Tamiya has generally always made a crew to go with each of their models, even if it’s just a commander figure to go in the cupola. Unfortunately not many other manufacturers do, or they are like Italeri and do but really shouldn’t. So often that leaves you looking for a suitable figure set. Which is where sets like this that are tailored to fit a general category without being specific to one kit come in handy.
This kit from Russian manufacturer Zvezda comes in a small open ended box on a single light grey sprue and consists of four figures designed for use in the Sd.Kfz. 251 and Sd.Kfz. 250 series of German halftracks., one as a driver, one manning the machine gun, one operating the radio and the last one just a generic standing officer holding field glasses.
The quality of the mouldings is good with no flash, just the usual mould seams that come on every injection moulded plastic kit. The sharpness of the detail is on a par with the older Dragon kits, being adequate but a little soft and lacking in definition in some areas, particularly around the pockets and webbing. Also like the older Dragon kits the faces are a bit lacking in sharpness and the folds and creases in the clothing a bit heavy and bulky.
The driver wears long boots and an overseas cap which is moulded as a separate part, and gets no personal equipment or weapon. The officer wears officer’s breeches with an M36 field tunic, a soft peaked cap, the long boots, and he gets a holstered Luger P08, a mapcase and is armed with an MP40 sub-machine gun which oddly has no stock, either moulded on or provided separately.
The radio operator wears the standard field uniform with no Y-strap and the long boots. He gets an entrenching tool with attached bayonet, a gas mask container, a breadbag, canteen, two rifle mag pouches and is armed with a Kar 98K rifle which has a beautifully delicate trigger guard. He wears the soft cap together with a headset, both of which are moulded as a separate part, and also comes with a helmet that can be hung from his belt. As a nice touch the radio set is also included which is a good representation of the Torn Fu.D2 radio set.
The machine gunner also wears the standard field uniform and high boots together with the M41 helmet and full Y-Harness. He gets an entrenching tool, gas mask container, breadbag, canteen and holstered Luger P08. He also gets an MG34/MG42 maintenance kit pouch but this is way oversized, looking more like a mapcase. Again, just in case your halftrack was lacking the gun, his MG42 is included together with a drum mag and the choice of a folded or deployed bipod. This is very nicely moulded with the barrel inside the outer shield nicely defined.
A rather large instruction sheet is included which includes a painting guide for use with Model Master paints.
Other than needing a bit of sharpening up of the detial around the pockets and webbing, and possibly the need for better definition in the clothing folds this is a very nice set, particularly with the inclusion of the radio and MG42 which are both very nice representations. They have very much an early war look to them so would look very good in any halftrack involved in the early battles in France, the Balkans or Russia.
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