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| Advertisement for the 60mm Medieval Collection. |
The Spanish publisher del Prado was established in 1988 and is known for its partwork series subscriptions that come bundled with collectible models. They are supposed to have had a presence in the USA at one time, but I have never seen any of their publications on sale anywhere. I'm not even sure if they are still in business, since some of their properties have apparently been sold off.
I was more familiar with their diecast fire engines, since they made them in 1/72 scale, but recently I found out that 1/72 Napoleonic and medieval figures were sold under the del Prado label.
I was a bit hesitant about buying any of the figures at first, since it seemed that some of the putative 1/72 Napoleonic figures might actually be closer to 28mm, but after finding a large lot of the medieval figures on eBay for a little over US$1 a figure, I decided to take a chance and purchase the lot.
When I received the package, I wondered what I had been sent because it looked as if the contents had been taped up in a tattered paper bag that was full of holes.
When I opened the paper, I saw that half of the figures inside had fallen out of their blisters. The plastic packaging contained water, and the backings were still all damp. It seems Deutsche Post somehow half drowned the package, and that the outer wrapping was originally a box, before being deformed by water damage.
Anyway, the figures all seemed to be there, and the loose figures didn't seem to have much in the way of damage to the paint, so I guess it wasn't a huge deal in the end.
Here are the figures I received, starting with castle besiegers in red and white livery.
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| AME001, AME004, AME007, AME008, AME010 |
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| AME012, AME015, AME017, AME019 |
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| AME021, AME023, AME026, AME028 |
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| AME036, AME038 |
Next are the castle defenders in gold and red livery.
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| AME003, AME006, AME009, AME011 |
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| AME014, AME020, AME024 |
Overall, I like these figures. They match up well with 1/72 plastics, and are well sculpted with good proportions. Some of the figures seem to be made of lead, so the metal is very soft, but others are made of a harder tin alloy. The paint jobs are not the greatest quality. It is a bit on the sloppy side, but at least they are painted (unlike the large part of my collection).
I may try to buy some Napoleonics to do comparisons at some point if I see them for cheap, but I really would like to complete a set of medieval figures. It is unclear how many figures were produced in the series, and from the looks of some of the poses, a siege engine may even be part of the line. I'd be interested to hear from people who have more information on these figures.
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9 comments:
Did not know those figures..but actually they look much as partial copies from Zvezda and italeri Hyw and Teutonic/Livonia ..and probably expensive..(are they metal?)
I didn't know of these either, I started buying the Nappies when they first came out ('97/98'sih?), and have 7 of 8 of the plastic 'puzzle' play-mat sections, but seem to recall some of them were derivative too, but Medieval's? Painted? Nice!
H
Thanks for your comments!
@Sceavus
Yes they are metal figures. I took a look at the Italeri and Zvezda figures, and there are similar poses, but the del Prado figures don't appear to be recasts. I'm not sure how much they originally cost, but you are probably right that they weren't cheap.
@Hugh
I didn't get any of the printed material that came with the figures so I didn't realize they came with playmats as well. Did you ever do a post on your Nappies?
Thanks for the interesting post. I also thought that some reminds me on Italeri and Zvezda.
In the past I tried their Napoleonics too. The infantry are 28mm figures, but you could use most of the riders if you use Zvezda horses for them. They are mostly true 25mm figures.
Actually they do look nice with taht painting schemes, and not bad poses even if modified. If you paid less than 1$ per figures, in metal, you made a good deal :)
I believe still they are just slighlty modified and recombined parts from Italeri english HYW and Teutonic, as well as Zvezda livonian. Horses and Last standing figure with axe is almost the same figure as original in Zvezda Livonians!!
THERE ARE MANY MORE OF THESE FIGURES, THE ONES YOU SHOW ARE THE MORE COMMON ONES BUT I HAVE ATLEAST 20 MORE DIFFERENT POSITIONS. I LIKE THE SCORPION + 2 MAN CREW, THE PEASANT OXON HERDER AND PRIEST, THEY ALSO DID MORE OF EACH COLOUR IN VARIOUS POSITIONS, TRUMPETERS, CRUSADERS WITH RED CROSS AND ALSO SGTS IN BLACK WITH WHITE CROSS. THEY WERE SOLD BY DEL PRADO AS SIEGE OF THE MEDIEVAL CASTLE.
EY - No I didn't, but I will when I get them out of storage which looks like it may be later this year? But I'm sure someone else has?
Capt. Nolan raises a point that was true for the Nappies too, the reason I stopped getting it was that you were going to have to wait ages for the one-off and small-unit figures, so once I had a bunch of French Line, British Line, a gun (Brit I think?) a general and some Highlanders I called it a day! With lots of others doing the same thing, the later figures end-up 'rocking-horse shit' rare!
H
Awesome
Thanks for the info CapN & Uwe!
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