Bit off topic but based on previous posts, I know that some of you collect and paint figure model kits. This is a particularly good one and I recommend it to you. With this kit, my New Zealand friend Andy Cairns has outdone himself! The soldier is in a nice half-crouched and shouting action pose ringing a makeshift gas gong hung on a broken wagon wheel. It will take several posts to show you everything.

The kit consists of the following parts, mostly cast in grey resin:
1 - wheel
2 - circular base
3 - mounting pole for wheel
4 - figure lower half with canteen (aka 'water bottle' for the UK folks) buckled to the M1908 cotton webbing belt on one hip and slung haversack on the other hip, M1902 putties secured by tape at the top, M1902 service dress trousers and hobnailed 'ammunition boots'
5 - figure upper half including head, again with M1908 webbing equipment, M1914 variant ammunition holders, M1902 service dress tunic, M1917 'small box' respirator in the partly deployed position
6 - small ribbed tube that links the respirator canister to the mask
7 - steel 'Brodie' helmet with torn canvas cover
8 - Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) rifle, caliber 0.303 inch
9 - left arm
10 - right arm
11 - two shell casings - one to be fitted as the gas 'gong', the other to be fitted into slot on base
and four metal parts -
12 - M 1907 bayonet with quillon
13 - copper wire
14 - copper wire braid
15 - brass chain

All of this is packed securely in two plastic bags surrounded by foam in a carboard box.
The casting is generally very good. There were a couple of small holes that would need filling on my kit and couple of partly filled holes that would need opening. The flash is limited and easily dealt with. The parts go together easily and fit with no need of filler.
Overall quality of the kit is superior, on par with the best!

Although Andy offers the figure as an ANZAC soldier, since all the same equipment and weapons were worn by British soldiers (even some of the US) ca. 1917 - 1918, the figure could just as easily be completed that way.

I cannot post Andy's web site, but with a bit of dutiful web searching...

All the best,
Dan
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More photos of the kit...

All the best,
Dan

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When painted and assembled, this is the final product!

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Thanks Dan, impressive work! I think he should have put his gas mask on rather than taking a deep breath to shout 'Gas!'...

Nice kit - see my thread on the culture pages for a poem on the question of whether to don the mask before ringing the gong or not..............

I really like this figure......Nicely animated pose and very well painted. Great piece

ET