US Pilots & Ground Personnel (Vietnam War)

Published on
February 20, 2022
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$22.99
Product / Stock #
48087
Company: ICM - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: ICM - Website: Visit Site
Boxtop

Finding figures in 1/48th scale for Vietnam is a pretty hard chore. Whether you want to depict USAF or Army helicopter pilots your choices in the past have been pretty slim. Well thanks to ICM there is at least a new option.

Inside of the sturdy cardboard box is a single sprue of individually wrapped light grey plastic and a single page of full color instructions.

The plastic is blemish free with parts for five personnel. It has two pilots, two mechanics and one admin line chief. The poses are very good. The detail is very crisp, including the faces which is sometimes hard to get right in plastic, but ICM has nailed it. The relief of the clothing also appears very good. Each figure is assembled from anywhere from five to 11 pieces. This may sound like a lot, especially for a 1/48th scale figure, however, this breakdown allows ICM to get good detail all around the figure. You’ll have to clean up the attachment points for the sprue gates. I did have a hard time detecting the mold seam line on the parts, so clean up was real easy. They are that beautifully molded. Clean up was quick.

The two mechanics appear to be doing maintenance. They both are in T-shirts and pants. While the box top would have you believe they are USAF personnel, they could easily pass for Army helicopter mechanics. There is nothing that ‘makes’ them Air Force. Very versatile. T-shirts could be white or olive drab.

The two pilots are talking or debriefing each other. One pilot has a parachute pack on his back while the other one does not. They both feature the one-piece flight suits that were used by the USAF and the US Army all the way up into the 1990s. The one pilot without the parachute can be a very good representation of a 1980s-1990s Army helicopter pilot with an SRU-21/P with an extraction harness. There is a nice hollow helmet included as well in two parts that the one pilot is holding.

The line chief has a khaki uniform on with a clip board taking notes. He is a good filler person. I prefer to call him an admin weenie. He is holding a notebook which adds visual interest.

The instructions are useful in painting these figures up. The color chart includes ICM, Revell, and Tamiya color callouts. A picture of the sprue is attached.

Overall, these figures are super. Adding them to your Phantom or your Huey would be easily done. ICM continues to add diorama possibilities to their line of products and I for one, love it. Buy this set for either your USAF or US Army 1/48th scale models. I can’t wait to see what is next. Great job ICM

Highly recommended

Thanks to ICM and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain yours in the US from Stevens International at https://www.stevenshobby.com/ or your local hobby shop or online retailer.

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