Wednesday 21 March 2012

West Wind SWAT Troopers 02

This is part two of my review of the West Wind Road Kill 28mm scale SWAT troopers, which this time looks at sets GRK19 SWAT Team with Shotguns and GRK10 SWAT Team. As before, I shall identify the figures by numbers going from left to right.  Both sets contain four figures.
I'll start by looking at set GRK19 SWAT Team with Shotguns. As before, I'm working on the assumption that these guys are part of the LAPD, due to the weapons they are equipped with, although to be fair, most of my SWAT Troopers will see action in Mayhem City, site of my ATZ campaign.
Figure 1, at the far left of the two photos above, is standing in a relaxed pose. We can get a good look at his shotgun - a 12 Gauge Benelli M1 Super 90 Pump-Action Shotgun. Zombie fans note that Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) uses one of these in the film Zombieland. Note the addition of the pistol grip next to the trigger on the shotgun. He is wearing a set of night vision goggles.
Figure 2 is crouching down as he holds his Shotgun at the ready. He is the only figure out of this set who is not wearing a helmet. His head does have some form of protection in that he wears a fire-retardant Nomex ski-mask. Note that he is wearing anti-glare goggles, not night vision goggles.
Figure 3 is advancing with his Shotgun held in a similar pose to figure 2. Note that all of these figures have a back-up pistol in a holster on their right hips. The pistol will be the .45 Kimber Custom II, standard issue for all LAPD cops.
Figure 4 is firing his Shotgun from the shoulder in an aggressive pose. He is not wearing any form of goggles.
Finally, we come to set GRK10 SWAT Team. These four figures shown above and below are your standard SWAT Troopers, all armed with the ubiquitous 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5A Sub-Machine Gun. It is the single most common firearm used by SWAT Teams worldwide.
Figure 1 leans forward with his 9mm SMG held at the ready but pointing it skywards. All of these figures wear night vision goggles and all carry the .45 Kimber Custom II Pistol in holsters. He wears a helmet, which is very similar to the PASGT helmets as used by the U.S. Army.
Figure 2 holds his SMG at the shoulder but is not ready to fire it yet. You can see that his head is not pointing in the same direction as the gun's barrel, so he appears to be assessing the situation around him. He is not wearing a helmet.
Figure 3 is clearly in the process of firing his SMG. He's firing from the hip and leaning back to absorb the weapon's recoil. It is a very dramatic pose. He too, is missing his helmet.
Figure 4 is also firing his smg, but this time from the shoulder, as he leans forward and slightly crouches down. Another very dramatic pose.
I gave a number of reasons why I like the West Wind range of SWAT Troopers best of all last time, and nothing has changed since then. If the two sets I reviewed last time were the specialists (commanders and snipers) then these figures are your standard troopers. Once again, the two sets cost a very reasonable £6.00 each.

18 comments:

  1. More great work Vamp. Ive been partial to the Foundry SWAT figs, but I might have to give these a look.

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    1. I like the Foundry SWAT Teams but I like the West Wind SWAT Teams even more. They are much better value for money and are equipped with standard issue weapons. The Foundry figures are armed with some very dubious weapons and have far too many females amongst them. That said, if you can afford both sets I'd say, go for it.

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  2. Very glad to see this post. I believe I have the second set sitting on the workbench. Beautiful paint jobs on these. I like how crisp and clear the word "Police" has been painted onto them.

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    1. I really don't know what possessed me to paint the word POLICE on their backs. It was a real pain in ass to do. So many times I'd get part of the word done nicely and then cock up the rest of it, necessitating a repaint of the offending letter or letters. I certainly learnt the value of patience and a very steady hand when painting these. Oh, and a very fine tipped paintbrush!

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  3. Great work again on lovely figures and your reasons fro them being the best but us foundry whores are over here sitting on a fence, excellent stuff Bryan....

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    1. Thanks, Fran. I know you're a big fan of the Foundry figures. So am I. So there's no reason (other than a lack of money!) not to collect both sets. They do complement each other very well.

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  4. Excellent figures, you made a great job on these.

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    1. Thanks, Ray, and once again, congrats on your own painting efforts. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Ray came first in a recent online painting contest.

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  5. Nicely done Bryan. More meat for the zeds to feast upon!

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Yep, more meat, although these might be a tough nut to crack.

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  6. Cool review, once again great value for those sets!

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    1. Agreed. £1.50 for a single white metal figure is good value these days.

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  7. Good paintjob on these as alway.I'm not convinced by the shotguns in the "shotgun set" and for some reason neither of these sets really appeal to me whereas the previous two did !

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  8. Fantastic as always!

    Also, I ran across something that should be considered for anyone wanting papercraft cars, especially in rougher parts of town....

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/loudpop/3242082355/

    Admittedly, it'll have to be played with a bit, the whole thing cracks me up.

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    1. Thanks for that link, Varangian. It's not up to WWG standard, but with a bit of work it could be usable.

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  9. Great job on those, and on the others from previous post! But I cant say i like the models, NVGs pretty much put me off :)

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    1. Again, no problem, Mathyoo. I don't think it would be too difficult to file them down to convert them into normal goggles as used by figures 2 and 3 of the shotgun troopers.

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