new german Army 1944 mini review (1 Viewer)

pwalms

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Bruderbund.jpg

Very glad to see this new set of Army soldiers! They are superb! They seem inspired by actual footage of German (panzer)grenadiers marching into the line in June 1944 in Normandy. (particularly some see in the French Miltiaria magazine of 2nd Pz div)
Scuplting and animation are as excellent as we have come to expect from K and C! All wear low boots and gaiters as apporpriate for late war. The headgear is M43 caps or camo covered helmets. Surprisingly an MG34 is the squad LMG (rather than the MG42). Personal equipment is light marching order: all have breadbags, canteen and entrenching tools, some with metal gas mask cannisters and one with messtin. All this very appropriate for marching troops who often carried heavier stuff in handcarts in Normandy for heavier equipment. Their white waffenfarbe indicate infantry.
All wear the M43 feldbluse with open collar (open collars were the usual wear especially in summer months). One soldier carries the Panzer-faust but (strangley) also carries the ammo for a panzer-schreck. No doubt he is part of a mixed-arms panzer-knacker team!

I have a few detailed comments about the painting color schemes which is technically excellent and with great shading etc.

Camo colors - I assume these are meant to be the common splinter pattern camo. However the base color is a tan yellow which is more like the sumpf(aka marsh or tan water) scheme. (splinter usually has greenish field-gray base of field gray). The camo patches have equal amounts of green and brown which is not like either! Splinter used mostly brown splinter patches (with small amounts of green) and sumpf used mostly green blotch-patches (with few bits of brown).
If this camo is taken to be sumpf (as overall impression is to me) then there are problems as helmet covers were not made in this material! (at least not outside accasional field use). Also the jacket (M43 pattern) of the "walking stick" NCO would not be in sumpf either (as no material availiable for field use unlike splinter where Zelts were used).
Use of splinter camo for helmet covers was not uncommon in some Normandy Panzer divisions, but there are few photos of all troops in a group wearing camo helmet covers. I would have preferred some helmets bare and some with the ubiquitous netting.
Other minor issues are the grey-blue trousers. They were mostly the same field-gray color of the jacket by 1941. The M43 caps are also in this same blue gray. (should be field-gray shade, similar to the feldbluse). Also the M43 feldbluse jackets have been given dark green collars: this was a personal and rare modification to the all field- gray M43 feldbluse.
No doubt these paint schemes they have chosen make the figure more pretty and colorful however! Maybe K and C could also use some of the commonly seen reed green HBT colors to vary the colors (these items were often worn with parts of the Field-gray wool uniform): these variations would be colorful and still be accurate! Normandy museums indicate there was a lot of use of HBT. Of course they are also useful for East-front 1944-45 also.

Overall however, an excellent group -well worth a buy.
 
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well review mate. i loved the 3 figure set. i like the wearied and stressed face sculpts as they trod and contemplate the worsening condition at the normandy front! cracker!

but the mg team i had to pass. the mg gunner's head was a tad too big, and both were very cheero like having a laugh. nothing wrong with that, but it just didn't suit my diorama as i don't think at that point in the war there are too many things to cheer up a german.
 
good germans

You can also use them for Northern Italy circa 1944-45.. I have been begging Andy to do an Italian and Sicily series for years!! Yes, i agree sometimes the heads are too big on the figures..
 
Yes, i agree sometimes the heads are too big on the figures..

I suspect that is intentional - its an old sculptors trick. Take a look at Michelangelo's David, and you will see the hands and the head are way too big for the rest of the statue. This is done so the viewer can appreciate the detail of these portions of the statue, which was intended to be placed high above the viewer. It allows for the optical illusion that these parts are the right size, while permitting the viewer to appreciate the details of the expressive face and hands, which, if properly proportioned, would be lost to the viewer at the distance involved. When dealing with a tiny 1:30 scale toy soldier, I suspect a similar optical illusion is intended by the sculptors (who are formally trained artists).
 
I suspect that is intentional - its an old sculptors trick. Take a look at Michelangelo's David, and you will see the hands and the head are way too big for the rest of the statue. This is done so the viewer can appreciate the detail of these portions of the statue, which was intended to be placed high above the viewer. It allows for the optical illusion that these parts are the right size, while permitting the viewer to appreciate the details of the expressive face and hands, which, if properly proportioned, would be lost to the viewer at the distance involved. When dealing with a tiny 1:30 scale toy soldier, I suspect a similar optical illusion is intended by the sculptors (who are formally trained artists).

Good Point Loius,
Actually they still do this today on TV, you see networks prefer extremely skinny people, which appear to give them larger heads and draw your attention to them when on camera.
 
Good Point Loius,
Actually they still do this today on TV, you see networks prefer extremely skinny people, which appear to give them larger heads and draw your attention to them when on camera.

WELL! There goes my chance at T.V. fame and stardom!
O.C.
 
I also agree with Louis. i used to paint the excellent Hinchcliffe figures back in the 70's. their heads were a tad large for extra expression and detail and they looked great. -- lancer
 
Good Point Loius,
Actually they still do this today on TV, you see networks prefer extremely skinny people, which appear to give them larger heads and draw your attention to them when on camera.

LOL, yeah those TV Presenters all seem to have BIG heads and BLACK eyes especially those on CNN - they're all Aliens I tell ya ;) :D
 
I just want to thank Pwalms for doing such a detailed review. Even though I have already purchased the set of 3 marching figures (which are excellent as he says), you hardly ever see reviews on this forum so it makes for a refreshing change. Furthermore, I really appreciate his attention to historical accuracy which is another thing that I wish we saw more of. Though I have to say, that people's attitudes concerning historical accuracy being a legitimate topic of discussion have much improved over time, and in turn I think we're all benefitting because the manufacturer's products are more accurate than ever. For me, historical accuracy provides another useful filter through which I can make judgements about whether a set is worth buying, and with rising prices, such filters are becoming increasingly important.

In terms of the two sets pictured, I agree with Nasir that I much prefer the 3 man team to the MG squad, however in the magazine that Pwalms referenced (clearly the inspiration for these sets), some of the marching troops ironically do look rather jovial/happy. The photos, mind you, were taken before they went into action in Normandy so I suspect some were rather naive about what was to come or even the precarious state of Germany's military position at the time (in summer 1944 the Reich still controlled most of Europe which I imagine gave the average German some sense of comfort).

In terms of their splinter camo, they are still not perfect as described, but they are much better than previous attempts by K&C (and other manufacturers) at splinter camouflage which almost uniformly resembled marsh, helmet covers and all.
 
Regarding the figure carrying the panzersheck ammo, maybe it is a preview of what is to come.........
 

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