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Meng 1/35 Middle Easterners

By Don Barry

Kit # HS-001

MSRP:  $17.00 USD

This is the first of what may prove to be an extensive line of figures from Meng.  This is a 4 figure set, consisting of one adult male, 1 adult female, and two children, one each girl and boy.  They are contained on one sprue of 26 parts, in a medium dark grey styrene, relatively hard.  The assembly and paint instructions are on the back of the box.  There are no paint codes given, just suggested color names.  The adult male is in quasi-military dress; fatigue jacket, pants, boots, and cap.  The adult woman is clothed in head-to-toe burnoose, with her face mostly hidden. 

Photo courtesy of Meng

The boy is wearing shirt, jacket, and pants, and the girl in a long dress and headscarf.  Those three are wearing sandals.  Good, clean casting throughout, with no flash, ejector marks, nor any other flaws.  Clothing is realistically wrinkled, draping especially well rendered on the woman’s robe.

Clean-up was easy, with faint mold lines, usually following natural clothing folds.  This reviewer found good fitting joints throughout, needing no filler, and only light sanding.  The feet on both women fit up into recesses in the bottom of their garments, enhancing the skirt effect.  Using the “SCALE CARD”, the following measurements were obtained.  The man sizes at 6 feet even, perhaps a bit tall.  The woman reads 5’3”, the boy 4’7”, and the girl 4’3”. 

Facial detail is a bit above average for injection molded figures, rendering convincing results with a bit of care.   Given the increasing number of kits available of modern AFV’s in the Middle East, these figures lend themselves well to any number of dioramic scenarios.  Let’s hope Meng continues to bring us versatile figure sets of this and higher quality.  I give this set a “WELL RECOMMENDED”.  Sincere thanks go to Stevens International for providing this review sample.