Saturday, January 3, 2009

Lieutenant, Blues & Royals Regiment, Afghanistan

From Hot Toys comes this 1/6 scale military figure from the British Army's Blues and Royals Regiment, supposedly stationed in Afghanistan. He is an officer and a Lieutenant and bears some resemblance to certain royalty. He was first previewed here and even got mentioned in the British Press so it's no secret. On with the review.

Hot Toys always delivers with their nice box packaging with full pictures of the actual product...

...including a description of the gear and stuff you'll find inside.

Basic "Harry" figure out of box, wearing British Army's desert DPM (Disruptive Patterned Material) smock over dark brown vest (T-shirt), desert DPM pants and desert combat boots.



Does he look like royalty? You be the judge. Hair color change for obvious reasons of copyright issues. Everything else looks dandy so far.

Harry's basic gear - 30L Rucksack, gasmask bag, Mk6 helmet with DPM cloth cover, LED headlamp and goggles, bonnie hat, knee pad, shemagh, tactical headset and Personal Role Radio (PRR)

Close-up of the tactical headset, PRR and radio pouch

His weapon and accessories - wrist watch, carabiner, sunglasses, cylume or light stick, ball-point pen, stripped L85A2 or Enfield SA80-IW (Individual Weapon) fitted with German-made 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher and SUSAT (Sight Unit, Small Arms, Trilux) telescopic sight. The SUSAT allows for an accurate fire (mostly in single shots) out to 400-500 meters. The L85A2 comes with three NATO-standard (STANAG) magazines, similar to M16 type magazines, with the standard capacity of 30 rounds. His trusty sidearm is the Browning Hi-Power pistol. In addition, he has a Gurkha knife.

Harry doing a Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible Force (IMF) pose in his vest and slacks, held up by CQB belt.

His Browning Hi-Power pistol and drop-down thigh holster

He carries his gasmask bag on his other thigh

Harry dons his desert DPM smock, boonie hat and has his personal weapon by his side at all times, even at rest.

Close-up of the Enfield SA80 IW or L85A2 assault rifle with grenade launcher

Harry doing a radio check before moving out on patrol

Harry in his full gear and ready for patrol. Here's where Hot Toys screwed up royally - the Mk6 helmet is WAY TOO SMALL and does not fit onto his head at all!! Unlike their prototype shots which show a well worn helmet, there is no way you are going to fit the helmet onto this head now :( So Harry has to go on patrol with the helmet carried close by for when he needs it. Bummer!

On his body armor he has two M4 magazine pouches with his spare magazines and his PRR in radio pouch

Another view of Hot Toys 1/6 scale British Army L85A2 assault rifle with 40mm grenade launcher

The under-barrel grenade launcher opens sideways for loading of the 40mm grenade rounds

Harry carries his cylume stick (light stick) and ball-point pen at his side. Note the Union Jack patch on his left upper arm.

He carries the 30L Rucksack on his back


His Gurkha knife is safely tucked into the side of his rucksack. He wears the Blues & Royals Regiment patch on his right arm.

Side profile of the British Army Blues & Royals Regiment


Check out the Blues & Royals in their Ceremonial uniform

Next up: Hot Toys British Army Blues & Royals Regiment Tank Commander

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a really cool site.

One thing about the SUSAT sight: you are never actually going to do much with a 5.56 round at 400-500 meters. Here in the States I own civilian variants of the M-16, M4 and Steyr Aug, all in 5.56 and can tell you that while the drop on the 5.56 isn't that bad at 400-500 meters (probably about 40-80 inches depending on a number of variables) the wind can create very big problems that far out and, crucially, the kinetic energy is really plunging. 200-300 meters is the most you are seriously going to use this gun in battle. If you want to operate in the 400-500 meter range, you'd use the 7.62 NATO: it may not be as flat shooting, but it packs a much more convincing punch (again, depending some variables, 4-5X the kinetic energy at 500m). So, although they say the scope compensates for shooting out that far, it's basically bs in practice.

Again though, cool site and figures.

alex teo said...

hi there, thanks for the compliments :) And thanks for taking the time to explain the intricacies of the 5.56 round at the 400-500 meters range to us. Coming from someone who obviously has experienced this first hand is indeed valuable knowledge.

Again, thanks for your comments and help in making this site much more interesting and insightful. Hope you visit more often.