Master Box German Paratroopers WWII 1:35

[Mike]

German Paratroopers WWII
1:35 Masterbox via Creative Models

The Fallschirmjäger were an elite fighting force who were usually delivered to the battlefield via parachute, and were involved in some of the most daring raids of WWII. They dressed differently than the mainstream military with long camouflaged smocks and narrow brimmed "potty" helmets with a more robust closure system to stand up to the rigors of a parachute drop. The also used some different weapons, with the emphasis on compactness and lightweight, such as the FG42, which was advanced for its time but suffered from muzzle-climb due to its light weight.

This figure set contains four figures in varying poses, and each one is broken down into separate legs, torso, arms and heads, plus various equipment and armament choices. The heads are complete, although they lack hair in order to get the helmet to sit snugly upon them, so if you want to leave the helmet off, you'll need to add a little hair, and remove the moulded in chin-straps. Sculpting is first rate, and the joints have been placed to minimise their impact on the detail, running down seamlines wherever possible. A little clean-up will be necessary on the mould seams however, but with a tool such as the Hobby Elements Sanders chucked into your Dremel, this won't take too long. The troopers with three-quarter smocks have their coat-tails moulded into their legs, except for one that has a quadrant moulded separately to depict it flapping during movement. Two figures are posed in the act of walking, with one kneeling and raising his rifle in anticipation of action, while the final figure is in the prone position looking down the sights of his MP40. Poses are naturalistic, and all they need is a ruined street corner to complete a realistic looking diorama.

As usual with figure box sets, the instructions are simply painted figures with the part numbers and paint colours pointed out on the back of the box. The part numbers are then shown against a picture of the sprue, which on the box is sand coloured, but inside is a mid grey. The paint call-outs are given in Vallejo and Lifecolor, which are two of the more popular acrylic paints for brush painting, but it's easy to convert using modern web resources such as this one. The smock's camo pattern may cause some a little pause for thought, but with modern washes even an unshaded camo can look realistic.


Conclusion
Master Box do good figures, and this is a fine example of their craft. Don't let the prospect of having to paint the camo put you off, as this set is too good to miss out on.

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of