[General Sam]

This review is based on the BRATOYS 75th Ranger Gear Set. BRA001. The set with the ranger green MBAV vest.

I was pleasantly surprised when i received my set. The packaging reminds me of the 21st century gear sets of old, sold in similar blister packs.

The back of the packaging details all the items.

This is the front graphic when the gear set has been removed. The graphics are real 1:1 photos of rangers i have seen online.

In my opinion, this is a very uneconomical way of packaging the gear set, look at what MC toys or Toys City did with theirs, just dump it in a zip lock. Obviously the sellers wanted to go with a " retro " packing design, ala 21st century gear sets.
Everything is laid out nice and neat, Gen 3 uniform, pouches and vest.

First up, uniform. The uniform is ALMOST an exact copy of SS multicam uniform. The color is the same. If i were to mix and match , you wont be able to tell the difference. Here the uniform is fitted on an SS 2.5 body and a pair of boots from Flagset.

It is a wee little baggy, but looks perfect when you tighten all the appropriate velcro, belts and whatnots. I also added an SS undershirt to perfect the look.

Front:

Back:

Stitching is high quality, colour and fitting i good as well. Even better is the adjustable velcro on the wrists. If i remember correctly, SS uniforms have the wrist velro sewn shut at one fixed position. You are free to adjust it here. The uniform IS NOT AN EXACT copy of SS uniforms, if you turn the SS cyre pants inside out, you will find an adjustable velcro tab on the inside that allows you to adjust the position (height) of the built in knee pads ( at least on the latest version of ss cyre pants) This feature is missing on the BRA set. The Velcro on the uniform is good, very adhesive and the mini 1/6 scale friendly zipper is working too. The pants are well made too, the belt loops are just the right size, not too narrow as i have seen on certain releases. The built in knee pads are VERY HARD, and detract from the over-all look as when the knee pads are too rigid and hard, they dont allow the pant legs to rest naturally on the figure.

On to the vest !!! what i was looking forward to ! A ranger green vest ! The only other time this was made was with the STGCC 2010? 10th SFG exclusive figure. Didn't stock up on that figure and this is a welcome !

I have to say, the vest is average. A couple of disappointments. The velcro on the vest front where the shoulder straps sit.

Probably due to bad positioning and sewing, the shoulder straps don't sit evenly, and due to the bad positioning of the velcro ( half covered ), the straps often come loose.

On the side, there are clips to secure the vest to the figure body.

I really like the shoulder pads that came with the vest. The cutting and length of the velcro straps on the shoulder pad are JUST NICE. ( not like the shoulder pads that came with the khaki colored version of the vest in the DAM 780007 marsoc operator release, man that was done very poorly.) And it gives a very fitted look. Velcro here is good and strong too ! ( you can see the uneven shoulder straps in the picture below)

Another disappointment is that there are a few missing pieces. Check out the release photos of the vest :

The 2 black side SAPI plates which fit onto the cummerbund are missing. And if you look to the left of the photo above, you can see the white padding peeking out from the vest. That white foam padding for both the front AND the back of the vest is missing. They may seems like a small omission, but the lack of the white padding MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE in how the vest sits on the figure.

Well no worry, i took my STGCC 10th SFG figure out of my display case and dismantled the vest, took out the white foam padding and cut out similar shaped ones on my own foam padding ( from any craft shop). Initially, i tried left over armour plates from other vests, and even cardboard, but they didnt look that good as what i got with foam.

In addition, i cut down the shoulder straps to an appropriate length and glued them down to the vest as the velcro was not much use.

With the Under Armour Hand warmer:

Nothing really spectacular about the hand warmer, except that it is the first time someone has made it. Quite well done, and it looks exactly like the 1:1 version, with the pocket at the top. Material is not that stretchy and it can be a chore getting the figure's hands into the warmer. So what i did is make the figure HOLD the warmer, to give the illusion that his hands are inside

Helmet, This is a honking pile of crap. WHAT IS THAT CRISS CROSS PATTERN AT FOREHEAD?! Is it so the soldier can play chess there if he is bored!?

The helmet came with the straps extended to the right length, so i didnt need to fiddle around with it too much to get a good fit ! YIPPY! However i think there was a manufacturing error with the clasp on the helmet strap, refer to the picture below. The female clasp was installed on the wrong side ! Not sure if it is suppose to be like that or .... ( Again you can see that ugly chess board pattern on the helmet)

Couldnt stand the chess board pattern so i disassembled the helmet. The helmet cover was glued onto the helmet and with a little care, you can separate the 2. Following which, i undid the stitching and successfully removed the ugly chess board pattern from the helmet, and glued the helmet cover back.

Looks so much better !!!!
You can see the stitch holes where i removed the offending thread. There is only so much i can do ! I added an SS headset here.

The back of the helmet, the velcro on the helmet mounted pouch is too stiff and thick. You cant close the pouch properly because of this. I cut out the velcro, and glued the pouch shut.

Added a pair of SS goggles to really top it off !

And what good is a ranger without a rifle !?!
I used a customised Flagset M4. With casted AFG-1 in FDE and casted low mount T-1 aimpoint with custom offset mount.
Straying from the main topic, but here is the rifle :

The figure with the BRA TOYS 75th RANGER gear set on :
A relatively simple bash, the main objective is to show off the BRATOYS 75th ranger gear set.

In all, an OKAY set. If you wanted a numerical score, i would give it a 6 out of 10. I asked around about the missing pieces from the vest and i was told that they were NOT MISSING , rather, they are not provided. A little weird since they showed up in the announcement pictures.

It is rather pricey, and for that price point, i want something that i can use without making any major adjustments and modifications. Like trimming of straps, vests. I also HEARD that the company is looking for an agent to distribute the stock, and they are sitting in a warehouse in china collecting cobwebs now. I have to stress that this is what i HEARD, and cannot confirm this.

There is a high probability that the gear sets will NOT make it to the market. If they eventually do, by some miracle, i do hope they will be priced at a lower price point, THAT or have the problems FIXED.

Edit, i didn't really take pictures of the other pouches provided. Some remarks about them, good velcro power, zips work fine, well pouches are pouches, how bad can they get? lol. Maybe the only interesting pouch is the "quick pull medic pouch" where the pouch can detach from the molle weave base via velcro after a clasp is undone. I will try to get some photos of this up !

 

[pukingdog]

Nice, detailed look at this set, Sam. Even counting the disappointments, it's good to see somebody putting together a carded set. DiD was on this trail some years ago, then seemed to drop it. The concept is good, I think. There does seem to be some "slippage", which might be at the company level, or one of those factory mishaps. It'll be interesting to see if these get onto shelves.

 

[hqpham]

Excellent review GS. I believe the squares on the helmet are for ease of removal to accomodate different types of NOD mounts. In 1:1 Eagle Industries makes that same cover. It looks like a cool set overall. I hope I can find a couple of each. Thanks again for sharing your analysis.

 

[1911williams]

Thanks for the review, Sam.
Could you tell us where you bought this set, and the price?
I've been trying to get a lot of the Special Forces sets.

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much for sharing this! I expected quality to be lower than that, so i'm a bit surprised about it; hope i can get a couple at a reasonable price soon

 

[AdamC]

Cots has it for preorder at 60 ish..cards are nice but not the most efficient for shipping.

 

[cdn_rhino]

Nice looking set. I might have to grab some when the fund situation levels out again.

 

[CobraTrooper11]

it's ok, but not my thing.

 

[Casual_Collector]

Disappointing :/ At least the uniform's good, right?

 

[cdn_rhino]

I'll chime in a bit here as well.

My experience with this set is on the fence.

Everything is pretty well made. As far as the manufacturing goes, it's a well made product.


But I did notice some down sides as well. The Multicam pattern is more green than the Soldier Story and Crazy Dummy Ranger sets. The set I got had the vest from the Special Forces Ranger Set 002, not the 75th Ranger set 001 apparently both have the same vest, but one is in Ranger Green and the other is in a tan version. I got the correct set that had the wrong vest. I am currently trying to contact the manufacturer so I can get the correct vest. The tan vest will not work for me. Not with a squad buid in RG going on.

The helmet was a bit odd too, as mentioned above. I do like the MC cover though. I wish it had a mount for NVG, but I will cure that issue soon enough, and mod that cover accordingly at the checkered area up front. MC covers are in pretty short supply, and I can work with this one. The little flap on the top... I have a few ref pics of that little flap holding a GoPro type camera on, and may try and make one up to do the same. The material is a bit thick again, but I should be able to work with it. Same issue with the counterweight pocket at the back. It doesn't close. Gluing it shut may be the only option. Also, the goggle retaining straps are glued to the cover, so you can't put goggle straps through them without cutting the straps free. A bit of a pain there, but I can still work with it.

The uniform. There is a difference here as well. Around the knees, this set did not make use of the mesh type material as SS and CD did with theirs. Instead, we have a solid MC area around the knees. Not quite correct for the pants, and my only issue with the uniform.

I would have been nice to get a few more pouches in the RG material, instead of MC, but what can we do there. MC Pouches work fine.



If the correct vest was with my set, I would be building up a soldier right now. The vest issue has me stopped dead at the moment, because it's part of the uniform look I was going for.

Other than that, I am quite happy with the set. For a first offering from a new company, it's pretty decent. They just need to tighten up the QC a bit.

Make us more stuff BRA Toys.

 

[1911williams]

These sets, from what I was told, are basically the parts from an unfinished boxed figure that was to be released by Flagset.
For whatever reason, the project was abandoned or scrapped. Someone then decided to sell what had already been made to recoup what money they could.

You're probably going to have trouble getting anyone to replace your vest. I found it pretty difficult to obtain these sets, I managed to get them when they were offered to me out of the blue by another manufacturer, six months after they were announced.

One of the strange thing about the sets is that the Ranger Green vest's shoulder pads come with the Special Forces set.

 

[General Sam]

I'll chime in a bit here as well.

My experience with this set is on the fence.

Everything is pretty well made. As far as the manufacturing goes, it's a well made product.

But I did notice some down sides as well. The Multicam pattern is more green than the Soldier Story and Crazy Dummy Ranger sets. The set I got had the vest from the Special Forces Ranger Set 002, not the 75th Ranger set 001 apparently both have the same vest, but one is in Ranger Green and the other is in a tan version. I got the correct set that had the wrong vest. I am currently trying to contact the manufacturer so I can get the correct vest. The tan vest will not work for me. Not with a squad buid in RG going on.

The helmet was a bit odd too, as mentioned above. I do like the MC cover though. I wish it had a mount for NVG, but I will cure that issue soon enough, and mod that cover accordingly at the checkered area up front. MC covers are in pretty short supply, and I can work with this one. The little flap on the top... I have a few ref pics of that little flap holding a GoPro type camera on, and may try and make one up to do the same. The material is a bit thick again, but I should be able to work with it. Same issue with the counterweight pocket at the back. It doesn't close. Gluing it shut may be the only option. Also, the goggle retaining straps are glued to the cover, so you can't put goggle straps through them without cutting the straps free. A bit of a pain there, but I can still work with it.

The uniform. There is a difference here as well. Around the knees, this set did not make use of the mesh type material as SS and CD did with theirs. Instead, we have a solid MC area around the knees. Not quite correct for the pants, and my only issue with the uniform.

I would have been nice to get a few more pouches in the RG material, instead of MC, but what can we do there. MC Pouches work fine.

If the correct vest was with my set, I would be building up a soldier right now. The vest issue has me stopped dead at the moment, because it's part of the uniform look I was going for.

Other than that, I am quite happy with the set. For a first offering from a new company, it's pretty decent. They just need to tighten up the QC a bit.

Make us more stuff BRA Toys.

Yes, a few retailers in china had the item displayed with the wrong vest for the different sets, had to point this out to them. This is a factory packing error, you might find it helpful to approach your seller and provide him pictures of the official release.

These sets, from what I was told, are basically the parts from an unfinished boxed figure that was to be released by Flagset.
For whatever reason, the project was abandoned or scrapped. Someone then decided to sell what had already been made to recoup what money they could.

You're probably going to have trouble getting anyone to replace your vest. I found it pretty difficult to obtain these sets, I managed to get them when they were offered to me out of the blue by another manufacturer, six months after they were announced.

One of the strange thing about the sets is that the Ranger Green vest's shoulder pads come with the Special Forces set.

Thats interesting to hear. Wonder what the full figure would have looked like.

 

[cdn_rhino]

Most likely nothing will happen from the seller. They are sold out now. And the tapes on the package were intact which means a packing error from the manufacturer.

I'll add pics later today if I am able to.

 

[cdn_rhino]

These sets, from what I was told, are basically the parts from an unfinished boxed figure that was to be released by Flagset.
For whatever reason, the project was abandoned or scrapped. Someone then decided to sell what had already been made to recoup what money they could.

You're probably going to have trouble getting anyone to replace your vest. I found it pretty difficult to obtain these sets, I managed to get them when they were offered to me out of the blue by another manufacturer, six months after they were announced.

One of the strange thing about the sets is that the Ranger Green vest's shoulder pads come with the Special Forces set.

Makes sense as to the obscure nature of the sets, and company name. And how incomplete and random they seemed to be.

Bummer on contacting the manufacturer. I'll try, but I won't hold my breath. If you have a spare vest, send me a PM.

Odd about the shoulder pads too.

 

[General Sam]

Makes sense as to the obscure nature of the sets, and company name. And how incomplete and random they seemed to be.

Bummer on contacting the manufacturer. I'll try, but I won't hold my breath. If you have a spare vest, send me a PM.

Odd about the shoulder pads too.

yes it is a factory packing error that affects a batch of the product. Most likely the fault of a single packer, as there are a portion of the batch correctly packed. Shoddy QC here unfortunately.

 

[swaveman05]

Thanks for the detailed review! I was actually looking at buying these sets. It's tough finding a "cheap" set and reading this review helps me not just jump into buying these. I like the multicam, but I think I am going to stick with the woodland sets for now.

 

[saiko]

Great review. I was going to pick one up on a whim but didn't really fancy it that much.
Looks well made for the most part and I like your tips on how to improve it.

Slightly off topic, did the Rangers change their rigs again?
I still have this RLCS thing that I never put together x.x Or is this also the RLCS? I'm bad with most modern gear x.x
Mine is a real deep green though, it seems it should be closer to this color, some sort of slightly desaturated green.

 

[cdn_rhino]

Saiko, that's the one from the Mk46 Gunner that came out a few years back correct?

 

[Delta_Knight]

Slightly off topic, did the Rangers change their rigs again?
I still have this RLCS thing that I never put together x.x Or is this also the RLCS? I'm bad with most modern gear

I'm not an expert, and have been out of the gear loop for a while, but the Crazy Dummy set was actually an RBSS with a cummerbund if I'm not mistaken.

I think you're slightly misunderstanding the term RLCS as well, as it is the term used for the whole set of kit a Ranger gets issued. Comes in a huge bag, which for the time period that Crazy Dummy figure released would have been an RRV, RBSS and another plate carrier, all made my Eagle Industries. All this kit was "Ranger Green" which was similar to Paracletes smoke Green kit. (Seals had the MLCS kit and Special Forces had the SFLCS kit)

Back to your question, it really depends what time period you are trying to bash. The one you have pictured is not often seen these days, and the BRA Toys set here, which comes with the MBAV is much better suited for a contemporary Ranger.

Again, a disclaimer, I'm not an expert, but years ago I used to be into 1:1 kit, so it is just bits off the top of my head. Hope it helps a bit

 

[tigerstr]

I'm not an expert, and have been out of the gear loop for a while, but the Crazy Dummy set was actually an RBSS with a cummerbund if I'm not mistaken.

I think you're slightly misunderstanding the term RLCS as well, as it is the term used for the whole set of kit a Ranger gets issued. Comes in a huge bag, which for the time period that Crazy Dummy figure released would have been an RRV, RBSS and another plate carrier, all made my Eagle Industries. All this kit was "Ranger Green" which was similar to Paracletes smoke Green kit. (Seals had the MLCS kit and Special Forces had the SFLCS kit)

Back to your question, it really depends what time period you are trying to bash. The one you have pictured is not often seen these days, and the BRA Toys set here, which comes with the MBAV is much better suited for a contemporary Ranger.

Again, a disclaimer, I'm not an expert, but years ago I used to be into 1:1 kit, so it is just bits off the top of my head. Hope it helps a bit

From what I have seen on various gear/gun forums, and some announcements at Soldier Systems, flavor of the day is supposed to be Crye AVS and the Eagle AERO SOFBAV, as the two vest systems chosen by SOCOM. The MBAV is still around.