Wednesday 9 February 2011

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.

16 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff especially when you said about the version with the flashlight and gun which is brilliant by the way (and before reading on running through my mind where on the site it was) and my favourite of the three that you made a cap out of modelling putty and a very easy conversion to do you said, thats because you have a talent my friend unlike some of us mere mortals.Excellent work my friend as always.

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  2. That's a damn good conversion, I didn't even realise it was the same figure at first!

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  3. @The Angry Lurker. Fair comment, if you've never done any conversion work before or used modelling putty, making the cop's cap might not be as easy as I make it appear. Still, it has to be easier than sculpting hands or faces.

    @Ray. I appreciate your comments.

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  4. Those are excellent! The Dirty Harry is very well done as is the Ving. I guess I like them best because they remind me of the movies, which I also enjoyed.

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  5. If you had not mentioned that the cap was of your creation.... Well done indeed!!!! They do indeed look like two different miniatures now!

    Dirty Harry as zombie, may I ask where you saw him?

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  6. @Luckyjoe. There is no denying the likeness to Clint and Ving with both figures.

    @Lord Siwoc. Mega Miniatures make a zombie Dirty Harry, whom they have called Filthy Harry. He is one of the few Mega Minis zombies that I haven't bought, simply because I think he is a horribly scupted figure. He doesn't look much like Harry at all and his pistol is not recognisable as a Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum. The only thing in has favour is his price tag of $1.89. I hate him but you might have a different opinion.

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  9. Looking forward to seeing your Officer Nick. That's my favorite police miniature I've seen and it's the one that I'm planning on using for my ATZ campaign after I play some more one off games to get the rules down.

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  10. @Steve. E-mail sent.

    @Andrew. I agree. Officer Nick is an excellent choice for a player character. I should be posting my review on Sunday, so keeping watching.

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  11. Great paint on those dark uniforms and belts. That is one of the things I still can't do worth a darn.

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  12. Awesome job on the cap Bryan. Well done Sir.

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  13. @Willy. Black uniforms can be a real bitch to paint because you can't use any shading on them, only highlighting. If you overdo the highlighting it looks like the figure is wearing a dark grey or worse, a grey uniform. All I can say is practice makes perfect.

    @Adam. Thanks. The cap has come in for a lot of praise, and I still think it was an easy conversion!

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  14. As everyone else has said that is a great conversion, you did really well mate, I ended up going with the Khurasan 'Not Dirty Harry' mini (not painted yet), I felt the face had a better likeness, each to their own I guess.

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  15. Yeah, the Khurusan not Dirty Harry is a very nice figure. If Kev hadn't sculpted Frank Cisco I'd have gone with the Khurusan Brutal Bill for my own Dirty Harry. It's a close call over which is the better Dirty Harry, but in my opinion, the Hasslefree version just leads by a nose.

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  16. @Bryan, I'm surprised you didn't mention that Ving Rhames' character in the remake was named Kenneth in tribute to Ken Foree, genre favorite who played Peter in the original "Dawn of the Dead."

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