by CPL_Saint
posted in General Discussions
I recently placed an order with Pig Iron productions for a few of their sci-fi infantry, and thought I'd post up a mini-review.
What I ordered:
- 1 x PI.1 INFANTRY COMMAND SQUAD
- 1 x PI.7 HEAVY INFANTRY CASUALTIES
- 2 x PI.8 INFANTRY BOOSTER PACK
- 2 x KL.1 KOLONY MILITIA BOOSTER PACK
Service and delivery
Good. I received free postage on account of ordering a decent amount of stuff, which I thought was very kind. The product was posted promptly and received safely within a week.
Packaging was a padded envelope filled with bubble-wrap – not the safest (compared to a stiff box), but all of the models I received were undamaged.
Communication with Pig Iron was great throughout: very professional, friendly and courteous. Both Simon and Lisa were lovely to chat to, and had a nice natter about upcoming products (which I'm looking forward to!)
First Impressions
The casts were very, very clean – virtually no mouldlines whatsoever, and the detail was crisp and sharp on all of the models. There was a slight miscast on one of the head sprues, but given that there were five spare heads on each sprue, this was not a problem.
General notes
I was very impressed with the poses of the models – they're nice and realistic, without being over-the-top or static. It's hard to really nail down exactly what's so good about the poses except that they 'feel right'.
There is a great range of poses in each squad, too – so you won't need to worry overly about repetition (the fact that Pig Iron provide a variety of heads will help too). Some of the poses are subtlely different, which was pleasantly surprising – now I can have a firing line with some variety.
The models are cast in a sturdy metal: I accidentally dropped one off a wheelie bin onto a concrete floor while priming and it sustained no damage!
I'm not a fan of the sculpted bases, but this is very much a personal point. I'd prefer tags, as these are easily trimmed off.
I really like how consistent the models are across the range: they're all properly scaled against each other across the Kolony, Heavy infantry and Infantry ranges, so you could easily mix them together without it looking odd. They'd fit in beautifully with GW or similar models, being similarly bulky and heroically-scaled.
The command and casualties have pretty stumpy legs, and are generally less sharply-sculpted than the newer models (Kolony and Heavy infantry).
The newer sculpts are much, much better than the earlier ones (to my eye, at least), being better proportioned, more versatile (two-part sculpts) and generally better detailed.
A final ray of sunshine: the weapons. While I only ordered the basic troops, it was great to get some sci-fi models with credible, stocky guns.
Assembly
What a joy to put together! Nice simple two-piece metal models. There didn't seem to be any release agent on the metal, and as mentioned all of the models were free of mould-lines. The single piece models (casualties and command) were equally high-quality.
The heads have a rounded bump to fit into a dip on the bodies, and fitted nice and securely around the necks straight off the head sprue with minimal cutting and no filing or shaping – trés bien.
The unhelmeted heads on the Heavy infantry head sprue are not as good as the helmets, in my view – a touch blobby (particularly the injured head), so I only used a couple of the capped heads. That said, having nice smooth surfaces helped when painting them, enabling a nice stubble effect etc.
I dry-fitted the Heavy infantry heads to the Kolony miniatures (and vice versa), and they fit each other perfectly.
I mounted the models on Black Cat's brick wall bases (www.blackcatbases.com) with minimal cutting or alteration, and they stayed in place securely with a touch of superglue.
Painting
A quick dose of Halford's car primer later, and I got stuck into painting them. The models feel intuitive to paint – despite the nice detail work on the sculpt, there are few 'difficult' recesses, and plenty of blank surfaces for freehand opportunities like kill markings etc.
As I mentioned earlier, the earlier sculpts are a little 'softer', and I had a couple of confusing moments trying to work out what was a belt and what was an armour plate – but this is probably an equal amount of my unfamiliarity with the models as anything else.
Game Uses
Other uses these guys will see are as an Imperial Guard regiment (Vedder's Vultures), and possibly a Tau-proxy force.
When they're being used as Vedder's Vultures, I'll be using the following doctrines:
- Hardened veterans
- Carapace
- Mechanised
- Special Weapons Squads
A group of Vultures advances slowly across the baked salt-plain.
Conclusion
All of the models I received are fantastic. Well-sculpted (particularly the newer models), well-planned and high quality. I'd have no reservations recommending Pig Iron models to anyone interested: Nice one Simon!