AK051 Guardbox Special with Guard Review (1 Viewer)

[WesternOutlaw]

Hello all:

This evening I'd like to share a small review of my 2nd King and Country (K&C) set, AK051 Guardbox Special with AK Guard.

A lonely yet determined Afrikakorps sentry stands watch outside a guard house in the desert airstrip. While the orders were clear, the special visitor mentioned by the commanding officer remains a mystery.

What a neat little retired set and my introduction to K&C metal 1/30th scale figures! Let's put it to the "Karl Dak scale".

Rating

Assembly/Components: 5/5 - Not just a single figure and not just a guard house, AK051 is both contained in a single set. While it is not the Afrikakorps Checkpoint set (AK017) complete with road barrier/stop, the two items are perfect for any N. Africa desert scene.
Color Scheme: 5/5 - The guard house has vivid red, black, and white stripes in German guardhouse pattern with a dark tan roof. Some additional tan color is used as weathering towards the bottom area on all sides. The figure has a nice variety of colors including DAK green shirt, tan pants, and a few additional accent colors.
Design/Mold: 4/5 - The figure itself is beautifully designed in a very nice pose. The figure holds his rifle over the shoulder creating a very basic pose. He can be used as a single guard or combined with duplicates to create a marching scene. The face is pretty much nondescript and the base rather small (probably a good thing), but my figure leans to the right; something that I immediately noticed when placing on a flat surface. Such a straight posed figure should strand straight (-1).
Paint Quality: 5/5 - the paint job on the figure is superb. Every little detail is colored nicely with small black pinstripes on many of the edges of the clothing and straps. In addition, the guard house paint/color is nicely done.
Decals: n/a - no decals thank goodness.
Details: 5/5 fantastic detailing that includes the pin stripes mentioned above, finely painted shoe laces, Afrikakorps arm band, silver buttons, and a shovel in leather case (you can even see the small silver/metal sides of the shovel in the case). A nicely detailed shield and eagle with swastika are on each side of the helmet. I am most impressed with the paint and details - high quality here!
Figures: n/a - as this is a figure set, no rating here
Playability: 4.5/5 - Figure with guard house (two items) but no moving, turning, detaching, or whooshing opportunities here (-.5).
Price: 5/5 - This two-piece set sells for somewhere in the neighborhood of $35-$40 making it a "great-value" set.
Display/Eye Appeal: 5/5 - I'll let the picture speak to this and I may even take a few additional images in various set-ups, but I love it! The figure seems to photograph very well and the colors of the guard house adds to the quality. I like!

Overall Score: 38.5/40 or 96.25% - definite A!

Summary

As my introduction to a King & Country set with figure, I am really impressed with the overall quality of this set. I think the price is nice compared to many single figures that sell for more, and the guard house can be added to just about any Afrikakorps scene to create additional details. I have a larger scene in mind now that I have my new (retired) guard house. I recommend this set and would certainly purchase again. In fact, I would not mind having the larger set (AK017 Checkpoint) with additional figures and an awesome road barrier, but the retired price is pretty high at this point. I highly recommend AK051 Guardbox Special with Guard as a less-expensive alternative. Comments/feedback welcome.

 

[jager7080]

WO ,

Awesome K&C AK set !! As always very well presented review...Glad your happy with your foray into DAK K&C...

Joe

 

[King Tiger II]

Wow, fantastic review, also AK51 is indeed a really nice set.

Nicely done Western.


Serge

 

[wwiibuff]

Thanks for the review WO.

I have lots of K&C AK and it's a great line to collect, one of my favorites.

 

[MarkeytMaker]

Why not combine these review skills with a K&C value price list...I would be interested in purchasing such a book!

 

[Poppo]

Nice review....

In my opinion the colours are wrong: the jacket green color tone is too deep green...Even following the logic how could you camouflage oneself with such a green? Maybe it would have been good for the jungle, not for the desert. Also the light beige belt colour is not realistic on the deep green jacket..The whole figure is good painted, but it s more like a toy than a realistic image of an afrika korps soldier...

 

[maddadicus]

Nice review....

In my opinion the colours are wrong: the jacket green color tone is too deep green...Even following the logic how could you camouflage oneself with such a green? Maybe it would have been good for the jungle, not for the desert. Also the light beige belt colour is not realistic on the deep green jacket..The whole figure is good painted, but it s more like a toy than a realistic image of an afrika korps soldier...

Finally, you understand what makes K/C appealing to us collectors. There is still a toy like quality to this mfg.'s matte painted figures and vehicles. K/C 's paint scheme, color pallet, extra stowage on vehicles, deeper, more colorful figures are what makes K/C unlike the other guys. If you want absolutes in reality, there are a few mfg. out there that can please you 80% of the time. Michael

 

[Poppo]

Finally, you understand what makes K/C appealing to us collectors. There is still a toy like quality to this mfg.'s matte painted figures and vehicles. K/C 's paint scheme, color pallet, extra stowage on vehicles, deeper, more colorful figures are what makes K/C unlike the other guys. If you want absolutes in reality, there are a few mfg. out there that can please you 80% of the time. Michael

clear...But about tanks and other vehicles KC makes a perfect realism in the tone colours and weathering.About other soldiers ex. the Bulge germans or waffen ss painting is very realistic too...

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Thanks for the feedback all.

Interesting take on the "toy-like quality".

This morning I had placed the figure next to my Collector's Showcase (CS) Rommel and Steyr Command Car to see how it blends in. Surprisingly, I think the figure looks pretty good in front of the staff car and driver, but there was something different about it next to CS Rommel.

The figure has a brighter and less-realistic look in comparison (not as harsh, a bit softer, and brighter) than CS Rommel. At the same time, I like it. It's not just the color of the jacket but how the details are outlined with black pin-striping, almost like outlining the outer edges of a coloring book picture with darker colors. It's the style and I'm guessing that many of the other K&C Afrikakorps figures have a similar painting technique (based on pictures).

I'll be adding a few pictures of the sentry next to the CS items/figs for comparison.

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Here's that new shot combined with Collector's Showcase (CS). The more ghoulish faces of CS seem more realistic compared to that of the K&C guard:

 

[Poppo]

I agree with you that KC and CS don' t melt so well, the styles are very different. In my opinion, you can melt them in a dio only not putting them close to each other.....In my AK korps dio, as I said in another thread, I preferred to melt KC with delprado and another similar company ( and I chose KC items more realistic in my view).

PS. I plan to repaint the tank commander.

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Nice scene Poppo - love that tank and Kubel!