Lately Masterbox has become known as the market leader in thinking outside the box when producing figure kitsets. Their figures are often fresh and cover subjects not seen in plastic kit form, and this set is no different with the figures representing a Scottish Unit of the British Army, complete with Piper.
This set of four figures portrays four Scots troopers post Normandy and reminds me a lot of the scene in the movie “The Longest Day” where reinforcements led by a Piper arrive to relieve embattled paras. As well as the Piper there are three other figures in combat kit posed as if rising to move forward from prone positions.
The single sprue is moulded in dark yellow and the detail is very good with very nice folds in the clothes, individual faces and separate parts for the pipers kilt which give excellent undercut detail. So good in fact that he appears to be upholding the claim that Scotsmen wear nothing under their kilt. While the detail is clean and sharp there is a small amount of cleanup required with very small amounts of flash and some mould seams to remove.
Equipmentwise you get three standard British steel helmets ( the piper wears a beret ), three entrenching tools, six large ammo pouches, four respirator bags, and four backpacks, two of which include a rolled blanket or bedroll on top. The ammo pouches are better shaped than some of the other kits out there which always seem to come as a solid rectangle. The keen eyed amongst you may have noticed that there are no canteens included but don’t panic, by that stage of the war the respirators were usually dumped and the respirator bag used to hold the canteen and other mess gear.
There is also three shovels, a pick, a pistol holster and three SMLE No. 4 rifles. No bayonets are included, nor is there a dirk for the Piper which many carried.
Although there is a small ammount of cleanup required this is a great little kit and a very interesting addition to the available options when looking for Commonwealth troops which isn’t the best served market.
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