Zvezda/Svezda line of fantasy miniatures

[Zofmax]

Hi - Just kind of curious if anyone out there has purchased and assembled any of these boxes of miniatures. They seem to be trickling in at this point. I would hate to spend perfectly good money to find out they are terrible.

I know enough from my modelling days to realize that Ukraine/Russian kits come in two types - superb and awful. Seldom is there an in between.

With the current GW pricing out there (on plastic!!!) it does not surprise me that Svezda would enter this market.

Please give me your thoughts...

 

[finn17]

Errmm...

Can you provide us with a link? If not..PM or email at \'steveapted@aol.com\' and I will put one up

 

[Zofmax]

Link - nope

I have seen there terrain items at Squadron Mail Order - Bridges and Fortifications. I have been told by a modeller friend that they are very nice. I haven\'t visited him so I cannot say - but he has excellent, if somewhat eclectic tastes. The kits I was referencing I saw on Ebay - Empire knights box and Elves. I did a search on Google and got some cover art from European hobby shops - but not much else.

5-6 years ago the Eastern Europeans were small potatoes in the 1/72 armor biz and now they are pretty dominant players. Not to mention that soft plastic stuff...

GW is a pretty attractive target if you ask me...

 

[nick_t]

All I cant tell you is that Zveszda means \"star\"

 

[Evil Dave]

Okay, did a google search on Zvezda Miniatures and this is what I found.

Zvezda Miniatures

Unfortunately all the catalog pics are just drawings, so I looked up Images and this is what I found.

The pictures really aren\'t good enough to tell the quality of the figs though.

 

[MarkusTay]

They\'re gonna have to glitz up their catalogue and get some professional looking shots of their models if they want to compete in the Euro-American mini market.

 

[finn17]

Nice research Dave...

But it looks like your fears were well founded Zofmax....that fort sucks...then blows, then sucks some more...I wouldn\'t buy that for my dog..

I am undecided about the minis....need to see more of them to make a decision

 

[Zofmax]

Hah-hah!

The fort does kind of fit my general impression of eastern European product/production.

The miniatures though - hard to tell - however, they do not immediately stink which is promising. I am not exactly thrilled with the quality/consistency of GW plastic stuff either.

Thanks for the responses all!

 

[Primeval]

It doesn\'t really inspire much confidence that they don\'t show images of the actual figures. But that Orc Chief I have to get if the miniatures is as cool as the drawing. I think you will like him Finn - he looks alot like a certain axe-toting barbarian.

http://www.zvezda.org.ru/eng/catalogue.shtml#8810

link is to the catalog page, no link to the individual image

 

[philologus]

Svezda

I haven\'t assembled any of these but Italeri makes some pretty good historicals. I have put together some 1:72 Romans and recently some 1:32 Romans for my wife. The detail is good but you usually get about 4 poses per box. I got 16 Roman Infantry figs(1:32) with Standard bearer and Musician for $ 14.00 US. Beware the faces will all be the same.

 

[Ziggi]

You can see pictures of the figs at Ring of Rule
Just go to the gallery (2nd from the left on 2nd row in the top menus).
I haven\'t seen these in real life, but atleast the kits have plenty of bits from what I have gathered.

Ziggi

 

[Valander]

Dunno about their larger scale stuff, but the detail on their 1:72 is top-notch. The iffy thing about them, though, is that they\'re \"soft plastic\". This stuff can be a bear to get it to hold a coat of paint well...

[EDIT]
Zvezda and Italeri are \"partner companies\", whatever that means. Basically, I think it means that they have many of the same molds, and just release them in different packaging. If you like the Italeri sculpts on those historicals, you\'d probably like the Zvezda stuff for the most part.

 

[philologus]

Valander: Thanks for the info I have wanted to buy some smaller ones but can\'t justify expanding my collection until I get more painting done. You are right about the soft plastic though. I find that usually only the weapons suffer. They are a great alternative for the historical player who doesn\'t want to spend loads on more expensive mfrs.

 

[Astorderire]

Last year, after a night spent drinking Vodka, the owners of our local fig shop decided to order some stuff from them. The order included some 1/72 stuff and a 25mm plastic barbarian whose picture on the box seemed cool...
The hangover came a week later: the 25mm thing was the ugliest fig I ever saw (and quite expensive in fact) and even the 1/72 things were disapointing.
Of course, they must have improved the quality of their products ( once at the bottom, one can only go up)

 

[Margo]

Concerning Zvezda ...

My husband\'s got a few words to say about Zvezda. Posting his comments:

_______

Zvezda produces two main miniature ranges: conventional 1/72 (mostly licensed by Italery), which are quite neatly manufactured, and it\'s own 28mm (rather 30-35 in last releases) fantasy system called \"Ring of Rule\". You can check the models out here: http://www.ringofrule.ru/main.php?lng=eng, or you may look at some gamers\' works here: http://www.warmodels.narod.ru/gal.htm.

Pros: they are cheap. They are increadibly cheap, because all the models are plastic, and an regimental box (~ 20 minis) costs circa $10.

Cons: most models are sculpted... well, not exactly \"bad\", but rather \"childish\". there are no proportions in miniatures\' scale between different races. Many models are multy-parted, even super-mega-multy-parted. If you think that\'s not a disadvantage, try to assemble a single skeleton from ~30 details.

 

[Zofmax]

Interesting

@Margo - thanks for the info! Sounds like a parts acquisition opportunity anyhow!

I have attempted individual track links on 1/72nd scale armor before - once...only once...then I built a jig for it the second time.

Based upon the pics I saw (no danger of any high-speed servers there) the horses look too small...

I really appreciate all the input thus far though!