Raiden Review

Along with the F Toys Bearcat I also had a package full of 1.285th Raiden Miniatures aircraft in the post today that I had ordered as a Xmas present to myself a few weeks ago. Mark, the chap who runs Raiden was going to bring them to the club last week in person but, due to the snow, he wasn't able to make it and posted them instead. They got held up in the post over the weekend but are now safe and sound on the workbench.

I ordered a battlepack, Superfortress v the Rising Sun, plus a couple of flights of P47's in both razorback and bubbletop, together with a few malcolm hooded P51's. The B29's are destined for my Luft '46 project and are the new resin fuselage versions. They're much lighter than the metal ones I already have in my stockpile and are very nicely sculpted, capturing the distinctive shape and size of the aircraft really well. I was also really impressed with the P47's which are very well sculpted and feature some extraordinary detail including staggered machine gun barrels, panel line and canopy frames. Superb!

The battlepacks that Mark sells are excellent value and contain everything you need to get started in a particular theatre of air warfare in WW2. The only extras you might want to add would be some decals but these are readily available from Mark or direct from Dom Decals. They even include a fast play set of Mark's own rules, Thunderbolts and Lightnings, plus dice and a set of simple scenarios. I haven't played the rules yet but would like to try them out at some point at the club. I'm sure Mark will produce new packs as his range increases including, fingers crossed, one for the Korean War using the Mig 15's and Sabres that he has in the production schedule for 2010.

The parcel of goodies also contained the aircraft and decals for the Battle of Britain participation game that the club is organising this year. I was going to the club tomorrow but we've been forced to postpone our Triumph and Tragedy try out to a later date due to the continuing cold weather, especially as my opponent has to use a motorbike to get to and from the club. As a result, I'll have to deliver the planes to the painting volunteers next week, when I hope to be able to get to the club for a game of something or other.