introduction

A small company from Vietnam Paracel Miniatures produces resin models related to Vietnam War and they also have Post-Apocalyptic and zombie figures. Vietnam Series includes a wide range of 1/35 scale NVA infantry and tanker figures, civilians and accessories like tank stowage, wooden river boats and fruit boxes.

Their figures are sold seperately but lately they released two big sets with 10 or more figures. Second of the big sets BVN3502 - Walking with NVA includes ten figures depicting a group of NVA soldiers on patrol with different weapons and gear.

packing ,sculpting & casting

Kit comes in a quite big black cardboard box labeled with a photo of painted figures. Parts of each figure are seperately inserted into transparent zip-lock bags.

Figures are sculpted in 1/35 scale by Jangleo in crisp details and cast in different colored resin; a few tones of grey and cream. Resin quality is good and parts are represented with the casting blocks. No casting mistakes or air bubbles on review samples but there will be a need for a cleanwork before painting. Some flash resin especially between legs and weapons, mold lines on the arms and between legs should be removed.Rifles especially muzzles are fragile and need extra attention when removing from sprue.

kit content

BVN3502 Big set includes 10 figures from 9 available kits of the company also sold individually.

Here is the figure descriptions and parts list ;

VN0116 Figure A

: NVA Private carrying Machine Gun on his right shoulder
- Body with two shoulder crossed bags
- Head
- Pith helmet
- Arms
- Machine Gun in cover
- Water bottle
- Rucksack with camo blanket and sandals

VN0216 Figure B

: NVA Private with a monkey on his left shoulder
- Body with head and chest rig, poncho and double grenade pouch
- Peaked cap
- Arms
- Rucksack
- AK-47 rifle
- Water bottle
- Monkey and tail

VN0316 Figure C

: NVA Sergeant with his hands on AK-47 carried on chest
- Body with chest rig and poncho
- Head
- Pith helmet
- Arms
- AK-47 rifle
- Water bottle
- Rucksack with camo blanket

VN0416 Figure D

: NVA Private carrying with his rifle on right shoulder
- Body with cotton tube rice bag and bag
- Head
- Two helmets
- Arms
- Rucksack with camo blanket
- SKS rifle
- Bamboo walking stick

VN0516 Figure E

: NVA Private Radio Operator
- Body with bag, rain poncho and radio unit harness
- Head with earphones
- Peaked cap
- Arms, left hand carries a handset
- Manpack radio unit - probably a Chinese Type 63 or 71
- Stick grenade
- Two different copper wires for cables of earphones and handset

VN0616 Figure F

: NVA Private hanging his rifle to right shoulder
- Body with AK-47 chest rig and poncho
- Head
- Pith helmet
- Arms
- AK-47 rifle
- Water bottle
- Bag style rucksack
- Double stick grenade pouch

VN0716 Figure H

: NVA Private looking forward
- Body with SKS chest rig, poncho and cotton tube rice bag
- Head
- Pith helmet and Round hat
- Arms
- SKS rifle
- Water bottle
- Rucksack
- Stick grenade
- Bamboo walking stick

VN0816 Figure J

: NVA Private carrying his rifle on left shoulder
- Body with AK-47 chest rig, bag and folded poncho
- Head
- Camo helmet
- Arms
- AK-47 rifle
- Rucksack with camo blanket
- Bamboo walking stick

VN2615 - A

: Commander
- Body with head, camera on chest, pistol holster and mapcase
- Right arm holding map
- Printout map

VN2615 - B

: Sniper
- Body in ghillie suit with shoulder crossed bag and ammo belt
- Left arm carrying Dragunov sniper rifle
- Right arm showing direction
Sniper's right leg looks a little shorter than left one but I noticed boxart shows he is slightly leaned to right side and small difference can be tolerated by sanding the left foot heel part.

review

Clothing, personal gear and weapons sculpted on figures of this kit are standards of NVA Army.

They all wear green color standard NVA uniform. The uniform was a cotton shirt and trousers. The shirt had long sleeves, shirt-type cuffs and two pleated button-down breast pockets with pointed flaps. All buttons were brown plastic. The trousers had two side pockets.Trotters were tightened on the ankles with a loop and button arrangement. They have cloth belts or leather imitation belts. Uniform details are nicely sculpted on the figures in crisp details. Collar,buttons, side seam of trousers, pocket covers,cloth folds and wrinkles are well defined.

Most of the gear worn over the uniform are cast on the body parts. They carry Chicom Type 56 chest rig with seven pouches, 3 big center pouches and 2 small on each sides, SKS chest rig, cotton tube rice bag crossed on his chest and tied on the left shoulder, folded and tied to belt thin rain poncho, bullet bag, document/map case or bigger shoulder crossed bag that can be used for rifle ammo, medical stuff,grenade, spare magazines or other stuff and single or double stick grenade pouch. Belt mounted Water bottle is given as a seperate part.

Faces are nicely sculpted in Asian facial details like straight hair, small slanting eyes, snub nosed , stuffed lips and high cheek bones and different facial expressions are well defined. They wear different types of headgear like Pith helmet, NVA peaked cap, Camo helmet or Round hat similar to US Bonnie hat.

They carry Tropical Rucksack with a central compartment and three external pockets, based on French rucksacks from the Indochina War. Pocket details, buckles and straps are well defined and some additonal items like tied camo blankets and sandals are cast on them.

Figures have PAVN Bata style shoes copied from the French Army Patauga boots,widely worn during first Indochina War or Ho Chi Minh sandals; an improvised footwear worn by VC made out of cut up truck tyres for soles and cut up inner tubes for straps. Straps of sandals and details of toes are well defined.

Weapons of the figures are given as seperate parts. They carry AK-47 and SKS rifle (CKC in Vietnamese) with foldable bayonet. Sniper figure in Ghillie suit has a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle. Rifles show very nice details but extra care will be needed when removing from sprue because they are very fragile, especially muzzles.

references

Osprey Publishing - Elite 38 - The NVA and Viet Cong by Kenneth Conboy & Simon McCouaig
Osprey Publishing - Warrior 116 - Viet Cong Fighter by Gordon L.Rottman & Howard Gerrard
Osprey Publishing - Elite 38 - Armies of the Vietnam War - 2 by Lee E.Russell & Mike Chappell

conclusion

Paracel Miniatures filled the gap on market with his high-quality 1/35 scale NVA figures of Vietnam Series. All figures in this big set are nice posed, uniforms, gear and weapons are fit to references, sculpting is very nice, casting is good except a few minor problems, assembly is easy with less parts.

If you have plans to make a NVA patrol, I can say BVN3502 absolutely meets expectations and can be built with pleasure.

Highly recommended

Special thanks to Paracel Miniatures for the review sample and thunder-speed shipping.