Vaguely showing its heritage in a hundred
copies of the old Dinky 25lb'er and similar, but simplified to the point of
futuristic/air-droppable howitzer . . . of a sort! The maximum elevation is
shown - great for firing off a castle-wall, but bugger-all use on a
battlefield, even against crumbly, modern, stick-weapon army men!
A quick inspection revealed that two flat
plates coming forward of the trunions was the core of the problem; fouling the
shield, it was only 'right' or comfortable, if pointing at the grass in front
of it! Indecently - from the clear 'CHINA' mark in that sqiudged sans-serif, it
appears to be from some of the larger bagged sets with the same figures as
those Halsall/HTI sets we've looked
at.
A bit of surgical engineering and
bob's-your-uncle; all that was needed was to cut off those two flat ears of
plastic. But one wonders how the hell it ever got out of the factory, I know
it's a cheap rack-toy and I know I've made the same point in the past, but the
tool costs the same, a trail-fit at some point, ten minutes with a burr or
welding-rod, or a combination of the
both could have prevented it? Weird!
Fixed, it's still not pretty, but a bit of
paint and it'll do for lawn war-gaming?
This was in the same lot, and it's an odd
one, because it looks like the New Ray piece,
but is pretty-poor quality, now, I'm only going on memories of catalogue images, and
catalogues which have been in storage for over six years, but I thought the
finish/build-quality of the New Ray
models was better than this which is quite naff, really!
But then maybe I'm being unkind, its main problem is the flashy mould-lines right round the middle of the gun and the
floor-tray of the mounting/trailer, the real naffness is the lack of detail to the
underside, but then that's hidden from view. The 'chrome-plated, mag-alloys'
(which I'm sure the New Ray one desn't have) don't help, but they are a problem with a lot of cheap toy vehicles.
I will check it with the New Ray's in time, but thought I'd chuck
it up here as a box-ticker! And again; a bit of paint and you've a nice piece
for cold war-ear smaller armies - Argentine commandos used similar units.
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