INTRODUCTION:

Hecker & Goros are a German company that produce a wide range of figures in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scales. Unfortunately I have been unable to find an English translation of their web page, and so cannot tell you any more about them.

THE FIGURES:

Hecker & Goros produce two separate sets for RN ships, each containing three figures. They are ‘Royal Navy Crew Home Waters’ (KSHG 209) and ‘Royal Navy 1939-1945’ (KSHG 206; see other review). Packaging is simply a stiff cardboard backing, with a colour photo of the painted figures, and a bag containing the figures stapled to this. The figures are about 24mm high, and so scale out to be about 5’ 8” tall; this may seem ever so slightly on the short side, but if I remember correctly the average male was somewhat shorter in those days anyway…

The figures are cast in metal and are very crisply done. One or two had very slight mould seams down their sides but these were easily cleaned up with a sharp blade and needle file. The metal used is fairly soft which helps in this regard. There were some pour stubs on the soles of the boots, but again these are simple to remove – and far better than some manufacturers who still insist for some reason in having the pour stubs on the top of the figures’ heads! Two of the figures in this set are wearing round uniform caps, and these have a small moulding at the left side of the cap band. I think this is meant to represent the bow in the cap tally, but in my opinion it looked far too large and so I removed these with a knife tip.

The set contains three figures. They are beautifully cast in relaxed and realistic poses and look very natural. One even has his hands tucked in the pockets of his overcoat – not very military but then it can get pretty cold on a ship’s upper deck! Two figures depict ratings in overcoats and uniform caps, and the third is of an officer, wearing peaked cap, duffel coat and sea-boots. This last figure is holding a pair of binoculars that are slung around his neck. He would be best placed on your ship’s bridge, the others would look fine anywhere on the upper deck. All the figures look fairly relaxed and so would suit a non-action scene.

These figures are very sharply cast with excellent details, particularly around their faces. As you can see from the photos they compare very favourably to the styrene figures provided by Revell in their corvette kit.J

CONCLUSIONS:

These are very well produced, sharply cast and highly detailed figures in natural poses. Requiring very little in the way of clean-up and preparation, they would grace any 1/72 Royal Naval vessel from the 1930s through to the ‘50s, and will certainly add that something extra to a model. They are not cheap, but represent a quantum leap from the styrene figures provided with most kits in this scale. Hopefully Hecker & Goros will produce some more sets in different poses. I’d particularly like to see some chaps busy chipping and painting if you happen to be reading this!

Highly recommended.

I purchased these sets from Historex Agents in Dover.