This is one of Masterbox’s early sets, and one of their larger ones, coming with seven figures rather than the more usual three-five. It’s an interesting set with action poses which makes it a little different from the usual “at ease” figure sets.
The seven figures contained in this kit come on two dark yellow sprues contained within the usual Masterbox open ended box, with the usual very attractive artwork. The mouldings are good with nice sharp detail on the uniforms, webbing and faces ( perhaps a little soft on some of the creases and folds but that could just be me being fussy ). There is a small amount of cleanup required with very small amounts of flash and some mould seams to remove. Fit and finish is good with just a small ammount of filling and sanding required to eliminate all the join lines completely.
All seven wear the M40 field uniform with the M35 helmet, and six of the seven have moulded on straps for the gasmask containers. Interestingly the heads are moulded as complete heads and the helmets are moulded hollow, though the helmets have no liners and the heads have moulded on chin straps, but the basis is there to improve on that if you wanted bareheaded figures.
The figures holding the MG34 and the MP40 have the grips moulded into their hands, with the MP40 figure also having the magazine moulded into his other hand. Likewise the figure carrying he MG34 ammo tin has the handle moulded into his hand. This means you get a proper looking grip, though it does mean you have to use those arms as intended, and also the MP40 then comes with no grip or magazine, though the MG34 still has a grip that will need to be cut off if you use it with the figure as intended.
Equipmentwise you get six gas mask containers, six canteens, five bread bags, nine Kar 98k triple ammo pouches, a single bagonet in its scabbard, and five short shovels in carriers with attached bayonets. There is also a mapcase and a single MP40 triple mag pouch provided for the NCO. For those who notice the lack of mess tins and zeltbahns this is because early war troops usually wore these attached to a small haversack which weren’t worn in combat, but were left with the transport unit.
The weapons included are an MG34 Machine Gun, five Kar 98K rifles, and an MP40 sub-machine gun, which as mentioned has no grip or magazine. There is also two holstered P08 Lugers, an MG34/42 maintenance kit pouch, a Type 24 “stick” grenade, an open bipod for the MG34, two lengths of ammo belt for the MG34, a spare barrel carrier for the MG34, a drum mag for the MG34, and an ammo tin for the MG34 which has the catch moulded on top.
The details and mouldings on the weapons and equipment is good overall, with just some flash to remove from the ammo belts and entrenching tools. The bayonets on the shovels could also use a little sharpening up to make them stand out more as a separate attachment rather than looking like a part of the shovel. The buckles etc on the harnesses though are very well done.
Assembly and painting instructions are provided on the reverse of the box giving the paint numbers for Vallejo, Tamiya, Lifecolour, Humbrol and Agama paints.
I’ve never been a huge fan of generic figure sets, usually just seeing them as an assortment of parts for my parts box, but there are a couple of figures in this set which do take my fancy as straight OOB built figures. The moulding on these is good with just some small detailing needed to get the most out of them so they are actually quite a good little set to have around, and having seven figures in the box is a bonus as they sell for around the same price as the four figure Dragon figure sets.
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