M113 Review
Several people have asked why I didn't put up a review of the QRF M113's, honestly I kind of wanted to skirt around them. Secondly I was trying to block out the pain......I bought the BF boxed set simply to cathartically cleanse myself of these models.
Well be careful what you wish for..
Frankly the QRF M113's are awful - Sorry but they are....The Top Body doesn't fit the lower body, the Tracks don't fit, it took lots of effort to get the Tracks anywhere near the body....
All you get is the .50cal Turret....
All round, and I hate slagging off miniatures, but these are rubbish in fact I'm getting bloody angry typing this!
In my fit of angry pique I decided to buy the Battlefronts New M113's and I duly did....These are so damn good, they make the QRF stuff look even worse.
Where to start......Well they are £19 for 4.......Excellent value and actually cheaper than QRF, so you pay less and get more? This is clearly where BF are going and it seems like a they are following the Plastic Soldier Company in terms of Quality and Price.
You get 4 M113's in various Variants, Decals, Crewmen and Mortar Crewmen!!!!!
Well these things actually come in 5 variants, all on the Sprue, and loads of weapons for Converting and future projects.
So what can you make?
M113 , M113 w/ 0.50cal, M113 w/ Minigun, M113 w/0.50cal Okinawa Turret, M113 w/ 0.50cal Modern Turret, M113 w/ 40mm GMG, M113 w/ 106mm Recoiless Rifle, M113 w/ 81mm Mortar, M113 w/4.2" Mortar, and M113 Zippo Flame thrower.
You think this enough for the price? Well you also get the ACAV variant, and also things like Mud Guards.
The size difference is quite marked too, I'm not sure which one I prefer from the size perspective but the Battlefront ones win hands down across everything else. I'm also not sure if the size difference is that noticable (except when they are next to each other) and if you carried the BF ones throughout your force I don't think anyone would notice plus with Tanks and other vehicles it would work well.
This picture.....It completely illustrates my take on this.
I'm keeping all the spares for my HMMWV's and other projects, and I will be converting my own Infantry Mortar Teams, etc using these Spares. Also the Miniguns are cracking for Helicopters etc.
I am very happy with this boxed set and would recommend anyone who needs M113's for Modern to just pick up this boxed set, it is quite simply the best 15mm Option on the market and gives lots of spares and options.
If you dont want these QRF M113 and want to get rid of them, I can take them :)
ReplyDeleteI will pay international postage
You can contact me at fjodin at hotmail.com and discuss this, I am open to suggestion.
Sent you an E-mail....You can have them for the cost of the Postage, or I will do a straight Swap if you like, from your blog you always have interesting models. ;)
ReplyDeleteGeoff from QRF is pretty visible on TMP, he might comment or try to improve the situation if you make contact or a post.
ReplyDeleteThe BF ones are good and getting great reviews, they are also very new. The QRF ones might be an old design?
Thanks for the review.
Something occurred to me looking at your finished pictures - and thank for posting as I have 2 M113's from QRF that are still unbuilt - but the look of the angular front deck (glacis?) looks like it could serve as a M114 Scout vehicle if you wanted to field some of them? Just my thoughts,
ReplyDeleteSteve
I read somewhere that some of QRF's molds are from the late 80's, which probably explains why I bought 13 of the later model T-72/T-80 rather than the more historical T-72. Same with my BTR's. I bought 1 old BTR for the command vehicle and the difference in detail is so obvious, there has to be about a ecade in between scuplts. So it could very well be the mold is old, and that what has no detail nowadays had lots back then? Who knows. Those M113s do look sexy though with all the extra parts.
ReplyDeleteDamn when I first saw this post I thought the Okinawa turret was a T-50 turret, that would have been sweet, look like nice models.
ReplyDeleteYou could easily convert some of them to T-50 Turrets, the Flame Turret for the Zippo could be easily converted to a T-50 with the twin 0.30cal MG's. As it has a 0.30cal Co-ax to the Flame Turret. All I would do is remove the Flame Cannon then take another Co-ax 0.30cal and glue it on, hey presto Cadillac gage T-50 (Or a very close approximation).
ReplyDeleteThere is a blister of T50 and M74C Turrets out too now.
ReplyDeleteI need to have a look at that, I haven't seen that yet.
ReplyDelete