Ong
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- Mar 8, 2005
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Deyun Hobby
U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division
DS120006
Deyun Hobby is one of the few resin figure companies devoted to producing original and unique modern 120mm U.S. soldier resin figure kits. This philosophy continues with the release of Deyun Hobby’s kit DS120006, “U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division.” Sculpted by Mr. Joshua Sutton, this figure depicts a U.S. soldier operating in a desert environment, specifically in the “Global War on Terror.”
The 12 light-gray resin parts come in a vacuum-sealed clear plastic bag divided into two compartments (one part for the gun and sight, the other for everything else), surrounded by Styrofoam popcorn, and packaged in a unique colorful foldout box. The 12 parts are:
· Left leg with molded-on kneepad and boot
· Right leg with molded-on kneepad and boot
· Left arm with molded-on 82nd Airborne Division insignia shoulder patch
· Right arm with molded-on backwards American flag insignia shoulder patch
· Head with molded-on Kevlar helmet, goggles, night-vision goggle (NVG) mounting bracket, headband, and chinstrap
· MOLLE ammo pouch
· MOLLE (100-round) ammo pouch with SNAP-TITE plastic buckle
· MOLLE pouch with Velcro strap
· Torso with molded on Interceptor Body Armor (IBA), MOLLE vest, Camelbak with drinking tube, and neck scarf
· Four vest ammo pouches with SNAP-TITE plastic buckles
· M4 carbine with molded-on left and right hands, Picatinny Rail on top of receiver, Rail Interface System on all four sides of barrel, AN/PEQ-2 laser illuminator/designator, forward handgrip, and backup iron sights
· COMP-M “Red-Dot” sight
CASTING:
DS120006 really is a simple kit with few parts. The figure modeler just has to glue on the head, torso, limbs, gear, and gun since most of the small and delicate parts come molded-on or in one-piece. The only small part is the COMP-M sight. The parts are well cast and generally devoid of air bubbles, warping, gouges, and runs. I found that the figure has good proportions with ample thickness of the limbs, torso, and head.
Coming from a sculptor other than Maceij “Maciek” Rebowski (Maciek did Deyun kits DS120001 to DS120005), this figure looks…different…because each sculptor has his own style. The soldier depicted appears younger, the face rounder and more youthful. The body isn’t skinny at all, and in fact seems to fill the Desert Combat Uniform fully because of the lack of sharp wrinkles. One can assume this figure depicts a late teenager. The legs look really good; the boots appear nice with extra-sharply-cast laces and grooved soles; the kneepads are the same matching size. I testfitted the two legs together and they both appear proportional. I did notice that the legs had some rough surfaces and outlines, as if putty was added to thicken and correct the shape of the legs and wasn’t smoothed out before casting, so these putty-additions showed in the casting as splotches, and blobs; however, a coat of sprayed-on primer should hide these areas.
All parts have a pour block attached to them except the torso. The blocks, some rather large, are generally in logical places, many attached to glue surfaces, which will be hidden with the attachment of another piece. The M4 carbine is mounted on resin posts and surrounded by thin flash that needs to be carefully cut and sanded away. I really like this approach of casting one-piece 120mm guns because this makes for a straight gun from buttstock to muzzle tip, and the mounting prevents damage to the gun. Furthermore, with the hands molded-on, one doesn’t need to fidget to slip and attach the gun into open hands.
DETAILS:
The details are quite good. The gear and gun details are quite sharp. The surface details on the AN/PEQ-2, the pits, groves, lumps and bumps, appear generally accurate to my photo references. I overlaid the M4’s magazine on top of the ammo pouches; the magazine will fit inside the pouches.
As stated above, the soldier appears “big,” not a lot of wrinkles in the uniform. Some may equate this to a figure having less surface detail, and while this may be true, I still find the figure looks pretty good although some areas does indeed appear too “soft in detail” and could have used a bit more sculpting work.
Of a larger concern is the scale and detailing of some areas. I found the SNAP-TITE plastic buckle strap on the MOLLE 100-round ammo pouch to be too narrow, as are the buckles on the vest ammo pouches. They look nice and realistic, just too narrow according to my photo references. The NVG helmet bracket lacks the indentations, openings, groves, and bars of a MICH NVG helmet bracket. The M4, while generally nice, has some oversized scale details, especially on the non-ejecting side. Non-military figure modelers would probably not even notice these issues.
The MOLLE vest loops are well done, sharp and crisp, as is the Camelbak and its drinking straw. The torso, cut at the waist, leans forward when glued to the legs’ waist.
TESTFITTING:
I testfitted the limbs to the torso and the legs together and found that the pieces fit well. The vest ammo pouches have curved backs that hug the torso and MOLLE loops. The head rests into the neck socket although the scarf kind of prevents the head from being posed in a turned position. Figure modelers will have to gouge out some parts of the scarf if they desire to pose the head turned. Once properly aligned, the arms fit perfectly-flush against their torso glue surfaces using tiny pin-to-hole engineering. There is not much possibility for variation though because to rotate the arms either up or down from their original design parameters would result in a gap on top of the shoulders and under the armpits; it’s possible to pose the arms higher or lower, but only if you’re willing to add putty to cover the gaps you created in doing so.
The wrists have sockets for the hands. Since I didn’t cut the M4 carbine off its pour blocks, I couldn’t test the fit completely, although I’m assuming that the hands would fit inside the wrist sockets without difficulty.
So in essence, one just glues the legs together, all four limbs to the torso, the torso to the legs, head to the torso, the gear, and the hands to the arms to finish construction—just twelve pieces—fast and simple.
CONCLUSION:
The fit on this kit is quite excellent, and being a simple kit with most parts being molded-on and in one piece, should be an easy kit to build. From a distance, the appearance and detail nuisances shouldn’t really matter. However, for some discriminating and scrutinizing figure modelers, a closer inspection may reveal some areas where this figure fails to satisfy in terms of simplistic and lacking detail and scale accuracy issues. Nonetheless, the figure does appear proportional and generally realistic to modern times and would make a good display piece in a 120mm U.S. Army resin figure collection.
My thanks go to Deyun Hobby for the review sample. Figure painted by Mr. Vince Pedulla.
REFERENCES:
· ELITE FORCES, Hobby Japan Mook.
· Halberstadt, Hans, Battle Rattle, The Stuff a Soldier Carries. MBI Publishing Company: China; C 2006.
PHOTOS:
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/cenebar/Review Photos/Deyun 82nd Airborne/
U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division
DS120006
Deyun Hobby is one of the few resin figure companies devoted to producing original and unique modern 120mm U.S. soldier resin figure kits. This philosophy continues with the release of Deyun Hobby’s kit DS120006, “U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division.” Sculpted by Mr. Joshua Sutton, this figure depicts a U.S. soldier operating in a desert environment, specifically in the “Global War on Terror.”
The 12 light-gray resin parts come in a vacuum-sealed clear plastic bag divided into two compartments (one part for the gun and sight, the other for everything else), surrounded by Styrofoam popcorn, and packaged in a unique colorful foldout box. The 12 parts are:
· Left leg with molded-on kneepad and boot
· Right leg with molded-on kneepad and boot
· Left arm with molded-on 82nd Airborne Division insignia shoulder patch
· Right arm with molded-on backwards American flag insignia shoulder patch
· Head with molded-on Kevlar helmet, goggles, night-vision goggle (NVG) mounting bracket, headband, and chinstrap
· MOLLE ammo pouch
· MOLLE (100-round) ammo pouch with SNAP-TITE plastic buckle
· MOLLE pouch with Velcro strap
· Torso with molded on Interceptor Body Armor (IBA), MOLLE vest, Camelbak with drinking tube, and neck scarf
· Four vest ammo pouches with SNAP-TITE plastic buckles
· M4 carbine with molded-on left and right hands, Picatinny Rail on top of receiver, Rail Interface System on all four sides of barrel, AN/PEQ-2 laser illuminator/designator, forward handgrip, and backup iron sights
· COMP-M “Red-Dot” sight
CASTING:
DS120006 really is a simple kit with few parts. The figure modeler just has to glue on the head, torso, limbs, gear, and gun since most of the small and delicate parts come molded-on or in one-piece. The only small part is the COMP-M sight. The parts are well cast and generally devoid of air bubbles, warping, gouges, and runs. I found that the figure has good proportions with ample thickness of the limbs, torso, and head.
Coming from a sculptor other than Maceij “Maciek” Rebowski (Maciek did Deyun kits DS120001 to DS120005), this figure looks…different…because each sculptor has his own style. The soldier depicted appears younger, the face rounder and more youthful. The body isn’t skinny at all, and in fact seems to fill the Desert Combat Uniform fully because of the lack of sharp wrinkles. One can assume this figure depicts a late teenager. The legs look really good; the boots appear nice with extra-sharply-cast laces and grooved soles; the kneepads are the same matching size. I testfitted the two legs together and they both appear proportional. I did notice that the legs had some rough surfaces and outlines, as if putty was added to thicken and correct the shape of the legs and wasn’t smoothed out before casting, so these putty-additions showed in the casting as splotches, and blobs; however, a coat of sprayed-on primer should hide these areas.
All parts have a pour block attached to them except the torso. The blocks, some rather large, are generally in logical places, many attached to glue surfaces, which will be hidden with the attachment of another piece. The M4 carbine is mounted on resin posts and surrounded by thin flash that needs to be carefully cut and sanded away. I really like this approach of casting one-piece 120mm guns because this makes for a straight gun from buttstock to muzzle tip, and the mounting prevents damage to the gun. Furthermore, with the hands molded-on, one doesn’t need to fidget to slip and attach the gun into open hands.
DETAILS:
The details are quite good. The gear and gun details are quite sharp. The surface details on the AN/PEQ-2, the pits, groves, lumps and bumps, appear generally accurate to my photo references. I overlaid the M4’s magazine on top of the ammo pouches; the magazine will fit inside the pouches.
As stated above, the soldier appears “big,” not a lot of wrinkles in the uniform. Some may equate this to a figure having less surface detail, and while this may be true, I still find the figure looks pretty good although some areas does indeed appear too “soft in detail” and could have used a bit more sculpting work.
Of a larger concern is the scale and detailing of some areas. I found the SNAP-TITE plastic buckle strap on the MOLLE 100-round ammo pouch to be too narrow, as are the buckles on the vest ammo pouches. They look nice and realistic, just too narrow according to my photo references. The NVG helmet bracket lacks the indentations, openings, groves, and bars of a MICH NVG helmet bracket. The M4, while generally nice, has some oversized scale details, especially on the non-ejecting side. Non-military figure modelers would probably not even notice these issues.
The MOLLE vest loops are well done, sharp and crisp, as is the Camelbak and its drinking straw. The torso, cut at the waist, leans forward when glued to the legs’ waist.
TESTFITTING:
I testfitted the limbs to the torso and the legs together and found that the pieces fit well. The vest ammo pouches have curved backs that hug the torso and MOLLE loops. The head rests into the neck socket although the scarf kind of prevents the head from being posed in a turned position. Figure modelers will have to gouge out some parts of the scarf if they desire to pose the head turned. Once properly aligned, the arms fit perfectly-flush against their torso glue surfaces using tiny pin-to-hole engineering. There is not much possibility for variation though because to rotate the arms either up or down from their original design parameters would result in a gap on top of the shoulders and under the armpits; it’s possible to pose the arms higher or lower, but only if you’re willing to add putty to cover the gaps you created in doing so.
The wrists have sockets for the hands. Since I didn’t cut the M4 carbine off its pour blocks, I couldn’t test the fit completely, although I’m assuming that the hands would fit inside the wrist sockets without difficulty.
So in essence, one just glues the legs together, all four limbs to the torso, the torso to the legs, head to the torso, the gear, and the hands to the arms to finish construction—just twelve pieces—fast and simple.
CONCLUSION:
The fit on this kit is quite excellent, and being a simple kit with most parts being molded-on and in one piece, should be an easy kit to build. From a distance, the appearance and detail nuisances shouldn’t really matter. However, for some discriminating and scrutinizing figure modelers, a closer inspection may reveal some areas where this figure fails to satisfy in terms of simplistic and lacking detail and scale accuracy issues. Nonetheless, the figure does appear proportional and generally realistic to modern times and would make a good display piece in a 120mm U.S. Army resin figure collection.
My thanks go to Deyun Hobby for the review sample. Figure painted by Mr. Vince Pedulla.
REFERENCES:
· ELITE FORCES, Hobby Japan Mook.
· Halberstadt, Hans, Battle Rattle, The Stuff a Soldier Carries. MBI Publishing Company: China; C 2006.
PHOTOS:
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/cenebar/Review Photos/Deyun 82nd Airborne/
