Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

John P. Cann has written nine titles on Portugal’s colonial actions in Angola. This book is part of Helion & Company’s Africa@War Series - #42. John Cann is a Research Fellow and retired Professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (www.usmcu.edu) in Quantico, Virginia. John Cann acknowledged the generous help of Lieutenant Colonel (Cavalry) Miguel Freire and Colonel (Cavalry) Paulo Manuel Madeira de Athayde Banazol for their help. In other words, the author learned about this topic from the horses’ mouths, so to speak.

If you were ever a fan of the Saturday morning cowboy series back in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, or enjoyed the classic Sam Peckinpaw movies, this figure should be fairly familiar to you. Labeled as “Pedro Melgoza, bounty hunter”, the beautiful illustration on the box cover bears an unmistakable resemblance to Tom Selleck. As I’ve discussed before, Masterbox is unique in the modeling world for illustrating the products BEFORE sculpting them, and I believe this is a good example.

On opening the box, you find both our bounty hunter figure as well as a very nicely done mount with two complete heads for some variety in the choice of poses. Sorry to say, ladies, but the figure within does NOT resemble Tom Selleck, but appears much more a typical Bandito figure to my eye. The figure assembles quickly, with only the setting of the shotgun across the shoulders requiring a little finagling. No putty was required.

Summary

This is a review of a base which is made of finely molded piece of medium grey resin base. I thoroughly enjoyed working with this diorama base. Unlike many of the bases I have previously worked with, the Tiger Werke base is (a) reasonably priced, (b) lays flat on the table without having to be sanded or otherwise manipulated, (c) takes a variety of paints and or primers (I used an acrylic by Mission Models, though I also tested a small patch with both Alclad’s Lacquer and their Aqua Clear Gloss—both of which worked very well), (d) finished up with a patch work mosaic pattern of what to my mind resembles a cobblestone pattern and (e) used a number of Vallejo Model colors to paint the individual tile pieces. I suspect there is a multitude of cobblestone designs or patterns available, all the way from what I tried to represent to dusty or very dirty street scenes (see color and pattern notes below).

As an aircraft modeler, I was unfamiliar with this company that is primarily focused on 1/35 resin armor accessories. According to the box inserts and website, they are under new management and are expanding the current line. This base fit right into my area of focus, so I was pleased to have a chance to write a review.

The first thing I noticed was how hefty and sturdy the packing box was. It is made of thick cardboard and has a few images of the product on the top. Inside, the resin base is wrapped in a plastic bag and tucked very securely between foam blocks. This is definitely not going to move around in box during shipping or handling!

ICM has released a set of the four S.W.A.T. fighters that were previously released separately.

In the box is:

• 8 x light grey sprues
• 4 x clear sprue
• 4 x instruction sheets

While you get 8 sprues, you also get plenty of unused (spare) parts as four are the same which is for the weapons and accessories for each figure.

All the sprues are extremely well molded with no little flash and great detail.

Construction

The four figures have separate instruction sheets, and each has several options such as helmets, weapons etc.

The construction of each is very easy and they assemble very well. You do need to do a little filling on some of the arm joints but its minimal.

You also must remember if you use the glasses supplied over their eyes these must be installed before the helmets are attached.

I really enjoyed building these and they look great as a team of individually.