I can not believe that with all the great colors that Emhar has used for their figures in the past that they are cheaping out this time! 4 Napoleonic sets all in GRAY! What a bunch of nonsense! I'll buy the knights because I don't mind them in gray, but I'm NOT buying the Napoleonics! I've worked too hard & spent too much to get my French & British armies mostly in blue & red respectively to turn back now! EVEN Italeri has been reissuing sets in uniform colors! Et tu Emhar!

I will be buying their Tadpole Tank, even though I know the sponsons are wrong.

I had written Emhar off, gone the way of Imex I assumed. But these new releases have rekindled hope that they might scale down their Tank Mark V from 1/35 to 1/72.

And I'm looking forward to the tanks and armoured car and big guns from Strelets.

Shaping up to be a good year for WW1, what with the new British and German sets from Zvezda.

I am with you Bert! The figures are nice but I do not paint at all so I have no interest! After all the wait;what a disappointment. Best Regards! Cappy

Best to you Cappy & other non-painters! I agree, what a horrible disappointment to finally get these sets & find them all in gray!

I don't "do" the Peninsular so unfortunately the Spanish & Portuguese are of no use to me.

The figures do have some odd poses: that awful overhead stabbing figure that I'd thought was gone forever.

However the scans seem to indicate many useful & attractive figures.

I figure the British set will provide 1815 British Light infantry, Hanoverians & maybe even Prussian Reserve infantry with some small conversions.

So I'm buying several sets.

If only EMHAR would make 1812 Russian infantry....
donald

I too am disappointed by Emhar's choice of colors for their new
Pennisular War sets. Grey is ok for the Spanish, but I would prefer the
British in red, etc.

Red plastic is awful to paint on. The difficulty of undercoating thickly enough does rather tend to obscure details.

However I would be very reluctant to say I wouldn't buy a set because of its base colour.

Received some of the new Emhar Peninsular sets today, only been waiting 8 years since the masters first appeared in the 2006 catalogue (got to be a record), I had completely given up on ever seeing them, but I have to say that they are very good, British being the best, then the Portuguese then the French, still trying to get hold of the Spanish.

The British are compatible with Hat's Peninsular British slightly taller and slimmer in that harder brittle type plastic with the Hat set having more usable poses.

This time I'm pleased that they are in neutral grey colour, the details so fine that if they were in Red any more than one coat of primer or undercoat and all the detail would be lost.

BlucherRed1815 has done a excellent paint job and review on them see below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeH49a6rMvE

Anyone who has been watching the masters since how many years ago would see these sets were sculpted for 1/32 and not 1/72. None of the details were deep enough for 1/72 painters and their multiple undercoats; only 1/32 painters.

Both Strelets*R and HaT produce 1/72 figurines with the necessary deepness for details (thick belts) etc. so that painters can overlay multiple layers and thank heavans, anyone but the legally-blind can clearly see all the beautiful detials when produced in "authentic" colors.

Proof: Strelets*R Napoleonic Range in Terracotta Red, Blue and Tan
Proof: Strelets*R Crimean Range in Terracotta Red and Blue
Proof: Strelets*R Normans in a cool shiny Silver-Gray
Proof: HaT's Penninsular War British in Scarlet Red
Proof: HaT's Zulu Wars British in Scarlet Red

SUMMARY: When the 1/72 Scuptors complete the Masters allowing for the necessary deepness in details then they can be produced in "authentic colors" and then painters can heap on multiple layers of paint and still find the original details for even more paint.

Multiple layers? Heaped on?

Clearly you don't paint.Or I can see why you stopped.

Hey, it's a free world. You keep asking for coloured plastic, I'll keep asking for grey.
Live & let live.

I could rant about the selfishness of 'painters' wanting their precious 'neutral colors', but I won't!

After an 8 year delay in just releasing these sets, I see no hope of a reissue in more practical colors! I'll just stick with Hat for Peninsular War!

Naturally!

FYI, I'm 55 & have over 100,000 unpainted soldiers! Nothing you can offer me as an alternative is of any help or interest! I'll be lucky if i get the 10,000 vehicles I have painted & decaled before I die!

Great. I'm happy for you & hope you live long to paint many, many more than the 10K vehicles you have.

As I originally wrote: "live and let live".

I don't demand figures be made in neutral, paint-friendly colors & the non-painters should not demand the bizarre colours they like.

If for some unfathomable reason a few tins of Krylon spray paint doesn't help, just abide by the manufacturers' decisions without loudly announcing boycotts. Ranting and bullying doesn't serve your cause.

Hi Bert,

I have to admit I've enjoyed and largely agree with your comments. In the context of this thread, if you and I like Scarlet Red for British soldiers and various Blues for French soldiers, but those colors are considered to be "'bizzare' colors" by real men toy soldier painters, then although you and I may be considered by this expert herein a little bizzare, then I like our kind of bizzare!

And speaking of more bizzare military colors, I was happy to discover Airfix has now produced their classic 2nd Generation Afrika Korps in a Dark Tan. I now have them in the Classic Light Tan, Painters Primer Gray, and a New Dark Tan. I bought these to make up some great "The Rat Patrol" sets made by Aurora. The palm trees are great, but the tanks, Jeeps, and men are aweful. I've got maybe fewer than 30 WWII and WWI Tanks and Vehicles requiring painting, so I'll wish you luck first with your much larger collection!

OK, Cheers for now!

Hi Bert! I am 60 and I also have thousands of unpainted plastic soldiers! Maybe it is just an old timer thing. If we do not request plastic colors how are suppliers supposed to know what non - painters would like to have? It makes sense to me! Take care Bert! Cappy

I also like my figures in certain colors, and I don't paint them. If painters don't care about plastic color because they will be painting them anyway, I see now harm in making the figs in colors non painters request, then everyone is happy.

Maybe the four (five?) non-painters should write to Emhar with their complaint.

Emhar appear on the pocketbond website.

Emhar (and some Imex) plastic is glueable and also takes paint very much better than most other figures which are made of soft plastic. Actually, due to that special plastic those figures are very easily coated with any paint you want and the paint will not flake. I can't believe that some people appear to have neither the skill nor the imagination to just do what is possible and perfect. What are they? Babies?

Nope, not babies. Just a matter of preference.

Maybe because I grew up at the tail end of the Marx playset era. I always viewed these as "toy soldiers" not "military miniatures". I liked the playsets that had the opposing sides in specific colors, with accessories, etc. But they were on their way out when I came along. I cut my teeth on HO/OO Airfix figures, which, until the AWI and Napoleonics came along, used to also be in certain colors.

I wonder what the issue is when a manufacturer chooses a color plastic. Is it because painters got their ear first (or maybe the owners are painters) and they find certain colors (like grey or cream or tan) are easier to paint (especially for people who appear to have neither the skill nor the imagination)or does it cost a lot more money to add a color to the plastic?

It's very sad that two sides of the one hobby should sink to name calling.

I am tempted to show one poster's assertion that only "real men don't paint" to a non-gaming friend who would undoubtedly laugh his head off & say that we are ALL childish.

And how can anyone label a long respected collector & contributor such as Arlin a "baby"?

Simple rules: don't rant & rave & insult painters, preach boycotts of the "wrong Plastic" & end every post with a cry of "authentic colours".

Show a little tolerance, even respect to our non-painting cousins.They are part of the hobby too.

Can I remind you I wrote in my two previous responses Live & let live?

* Love your subject line.
* Don't "be tempted" to mis-quoted me like you did to a fictional friend; do your homework; that's a very serious mistake.
* You called Arlin and the rest of the non-painters "Babies"; that's very serious too; own up to your sniping.
* Use your regular forum name while you continue to insult others. You are no one new here and not fooling anyone with your insincere friendship and your name-calling and sniping.
* Oh, lets all live and let live and happy collecting.

I paint or intend to paint all my plastic figure collection. I don't care if they are grey, blue, red, green or violet. However, there are far more who benefit from variously coloured plastic figures. We are not the only people who buy these figures. Think of the younger generation and the obvious benefit of different colours are apparent. Different colours make it easier for kids to play battles as they know which side a figure is on by its colour.
So in my opinion better to have different colours of plastic, because the more kids who are drawn to playing with toy soldiers the better as it secures the future of the hobby.
I based this on the opinions of my son and his friends. They would much prefer French in blue and British in red.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5EM

Good on you Donald. Begin the thread under mellow "Ochoin", and then change to the critical "Paint Dog." Duh #1, forgot your IP is posted? Duh #2 on HaT site, forgot to switch back to Ochoin (donald)!

I'm sure HaT and the rest of us are looking forward to seeing your work room space.

Like you said to H on the HaT site:

"Story of my life: I was getting round to taking a photo but have been very busy."

Yeah, very busy changing your identity and persona to insulting non-painters on the Strelets Site.

Choose your priorities Ochoin, or Paint-Dog, or whatever persona you choose, and be very careful before you let the Dogs out.

I don't see anywhere where Paint Dog insulted non-painters. Even when Paint Dog's IP changes there is still no insult.

And since when is "baby" a derogatory term? Tells a lot about those people who feel "insulted" when asked whether they are babies. Nobody said they are. The point is that babies are not yet capable of recognizing what can be done and act accordingly. It's perfectly natural with babies, but not with grown men.

Babies are prone to learn. As adults are no longer babies they cannot excuse their refusal to learn by arguing they are babies. So maybe they are just lazy, stupid, infantile, or sickos. Or, perhaps, regressing, in which case they can't help it and inevitably must become babies again.

Everybody else please just take a can of spray paint or a brush and paint your figures in whatever colour you like. Again, Emhar plastic takes paint very well.

With respect: I think that is held by Strelets's Austro-Hungarian Honved cavalry.

That's great. Leaves more for me.

I'm okay with the neutral colour and the sculpting seems fine. The poses are laid out to allow some bending of arms, etc. which is excellent as the plastic is supposed to be Emhar's posable material.

Could anybody advise about their conversion potential? It's not that we have too many sets of soldiers in bicorns so the Spanish might be particularly useful.

I don't usually mind bright coloured plastic after all I have more figures then I could possibly paint at my pace, so if I am not going to get around to painting them I would prefer to see them in nice colours.

A thin coat of primer and then undercoat usually sorts any problems with the plastic colour showing through, it's only when the detail is so shallow that you can't make out the detail you start to have problems.

I would ask any non-painters to give painting another try, can be as easy or difficult as you want to make it, a thin coat of spray plastic primer from an automotive shop or garden centre followed by any colour of your choosing can start to transform your collection and you will find lots of people on this and any other forum willing to help.

I don't think we will ever have all figures made in multiple colours to suit painters and non-painters so we just have to make the best of what we have.

The detail is particularly fine on the Portuguese that I have purchased, but looks really good when painted. I don't mind what colour figures come in, but for the benefit of my none painting colleagues I would prefer British in red, French in blue, Portuguese in brown or dark blue and the Spanish in white.
Regarding the long wait for the figures I think that HATs Peninsular War dragoons must be pretty close to six years plus! I think it was about 2008ish when first shown. Perhaps some Peninsular War sets just fall into a black hole for a few years. We all thought Emhar had gone bust.

You are probably aware that Emhar's founder and owner died a couple of months ago. In the 1970s He had been one of the guys responsible for the Matchbox figures range (the sculptor who was Bill Farmer). So that was a great loss and it is no small miracle his successors keep the business going.

Pa, I know it's a private conversation between you and Pete, but the last thing our Hobby can afford is the loss of an "Enthusiast", an "Investor", a "Soulmate", and what I miss most of all from the "Childhood Christmas Carpet Battle Days" - a "Toy Soldier Play-Mate!."

Are IMEX'S Main-Man and Bill Farmer OK? These Gentlemen are so important to our hobby and haven given us the basis of what to debate for what we each want and can grow with!

Thank you for your kindest reply - GC (Dave Hennen)

GC, this is no private conversation but a discussion board, we're amongst friends (with the occasional sniper inbetween) so no worries.

I was referring to these sad news:
https://www.collectors-club-of-great-britain.co.uk/Diecast-Collecting/News/Tribute-to-Pocketbonds-Phillip-Brook/_ch26_nw890

I have no news about Bill Farmer the figure sculptor. His personal website http://www.figuresculptor.plus.com/
used to be but is no longer lnked to in ETS's link list:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Links.aspx

Does anybody know whether he is still active? Regards, Pa

No I was totally unaware that Emhar's founder and owner died a couple of months ago. Sad news for us all.

Thank you for the link, Pa about Phillip Brook. It is truely sad news, especially at just 67. I've enjoyed buying many of his Emhar WWI sets, nice little updates to some of the early Airfix Artillery sets. I'm glad to see his heirs have kept up the momentum.

I haven't been able to find Bill Farmer's Home Page for some time now. Over the decades, he's made some outstanding sets. My personal favorite is the AWI British set sold under Accurate. I'm a big fan of those early sets made in the U.K. with the original soft plastic in great colors. Hard to find now but easy for my style of Conversions.

As for me, I'm loving all the new sets coming out, of which many are in nice colors and soft plastic. And I'll keep my fingers crossed for more future sets. OK, enjoy the rest of your weekend. Cheers!

Well I wont be buying them but not because of the colour but rather because I dont collect Napoleonics.... But if I did, it Would be the Peninsular Campaign and the Army of Sir John Moore....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moore_(British_Army_officer)

I suspect these figures will be welcomed by many with an interest....

Cheers

I've just sent off an order for the tadpole along with yet another whippet and male MkIV. Yes the latter does errors but Emhar's output has been eclectic with a variety of models that are not common else where. For that the late manufacture needs our grateful thanks. Like JB models there were small manufactures who produced models that they wanted to see. Some could argue that the tadpole was never in action but it was trialled unlike all those endless '1946' range of models of Nazi tanks that never got off the drawing board!

Certainly the current interest in WW1 was give a hefty shove by Emhar (and Airfix figures - the less said about their tank the better!).

As for the Napoleonic sets. I am not into that era but it is great to see a company ready to recognise the role played by the Portuguese and Spanish forces.

On can only hope that Emhar will continue to produce new and unique products. Lets hope the next (hopefully a bit quicker) will be the down sizing of their 1/35 MkV composite (with corrections) - so strange that, probably, the best heavy tank that was built in WW1 in is still ignored by the leading manufactures. A MkV with a crib is an iconic image of the Great war!

i dont like if plasti is in multible color- i wish that they all would have been made in white color so i can invent different camo to the figures!
i would BUY thouse kniths, british and spanish, french and portugal troops have some silly poses wich i dont like

yours mummy