The March show is usually the most quiet of the London shows and this one proved no different. This means that you can actually have a good long chat with a number of dealers as well as being able to take photographs without being manhandled by fellow collectors. On to the show itself….
First stop is Grey Goose and that man Clive. The more I see of Figarti the more impressed I become. Their vehicles are second to none, and the new “Flail” tank is a superb model which I rate as their second best tank to date (the JSII being in my opinion the best). The German winter vehicles are also impressive with my pick being the flakvierling. You can’t really get an idea how good the vehicle detail and weathering is until you see it up close and live. Certainly this is one vehicle I would like although I just (?) got the flail today. I also like the Brit desert Sherman - maybe another day .
Another long-standing issue with Figarti is their figures, and I know most of the forum are very much of the opinion of “outstanding vehicles - shame about the figures” but I believe that they have made great strides in the production of their figures and I believe their current crop are now the equal of K&C (awaiting comments) especially their new 8th army, DAK and Polish Infantry.
On to K&C UK, my sole purpose here was to add to my Crimean Charge of the Light Brigade collection but I was nearly sidetracked by the German Marine figures. On the net I had completely crossed off any of this range as a future purchase but seeing it live and in particular some of the personality figures I “nearly” changed my mind. The quality of some of the individual faces are simply superb. I was tempted to buy one or two, but with Wraith saying that I needed a submarine to backdrop these two purchases he momentarily seemed to be speaking a lot of sense - but I didn’t break. This part of Cambridgeshire is still an Otto free zone (for the moment?). There is already enough on my “must get list”.
As usual the standard of the K&C dioramas were outstanding as you can see from the various images already uploaded . There are now so many ranges that I could collect, but I can’t - \I’ll stick to WWII and the Crimea. Hopefully, there won’t be too many “must haves” such as the Firefly, Tiger and the like in the next few months.
TM Terrain have always got a number of Dios on display showcasing the figures that they sell. My plan today was to look at the CS Lancers to see if they could be used in conjunction with my Britain’s Black Watch square and the 4th Lancers. I do like these figures and the three I saw today just added to my appreciation of this set. However, I decided against getting the ones available and will look again the next time I’m in London. I may get one of these via post as a test bed for my square. Has anyone else on the forum used the CS Lancers with their Britain’s counterparts?
The Khartoum dio was excellent and seemed very good value for money at £200. I believe it was sold earlier on in the morning. The new releases on display and already shown were the 1812 artillery, BOM figures and the new range of Sudan War British infantry. These look very good indeed and the group of 10 figures look an ideal way to pose these figures in a dio. These should be out in June/July and I await them with interest (and yes I do plan to get these as I have just finished the BOS series by buying today the last two I needed).
Finally it was off to Maison Militaire to purchase my big bag of Napoleonic and Zulu War Britains and also two of the new Conte Zulu sets (Saving the Colours and Zulu Triumphant). This Britains bag is only going to get bigger each show as the Isandhlwana and Sudan figures become available. One thing to note was the release of the Heritage Sudan figures which I believe retailed for £15 each. They do look good but I think collecting both the new JJD and Britains for this time period is enough for one collector.
One quick purchase of a new grass matt with track from JG Miniatures and that was enough for today. It was then a quick look around the rest of the show (Please see Jeff’s phots) and then to the bar to see everyone. Do like the Little Legion Nile boat though.
My figure of the show was the Zulu Triumphant set from Conte with a special mention going to Otto and his shipmates from K&C’s Kriegsmarine series.
Best vehicle was the Flail tank from Figarti, it would have been the JSII but I’ve have that already.
What did I get:-
Figarti Flail tank
10 Britains Black Watch
2 Britains French Lancers
2 Britains British Inf (Zulu)
2 Conte Sets (Saving the Colours and Zulu Triumphant).
1 JG Miniatures Matt
K&C Crimea Captain Morris
K&C Crimea Russian Inf Loading
2 JJD BOS sets (Fight and Flight, and Langy)
2 Airfix Plastic 1/32 infantry sets (Brit Inf and German Paras).
Apologies if I add any similar images to what Jeff and the rest have already posted.
Andy
