Reviews : Imex Confederate 10 pound Cannon & Figures

After reading Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy I remembered I these figures in my model stash (since forever) and decided to dust them off and give them a go. My first foray into diorama or vignette building I was a little disappointed in the figures themselves mostly for the uniform inaccuracies. Years of reenacting when I was young gave me a good idea of what a correct civil war era uniform should be and these fall short. The sculpting themselves appears good with lifelike facial features with the exception of the soldier with the lanyard. He was mustered out and substituted with an officer figure from another manufacturer. The cannon, a Parrott rifle, is good. Quite good. Probably the best I've seen in American scale or 54mm. The tube is hollow part way down, a fact I took advantage of by chopping off the soldier's rammer, thereby allowing me to pose him as ramming the charge home. One could probably super detail the field piece with undercarriage rammer holders etc. Overall, this isn't a perfect set but with the excellent cannon a person can overlook the deficiencies. After all, there really isn't much else available.

The scale and detail of the cannon is very good. The gun tube has a small lip at the end of the barrel of which I am not a fan, but a little time with a hobby knife can take care of that. There are three figures with the set, one holding a sponge/rammer, one pulling lanyard, and the third crouching while covering his ears. The figures are of limited use, as you cannot have a man sponging the barrel while another is firing it. The included ammunition chest is too small to be realistic, but the centerpiece of the set, the cannon itself, is well worth the money.