Verlinden figures any good?

Mic

Hey Manny,

Yeah, if I had more time, I would definitely arranged a little more balanced, with detail vs selection. Pho was callin' my name

I know we've discussed Alpine figures before and, although I find them superbly crafted, I also find them to be one of the more specialized lines, due to their narrow pose selection. This is why I like Tahk better- for pose selection over nationality selection. They are branching out, though, and happy to see it. And next time I build a piece of armor (which I rarely do...) I am going straight to my Alpine stash. Nobody does them better, but I think Tahk is right under 'em. I did place Alpine in the middle of my ranking for ya LOL!

However, "Hard to get" and "can't get 'em" aren't the same: check out Soga Miniatures.com, Dmirty Baev Studios  He'll send orders here to us in the States. Dmitry's English is waaay better than my Russian, but it's a bit of a communication wrestling match.

S&T has a really cool line of 1/35 dudes, many sculpted by John Rosengrant. I'm currently working one up right now, for a vignette. Click the link to Colorado Miniatures that Al pasted up there. I just spent 200 bucks there last night. Huge selection of awesome figures. Loaded up on some Friendship Models Brit paras. And a Michael Roberts Screaming Eagle. Amazing work.

Also, have a look at R&J Enterprises for more cool figs. The Blues Miniatures line is available from him... and nearly nowhere else in the States. The Unterscharführer, Ardennes is to die for. Simply drool-worthy, and that's why he made my top rank. I'm just biased  Exter Company in Germany has Blues Miniatures, and many others, but their shipping charge to the US will make you vomit. One day when I'm rich...

As for the Color-Sergeant... if he's exquisitely sculpted then, hey... I'm gonna buy him. After all, I do have a nasty compulsion disease.

 

I was at the Atlanta Figure Modeler show last weekend and picked up some rather amazing pieces, some of which I had never seen or heard of before.  I also got some from more mainstream suppliers, such as Pegaso and Ulrich Puchala...I hope to do them justice...I have bought from Colorado Miniatures many times and they carry very good lines...

Hey Manny,

Yeah, if I had more time, I would definitely arranged a little more balanced, with detail vs selection. Pho was callin' my name

I know we've discussed Alpine figures before and, although I find them superbly crafted, I also find them to be one of the more specialized lines, due to their narrow pose selection. This is why I like Tahk better- for pose selection over nationality selection. They are branching out, though, and happy to see it. And next time I build a piece of armor (which I rarely do...) I am going straight to my Alpine stash. Nobody does them better, but I think Tahk is right under 'em. I did place Alpine in the middle of my ranking for ya LOL!

However, "Hard to get" and "can't get 'em" aren't the same: check out Soga Miniatures.com, Dmirty Baev Studios  He'll send orders here to us in the States. Dmitry's English is waaay better than my Russian, but it's a bit of a communication wrestling match.

S&T has a really cool line of 1/35 dudes, many sculpted by John Rosengrant. I'm currently working one up right now, for a vignette. Click the link to Colorado Miniatures that Al pasted up there. I just spent 200 bucks there last night. Huge selection of awesome figures. Loaded up on some Friendship Models Brit paras. And a Michael Roberts Screaming Eagle. Amazing work.

Also, have a look at R&J Enterprises for more cool figs. The Blues Miniatures line is available from him... and nearly nowhere else in the States. The Unterscharführer, Ardennes is to die for. Simply drool-worthy, and that's why he made my top rank. I'm just biased  Exter Company in Germany has Blues Miniatures, and many others, but their shipping charge to the US will make you vomit. One day when I'm rich...

As for the Color-Sergeant... if he's exquisitely sculpted then, hey... I'm gonna buy him. After all, I do have a nasty compulsion disease.

Mic

Hi ya'll I'm waiting to meet for dinner, and have 10 minutes to kill. I have assembled a list of some 1/35 scale resin manufacturers, and gave my own personal take on detail and selection. Naturally, this is all open for debate:

In order from best to worst IMHO:

Blues Miniatures- detail exquisite, weak selection, hard to get in the States

Minisoldiers- detail phenomenal, selection light

Tahk- detail is superb, only German and Russian to choose from

S&T- detail exquisite, moderate selection

Evolution- detail is superb, selection light but growing

Alexander Minatures- detail exquisite, selection light

Michael Roberts Ltd- detail excellent, selection excellent

Stalingrad- exquisite detail, selection all Russian

Alpine- outstanding detail, weak selection unless a *majority of your work requires tanker poses Take yer punch, Manny :) )

New World Miniatures- detail excellent, moderate selection but growing

Master Club- detail excellent, good selection for WWI figs

Royal Model- very good to moderate detail, high selection

Battalion- detail very good, selection ok, growing

Pegaso / Platoon- detail good to weak, selection decent

Nemrod- excellent to poor detail (even within the same figure), selection very very good

Legend- moderate to weak detail, high selection

MK-35- detail very good to weak, selection is very very good

Warriors- moderate to weak detail, selection is very very good

Verlinden- soft to weak details, selection is very good, majority seems to be German

Lincoln Country Line- detail horrid,; if I recall, these are worn out Warriors molds

 

Not meant to insult anyone's taste here. Time for dinner :)

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

One thing you have to take into account is availability and selection when ranking....I have never even HEARD of 3 of the top 5 in your list...and if you can't get 'em in the country you live in, doesn't matter really how good they are.  In addition, if the line is so specailized that unless you need a Scottish Highlander Colour-Sergeant form the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion circa 1846, doesn't matter how good it is again... 

I have worked with Tahk figs and consider them good, but not as good as Alpine...and have seen S&T (more known for their larger scale figs)---do they even do 35th scale?

SuppressionFire

I agree with Manstein's Revenge on the Alpine Miniatures figures. The tank crew pictured below is near perfect for a 1/35 sculpt. I do have a hard time with the price. Like the saying goes 'you get what you pay for' In compairison the Ultracast figures priced out a few bucks less each.

I don't know who MAR. HOBBIES are, but Colorado Minaitures has the same kit for under $29

i will agree with you on this mic. as i guy who has purchased alot of these kits (not all but have seen at least one fig. from each group).

Hi ya'll I'm waiting to meet for dinner, and have 10 minutes to kill. I have assembled a list of some 1/35 scale resin manufacturers, and gave my own personal take on detail and selection. Naturally, this is all open for debate:

In order from best to worst IMHO:

Blues Miniatures- detail exquisite, weak selection, hard to get in the States

Minisoldiers- detail phenomenal, selection light

Tahk- detail is superb, only German and Russian to choose from

S&T- detail exquisite, moderate selection

Evolution- detail is superb, selection light but growing

Alexander Minatures- detail exquisite, selection light

Michael Roberts Ltd- detail excellent, selection excellent

Stalingrad- exquisite detail, selection all Russian

Alpine- outstanding detail, weak selection unless a *majority of your work requires tanker poses Take yer punch, Manny :) )

New World Miniatures- detail excellent, moderate selection but growing

Master Club- detail excellent, good selection for WWI figs

Royal Model- very good to moderate detail, high selection

Battalion- detail very good, selection ok, growing

Pegaso / Platoon- detail good to weak, selection decent

Nemrod- excellent to poor detail (even within the same figure), selection very very good

Legend- moderate to weak detail, high selection

MK-35- detail very good to weak, selection is very very good

Warriors- moderate to weak detail, selection is very very good

Verlinden- soft to weak details, selection is very good, majority seems to be German

Lincoln Country Line- detail horrid,; if I recall, these are worn out Warriors molds

Not meant to insult anyone's taste here. Time for dinner :)

Steve

I agree with Manstein's Revenge on the Alpine Miniatures figures. The tank crew pictured below is near perfect for a 1/35 sculpt. I do have a hard time with the price. Like the saying goes 'you get what you pay for' In compairison the Ultracast figures priced out a few bucks less each.

Dogwatch

Thanks for the information... I guess Ill try something other than Verlinden :-(  Ultracast looks good!

Like I mentioned earlier, advertisment pictures are a good indication of what a fig will look like---reviews are good as well...

Ill agree with that, some of the hornet ones are a bit cartoony, tho, I think there  better sculpted then the verlinden

Dogwatch

Thanks for the information... I guess Ill try something other than Verlinden

Just outta curiousity, are you a fgure painter that wants them for "stand alone" projects or vignettes or do you want to use them for dioramas?  The reason I ask is that 1/48th & 1/35th Verlinden figures are quite good... They just cost too much for me to use in any real numbers, plus I seldom use figures in there OOB poses...   A number of their vingettes like the "Saturday Nite Bath" or "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" sets are quite fun, and they also have some of the best Vietnam-era figures I've seen (although they tend to be shirtless with do-rags & wearing body armor too often)... 

The white metal US Modern Tank Crew (half-figures) were the first ones I ever bought, and were the best I'd ever seen (back in the 80's they were "modern", that is.  Plus they were, aside from the new Tamiya M-1 Abrams TC, the only figures with modern CVC helmets available).  I'd buy them yet today if all I wanted was a crew for an 80's&90's- era M1 or M60.   The Desert Storm tank crew is excellent also, and, although two of them are wearing bandanas and goggles over their faces,  their detail is really good. 

Frankly, if you're just a so-so figure painter (like me), no figure set is going to change that, regardless of what set you buy.. The real artists out can make a "Green Army Man" look like a million bucks, so don't get too wrapped up over certain manufacturers....

Just alot of the faces have over done  features, like age lines being to deep that end up looking like jowels or exagerated emotions that just dont look real, they look cartooney for alot of them imho

Gotchya... Yeah, I tend to agree about some of them, but I've seen quite a few "cartoony" Hornet Heads as well...

Funny watching all the play on this one ,the original post supplied no other info about the figures other than the word 'Verlinden'!!  I was lookin at a fig from Reheat the 120 mm SR-71 pilot -good features ,alternate heads , p/e fret / hose and a cool spring . I gotta neat sticker  in my  120mm RAF pilot from verlinden (heavy sarcasm) . So I guess askin is  a good way to find some stuff out ,but feeling the resin/metal  and working with ,sanding ,drillin etc can only be done by buying the fig. I like the verlinden stuff but the reheat was more value for the money -I have some metal figs as well and they put the resin in the back seat as far as detail goes. I would like to see a more specific request from the original poster regarding what fig he was awantin.

Hans von Hammer

 

smeagol the vile:

 

Their faces are often quite unrealistic.

 

 

I've seen you say that a lot, and about several different manufacturers, yet never were specific about what is"unrealistic", Steve ...

Given the few figures that you've shown, I'd like you to tell us exactly what's what... 

Just alot of the faces have over done  features, like age lines being to deep that end up looking like jowels or exagerated emotions that just dont look real, they look cartooney for alot of them imho

Please view my fig (Earle) on line here ,this is what can be done with the verlinden figs .I agree and disagree with the opinions given here .Apply all the skills you can muster and keep at it!

Thanks for the information... I guess Ill try something other than Verlinden :-(  Ultracast looks good!

I've only used their 1/48 ground crew and pilots.  I can't complain about them.  For 1/48, their detail is good.  Don't know about the larger scales.

smeagol the vile

Their faces are often quite unrealistic.

I've seen you say that a lot, and about several different manufacturers, yet never were specific about what is"unrealistic", Steve ...

Given the few figures that you've shown, I'd like you to tell us exactly what's what... 

I'm not a figure guy, but I've used Verlinden's 1/48th aircrew stuff  for a long time, since the 80s... Other than the good ol' Monogram flight & groundcrew figures, there isn't anything better, IMHO... The Hasegawa sets are over-priced and not very good, with poses that force you to chop 'em up and re-do (I do that anyway in most cases, but sometimes I'd like the option) them...  99% of my figures in 1/35th are made up of so many different body-parts it doesn't matter... 

Overall though I think they're ok... Just too expensive... 

Try Ultracast Canada. Excellent quality resin figures.

i have to agree with everyone here. i too have a large stash of them but as mentioned they are mediocre sometimes. for the $$ they cant be beat but if it's quality, there are several other resin figure companies that offer far better results.

Their faces are often quite unrealistic.  That that can be fixed by getting some hornet heads.

The older figures tend to be better, especially by today's standards. Many of the new figures are rehashes of old parts if not full out reissues. Some of the poses are useful if they are exactly what you're lookng for in a diorama but have little use in any other application.

Their stand alone figures, e.g. 120 mm, have awkward poses, equipment that defies gravity and a stretched anatomy. Many of their more recent bust have really bad teeth, i.e., massive , unrealistic gaps making a serious painting effort wasted.

Their best new stuff may be their conversion packs that have a bunch of equipment and can produce one figure with lots of spare parts.

I agree with Manny.  Definitey hit or miss.  Several have some questionable anatomical anomolies, espectally hands that seem disproportionately large for the figure.

Regards,  Rick

Not sure if you are talking their figures in general or a certain range. I have used their 1/35th figures alot, and i have a large stash of them.  I really like them. The detail is nice, there is a great selection, especially if like me you are into German subjects. And up until now i have built my figures as they come, so the Verlinden ones give me a good range of poses. Though this might change as i plan on trying my hand at altering the plastic ones to give me the poses i want.

But yes, i like them and i plan on getting more.

IMO, they are hit or miss.  Some of them are good and some are mediocre. I still use them on occasion but find that if Alpine has what I need they are much better.  I also like Warriors figures, but some of their sets are mediocre as well. Most sites that sell figs show pics of what they look like painted, so the best advice I can give is if you like the pose and level of detail in the pic you probably won't be dissapointed with the fig...