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In-Box Review
135
German Self-Propelled Gun Crew set Vol.2

by: Martin Noorloos [ MARTINNNN ]

Overview

The kit contains two sprues with parts for six German SP gun crew figures, plus some extras. Inside the box you’ll find parts for five full German SP gun crew figures and one half crew figure. Other parts include two brass ammo pieces (88mm & 75mm); two spare heads and a spare arm. You also get a weapons and equipment sprue.


The Crew

Figure A: The commander with binoculars. This guy is standing in a nice pose, observing enemy movements ahead of his SP gun. This figure can be used in any open SP gun like the Marder, Narshorn, Sdkfz 251/22, etc.
Figure B: The loader. This guy is loading the gun. You have two use options here, a Marder III M or Narshorn loader. They use different arms because of the difference in height of both guns. For any other SP gun you should check which arm works best
Figure C: A gunner for Marder III M. This gunner is designed to fit in the gunner's position in a Marder III M. But with his pose you might be able to use him with other vehicles like a Sdkfz 251/22, for example.
Figure D: Commander (half-figure).This commander is standing and can be used in assault guns like the StuG III / IV, Brummbär or Ferdinant / Elephant
Figure E: Gunner for Narshorn. This gunner is designed to fit in the gunner's position in a Narshorn
Figure F: Loader (2). This guy is standing with a 88mm or 75mm round. Can be used in any open SP gun like the Marder, Narshorn etc

Overall Quality

Detail on the figures is very good. They have medals, the uniforms look realistic and some hands even have separate fingers. That's something you don't see often with plastic figures. You can "dress up" your figures with detail parts provided in the kit like Luger / Walther pistol holsters and binoculars (for the commanders).
The heads all look very good. The loader, for instance, really looks like someone who is working very hard while the sculpted expressions on other heads really make it look like the gunners are really aiming through their sights. Strong sculpting continues onto the commander with the binoculars who looks like he is trying to see what the enemy is up to.
The figures do have some mold seams but cleaning them up shouldn't take too long. The parts fit pretty well, and while the fit isn’t as good as I experienced with Tristar's Panzer Grenadiers set, there are no big problems. As an example think of things like a the arm of the commander with the binoculars which need to be adjusted just a little bit to make the binoculars fit in his hands in front of his eyes. You'll need some sanding and maybe a little bit of putty here, but it’s nothing major.

Weapons and Equipment

Last but not least, the set also contains a weapon and equipment sprue. This sprue contains 3 x MP40 machineguns, 3 x Kar98 rifles, 3 x kar98 barrels, 1x Luger pistol, 4 x gas mask cans, 4 x ration cans, 1x binocular and 4 x helmets. Yes, the Kar98 rifles come in 2 parts. The wood part and the barrel. I don't like it, but others may. Overall this sprue is ok and useful, but it doesn't have the quality of Tamiya's German Weapon set & German Infantry Equipment.

Conclusion

Buy this set and you'll not only have six German SP gun crew figures in nice poses with nice details but you’ll also get extra's like the brass ammo, spare heads and arm which give you more options. You get all that and will still have money for other models, unlike when you buy resin figures
Highly recommended
SUMMARY
A combination of nice poses, hearty details, and a wealth of extras -- like spare heads and two brass ammo pieces -- make this a high-quality and very usefull German SP gun crew figure set.
  POSES:90%
  FIT:80%
  EXTRA'S:90%
Percentage Rating
90%
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: 007
  Suggested Retail: € 11,50
  PUBLISHED: Jun 11, 2005
  NATIONALITY: Germany
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 87.50%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 86.80%

About Martin Noorloos (Martinnnn)
FROM: ZUID-HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS

Hi all, Another scale modeller :) I focus on 1/35 and 1/16 (RC) military modelling. Martin

Copyright ©2021 text by Martin Noorloos [ MARTINNNN ]. All rights reserved.


   
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