Hasslefree US Police 01

I'm still sticking with my reviews of Hasslefree's 28mm scale Adventurers range. This is part one of a two-part look at their police figures, specifically, their American cops.

As you can see, there is not a lot of choice here, but whilst they are lacking in quantity, they are overflowing with quality. At the far left of the group is HFA042 Frank Cisco, who has the distinction of being one of only three HF Adventurers to be given a first and last name. I guess that some people will use him as a Frank Cisco but not me. It is so obvious he is based on Clint Eastwood's iconic detective, "Dirty Harry" Callaghan. Now HF weren't the first company to make a not-Dirty Harry figure. I can think of at least three others, including a zombie Dirty Harry. Indeed, I have one of the others, by Killer B Games, but I painted him up as a Flying Squad detective. The problem with the others is that they all pale into insignificance when compared to this version by Kevin White. In my opinion, this is the definitive version of Dirty Harry. The only criticism I have of this figure (and it's a very minor one) is that the barrel of his .44 Magnum is longer than the version Clint uses in the films. He uses a 6" barrel but the figure appears to have a 10" barrel. It is a very minor point and at least the pistol is recognisable as a .44 Magnum. During the 1970's and 1980's, Clint was my hero - the ultimate action figure. To this day, I still retain a great fondness for many of his films of those decades. I sure wish that this figure was available way back then, although on the other hand, I would not have been able to paint him so well.
The next two figures are HFA023 Ken. He comes with a choice of two weapons options - the pump-action shotgun (shown in the centre) or a pistol and flashlight combo ( shown at the far right). I'm certain that he is based on the Ving Rhames character of Ken in the Zack Snyder remake of Dawn of the Dead. For the shotgun armed cop, I painted him as an African/American, although I think that the figure is a bit too slim to make a convincing Ving. I knew that I'd paint the second version as a Caucasian cop, but to further differentiate the two, I added a cap made out of modelling putty to his head. This was a very easy conversion to do. I do like how he is using the left arm to support his right hand with the pistol in. A clever piece of modelling. Note that the shoes, belts, pouches and cap peak of the two Ken figures have been given a coat of gloss varnish to give them that highly polished look.
All three figures are clear winners and it probably is worthwhile buying two copies of Ken so that you can use both weapon options. It's a clever marketing ploy by HF. I fall for it every time! The Frank Cisco figure cost £3.50, whilst Ken retails at £4.00. In part two of this article, I look at HF's English cops.