We tested the figurine set 'ice-cream sellers & customers' (art.no. 24661)
Anybody wanting ice-cream? Thanks to German model makers PREISER you can almost ‘hear’ this question
even in your model railway layout or diorama. Their figurine set 'ice-cream sellers & customers' is
another nice 1/87 scale accessory by the Rothenburg-based company.
For
the price of EUR 18.25 (recommended retail price 2006) you get an ice-cream licking couple, a father who makes his little girl
happy with a scoop in a cone and two ice-cream sellers with mobile sales carts. One of them is a tricycle
with pedals whereas the other one is a push cart with a parasol. The whole set comes in a
very sturdy see-through
plastic box. The little tricycle was less sturdy however as it fell apart as soon as we had taken it out of the
package... Certainly not a big issue for modellers, but the use of a little bit more glue would have
definitely made sense.
At a first glance, the PREISER troop pleases the eye, but a closer look will soon reveal some drawbacks. We did not only detect a few ugly burrs - remains from the production process - but also had to realise that the paint didn’t cover the white plastic everywhere properly.
Talking about
paint: Apart from the blonde female ice-cream lover all the miniature people wear
rather dull white shoes (differing to the photo in the
present PREISER retail catalogue) whereas the young lady herself seems to be walking in her red tights only - she (or better
her creator) must have simply forgotten her shoes.
Therefore, as so often, creative modellers can (or should) provide a more realistic and interesting appearance with the help of some paint and a brush. We just hope they have got a steadier hand than the workers in the island of Mauritius where PREISER get their figures coloured. Unfortunately, our test sample lacks some painting precision; especially the tyres of the carts are a rather slipshod piece of work.
However,
the renowned manufacturer doesn’t rely on handmade production only: Both of the sales carts are printed with the word ‘Eis’ (German for ice-cream),
the shade-giving blue and white parasol even boasts with 5 different world languages (pretty clever, as the figurine set is sold in many
countries all over the globe). Unfortunately, in one place the otherwise sharp and precise prints are quite smudgy
and cannot satisfy the demanding customer.
By the way, the postures of the little people are very realistic and lifelike; in this respect the experienced company PREISER
has done a good job and has ‘frozen’ the ice-cream lovers’ scene in a true-to-life way. And
realism is certainly one of the
most important values of quality modelling accessories.
All in all, PREISER offer the modellers’ community a suitable accessory for summery miniature scenes which finally gets a
good overall verdict. Nevertheless, painting the plastic parts of this sweet temptation should be done in a more careful and
dedicated way, especially regarding the retail price which is a rather bitter pill.
| test synopsis* | |
|---|---|
| Packaging (15) | 12 |
| 'First impression' (15) | 12 |
| Originality (15) | 9 |
| Closeness to reality (15) | 12 |
| Wealth of detail (15) | 9 |
| Fineness of detail (15) | 13 |
| Closeness to scale (15) | 12 |
| Condition of all parts (15) | 12 |
| Quality of colours, prints or painting (15) | 10 |
 |
101 (max. 135) |
*Find out more about the test criteria for modelling
accessories
here.
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