Small scale US Riverine Models

One of the primary reasons for my starting a collection in 10mm scale was the attraction of playing large, battalion-scale, combined-arms actions on the table-top. I was looking forward to company-size air assaults, battalion-sized search-and-destroy missions, full blown riverine raids and so forth. Now, while this is still possible, there are a number of compromises that you must be prepared to accept if you are to experience gaming on this level and it is all to do with compatibility of scale.

One of the biggest problems for figure collectors has always been the matching of figures, vehicles, vessels, aircraft and terrain all in the same scale. Invariably one or the other of these has either been inconsistent or else simply not available. Today, with a large enough table (and a sizeable budget) the type of gaming mentioned above is perfectly feasible in some scales such as 15mm and 20mm since the figure and vehicle ranges are so extensive and because of the fact that the figures and accessories produced by the various manufacturers are, by and large, reasonably compatible. Unfortunately this is not the case in 10mm scale. The discrepancies that in 15mm or 20mm scales can, for the most part, be accepted are far more pronounced in 10mm scale. At this scale those discrepencies are often too great to be easily ignored.

Current availability of figures, helicopters, vehicles and riverine craft in 10mm scale unfortunately highlight this problem to a degree not seen in larger scales. As a consequence, it is necessary to accept the fact that the mix of figures and vehicles in your games at this scale are not going to look quite as uniform and 'right' as they are in the larger scales.

The range of riverine models that are currently available in 10mm are a case in point.

Amongst others, I purchased the following from Kennington Miniatures (4 Church Lane, Forest Hill, London. SE23 2UW. Tel. 0208 291 6675); VN1 River Monitor (£6.00), VN2 Armoured troop carrier (£6.00) and VN3 Armored Troop Carrier & helideck (£6.50). Now, it is not often that I am hyper-critical about models since I realise that many of the people involved in their manufacture and sale have a portion of their livelihood riding on the sales. However, in this instance, I have some serious issues.

These models are, in my opinion, seriously overpriced at £6.00 a time. When you consider that the Britannia ATC in 20mm scale is only around £12, you begin to feel a little cheated. This high-price would be more acceptable if the models themselves were of outstanding or comparable quality - which brings me to my next point. Bearing this in mind, it is going to cost you a lot of money just to field a company-sized landing force.

20mm Britannia ATC (Top) alongside 10mm ATC (Bottom)

The model-moulds are quite clearly long-overdue for replacement. At this scale even small manufacturing errors become glaringly obvious. In this case there are a number of problems with these models; notably, there are swathes of bar-armour missing and numerous air-bubble craters. On the whole, the quality of the models leaves a lot to be desired.

Finally, and someone can correct me on this point if I am wrong, these vessels are sold as being 1/200th scale (commonly referred to as 10mm scale). Unfortunately, they are way out of scale with 10mm figures purchased from either Bren Gun Miniatures or Pendraken Miniatures.

10mm figure alongside ATC

It's a real pity to have to raise these issues since the availability of these models should add considerably to the range and type of games that you can play. However, the relatively poor quality and discrepencies in scale tend to mitigate against their use.

The Models

All models are cast in grey resin with metal turrets and helipad. The front ramp of the armoured troop carrier is a separate component. One of the models that I received had some damage; the front ramp was in two pieces and one of the mountings for the front ramp had snapped off - small problems and easy to repair, but not what you expect to find.

Detail on the models is minimal but adequate and at this scale perfectly acceptable. As already mentioned, bar armour is missing in numerous places and some of the already limited detail is marred by the widespread appearance of air-bubble faults - for instance one of the life-buoys has a crater that leaves an incomplete circular buoy. Looking at the photos one can see numerous pock-marks

The helipad for the ATCH is a simple metal platform that perches on top of the troop awning of the ATC model. It's disappointing to find that this simple metal platform costs you an extra £0.50 when the price of the model itself is already inflated. Don't glue this platform in place since when dismounted, you can use the boat as a standard ATC. I used a little blob of blue-tac to hold it in place.

The monitor has the familiar curved bow and large gun housing forward. It would be possible to leave off the forward gun turret and custom build a much lower silhouette flame turret to convert this model to a 'Zippo'.

Painting the Models

After undercoating the models in black, I used the following steps to paint the models;

1. Apply basecoat of Vallejo Olive Drab

2. Highlight with Color Party Olive Drab (Note the missing bar armor!)

3. Attach to base

4. Final Highlight of CP Olive Drab + Bubonic Brown

5. Model water on base

6. Paint water and foam

7. Paint life-buoys

Finished Models

Overall I can't say that I would recommend these models if there were alternatives available. However, since these are, to my knowledge, the only riverine models currently available at this scale (I use the term loosely) you don't have a lot of choice. Bearing in mind my criticisms, once mounted on an appropriate base, the models don't look too bad.

Frank Reynolds wrote to me and pointed out that, Just read your review of the 10mm Riverine craft. As a bit of background, these were originally produced by the Drum in the early nineties, so the moulds must becoming upto 20 years old. They were produced to complement the Skytrex 1/200th scale Vietnam specials, hence their size.

Thanks Frank. I still feel that a 20-year old worn-out mould should either be remade or the price significantly reduced to reflect the poor quality.