One of Tamiya’s strengths used to be that they were inexpensive, simple kits. Lately they have certainly upped their game when it comes to the quality of the sculpting on their figure sets, but along with that has come an increase in price. From the old eight figure sets for around $15 we made a small jump up to the newer five figure sets for a little over $20, but their two most recent Russian sets have been pushing closer to the prices of the Dragon Gen 2 sets. In the Russian Assault Infantry set you get eight figures which justifies the extra $5 or so, but in this set on the surface of it you still only get the five figures. So are they worth it ?
This set comes in a small tray and lid type box containing two dark green sprues and one dark yellow sprue. The dark green ones hold the weapons and equipment, the dark yellow the figures and a section of broken wall. The moulding is typical Tamiya, with sharp, clean detail and no flash, just the usual very faint mould seams to remove.
To be honest, despite the Tamiya name on the sprue, the figure’s layout, mouldings, and packaging remind me very much of Masterbox ones, especially as they come with separately moulded tunic skirts, and come on an unnumbered sprue with a photo copy image of the parts with their numbers included in the instructions.
You get two “heavy weapons” teams together with a NCO, one team with a Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle, the other team with a PM1910 Maxim Machine gun. The NCO wears a soft cap, is armed with a PPSh 41 sub-machine gun and holds a pair of binoculars. The faces are well done, even the ears, as are the hands and the webbing.
Equipment included for these five is two rucksacks, two small backpacks, two large backpacks, two PPSh drum mag pouches, six canteens, six helmets, six entrenching tools, four PPS-43 mag pouches, a mapcase, a holstered pistol, and oddly a Tokarev SVT-40 mag pouch ( odd because you don’t get the rifle to go with it ).
Weapons include two of the Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifles, two PPSh sub-machine guns with drum mags, another two PPSh sub-machine guns but with box mags, two PPS 43 sub-machine guns and a Degtyarev DP27 light machinegun with it’s large drum magazine. You also of course get the PM1910 Maxim Heavy Machine Gun on its little wheeled trolley which comes with two ammo boxes, a length of loaded ammo belt, anda length of expended ammo belt.
So are these worth the extra cost ? They are a very nice set, they’re well made and they look good. The weapons and equipment are beautifully moulded, you get the Maxim MG, a section of brick wall and a lot of left over equipment and weapons. So in a nutshell yes, at least in my opinion, at around $5 a figure plus all the extras I think this is actually good value for money considering how well they look when done.
Click thumbnails to enlarge images.
The anti tank rifle team look great wonder if the quality has improved compared to some recent Tamiya releases. If done in resin by Hornet, Wolf, Warriors then they wouls really take off.
Depends what you’re comparing them to. They’re definitely better than a lot of Tamiya stuff, though still a little on the small side. I seriously suspect they’re actually made by ICM rather than Tamiya as the mouldings, the type of plastic and even the resealable bag are all similar to minart/masterbox/icm style. Things like the separate tunic skirts, the way the creases are done, the parts breakdown etc. The weapon sprues are mch more traditional Tamiya, more akin to the ones you used to be able to get in the little Tamiya Military Miniatures bags with the cardboard hanger.