German Infantry dressed for the Russian winters are a common enough sight in figure kits, despite the fact that more of the war in Russia took place in warm, open fields than it did in snow covered ones. But none-the-less the image associated with the war in Russia remains one of German forces knee deep in snow. This set of German Infantry in winter garb has however gone for the “Battle of the Bulge” angle, despite the figures being equally suitable to a scene in the Russian snows.
This kit comes in a small open ended box that contains two dark yellow sprues holding the four figures which are posed in a casual “standing around waiting” look, with two even having their hands in their pockets. The level of detail is very good and the moulding is nice and sharp with no excess flashing. There are some light mould seams to remove but other than that the finish is good, including the way the greatcoat skirts are moulded as two halves to provide full undercut detail. The faces are all very good, being well defined and individual.
Two of the four figures are wearing the Heer reversible Type 1 comouflage smock while the other two wear the M1936/1940 woolen greatcoat. There are a couple of minor inaacuracies with the greatcoats, mainly the omission of the pocket flaps, but also that one is shown done all the way up but with a wide opening across the neck where it should then have the collars together. To complete the winter look all wear gloves and all but the bareheaded figure wear balaclavas, with the headgear for the other three consisting of four helmets, two with covers, two without. They all average out at 50-51mm which makes them a good height, scaling out to around 175-178cm tall or 5’9″-5’10″.
Personal equipment consists of three gasmask containers, three canteens, three breadbags, a short shovel in its carrier, three bayonets, two mess tins, one MP40 triple mag pouch with the smaller cleaning kit pouch, four Kar98K rifle mag ammo pouches, one MG34/42 maintenance kit pouch, and one binoculars case. Also included is a Y-Frame with a moulded on blanket and rolled zeltbahn, with a moulded recess to take a mess tin, and another Y-Frame with just an outer blanket and spaces to add a gasmask continer and mess tin.
Weapons included are an MP40 sub-machine gun, two Kar98K rifles, one MG42 Machine Gun, one Type 24 “stick” grenade, a teller mine, and a holstered P08 Luger. The MG42 has a moulded on folded biopd which lacks the proper definition of a separate bipod as the two legs are moulded as one piece. The Kar98Ks are also a little odd looking as both are missing the smaller wooden piece of the stock that goes between the two stock bands, showing more of the cleaning rod than usual. I’m not sure if this was deliberate by Academy for some reason or not, as I’ve never seen a Kar98K missing this part on purpose.
This is a good little set with some very minor quibbles, the rifle’s stocks for one and the slight inaccuracies on the greatcoats for another. But those aside the moulding is very good and they make up into a very nice representation of a group of German soldiers waiting around.
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