar using an old sewing needle to try and give the impression of the badge. Also I didn't have the correct number plates but I did delve into my Ford Torino Revell kit and I decided to take the Californian registration plates that were on the decal sheet as the movie car plates had California on them which was good enough for me. The silver solder stripes that I glued to the side of the car, although I did Alclad chrome the front and rear bumpers I didn't think it was worth trying to paint the rest of the chrome items that were around the car in Alclad as it was very easy to wear off when it was handled. I did find that the Vallejo chrome metallic paint was really good for painting small items and although it was not as good as Alclad from the look point of view, it was much easier to apply and resisted being rubbed off so easy as the Alclad did. I decided to scrape off the paint on the stripes to reveal the silver solder and with a little bit of metal polish they came up looking pretty good. Overall for an old kit I think it came together quite well and as near as I could get it to the car that was in the Back to the Future movie. You can see my work in progress of this build here.

I picked up this kit off eBay at a really ridiculously cheap price. Not sure if anyone else in the forum has built this kit, I think it dates from around 1980 however it is very well detailed for the age of the kit. Quite a bit of flash here and there but nothing that can't be sorted. Although this is a 48 Ford, the kit gives you the option to build the car into a 47 or 46 model so I decided to build a 46 Ford that was modelled on the car that the character "Biff" drove in the Back to the Future movies. This particular car had distinctive stainless steel strips running down the bodywork, I decided that the kit supplied chrome tape was not going to be adequate for my standard of build that I was trying to achieve so I used silver solder that was cynoed onto the car body. The intention was that once the car was painted I could scrape the paint from the strips to reveal the silver solder as a metal stripe. Not sure if it was going to work but it was worth a try. The last image is a screen grab of the actual car out of the movie that I was trying to model. Although this is a 48 Ford, the kit gives you the option to build the car into a 47 or 46 model so I decided to build a 46 Ford that was modelled on the car that the character "Biff" drove in the Back to the Future movies. This particular car had distinctive stainless steel strips running down the bodywork, I decided that the kit supplied chrome tape, it was not going to be adequate for my standard of build that I was trying to achieve so I used silver solder that was cynoed onto the car body. The intention was that once the car was painted I could scrape the paint from the strips to reveal the silver solder as a metal stripe. Not sure if it was going to work but it was worth a try. The last image is a screen grab of the actual car out of the movie that I was trying to model.