Poundland Fire Engines

Following on directly from my last post, here is a review of a couple of fire engines I recently bought at Poundland. I have photographed them alongside the three converted firemen that I reviewed last time. After all, what use are firemen without a fire engine?

The first thing to note about these vehicles is that they are made of plastic. However, they are quite detailed and are almost the right scale. They are a tad too small but they are acceptable enough for me.

I have a few great fire engines in 20mm scale but until I bought these, I had none in 28mm scale. It seems odd that no one makes proper 28mm scale fire engines in card. I know that Finger and Toe Models make an airport crash tender, which is close but not the same.

The cab detail is well done apart from being moulded in silver plastic. I may repaint it black if I remember to but more than likely I'll just leave it as is. Note that driver sits at the left of the cabs (facing front), which makes these ideal for an American or European setting but not so good for a game set in the UK. Although to be honest, such a detail could easily be overlooked.

As you can see, both vehicles share the same chassis and front cab. It is the rear details that make them so different. The one at the left is fitted with six storage bays (three per side) and has a few portable ladders on the roof. The one to the right has a large turntable ladder. The turntable does turn and the ladder is extendable (see photo below).

A few stickers have been added to the models but whoever stuck the sticker on to the rear of the vehicle to the left was rather slipshod in their application. Because of the way they were packaged I didn't notice this until I got home. They are stuck on too well for me to reposition it so I'm just going to have to live with it. A shame as it is distracting.

For just one pound each, I thought these were damned good value for money. In case you're wondering which came first - the firemen or the fire engines - it was the vehicles.

Finally, here is a photo of the turntable ladder at its fullest extension. The cradle is too small to fit a figure on a 25mm or even a 20mm diameter base but if you had a suitable figure without a base he could fit in.
Okay, so I'll admit they're not the best fire engines on the market but you can't argue at their prices and they help fill a gap in my vehicle collection and that's plenty good enough for me.