Paul Owen brings us news of Tristar's latest release - a set of 1/35 WW II British Paratroopers with Welbikes.



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Thanks!

Personally, I've never seen any Tristar's products up close, but these look pretty darn nifty. If nothing else, the subject matter is interesting enough, and the alternate Polish markings are a nice touch.

-YL

Great news for me. This will go well with the upcoming Masterbox releases.

I have the Tristar Afrikacorps and they are very detailed and realistic. One of the best plastic figure kits.

Wow this is so cool ! Great stuff ! These will be mine, mine, woehhahahahahhahaha !!
G.

I have built and painted a few different Tristar figures from various sets, and they rank among the best. Good relief on details and the folds and wrinkles in clothing are perfect for getting the best out of, when highlighting and shading. Only Dragon Gen II are at this level IMO. I would have no hesitation in buying anything from Tristar ... figures or armor.

And these are very tempting .... a few sets would make for an excellent diorama ... in a new landing site, and useing all the poses. Thanks for the news Pat.

This is a very interesting and welcome set.

One or two minor issues: whilst the inclusion of the Independant Parachute Brigade option is very welcome, Tristar only include the National insignia (the Orzel) - there are no rank insignia; not a big deal as these can easily be painted on - just don't use the Commonwealth rank or jump qualification insignia on a Polish fig. Regretably, the Orzel decal is in white - it should be in the mustard yellow gas detector paint colour. Again no big deal as it can be painted more realistically freehand.

A more serious issue (it's pretty relative - we're talking model figs here ) is the representation of the smock. It would appear from the artwork (in particular) that Tristar have used a later pattern smock as the prototype for the figs (a very easy mistake to make) - the biggest issues with this are:

a) it appears to have a full length zip - something that only appeared on post-war manufactured examples, or on the rarer wartime tailored (usually the exclsuive preserve of Officers - who could afford the modification),

b) equally the use of knitted cuffs; whilst their addition was not uncommon during wartime - they were an addition to the smock, either at coy or individual level. It wasn't until the 1950s that the smock was manufacturered complete with knitted cuff, and

c) wartime smocks were characteristically oversize in appearance, many reaching down to the individual's knees. Remember the originals were worn over BD and were intended to be worn over over other kit (webbing) during the jump. The Tristar smocks appear a bit too tailored (IE better fitting) - having more of a similarity to the later 50s pattern smocks than the wartime patterns.

However, on balance I don't think that these detail uniform issues are going to be too big a deal in this scale. All in all a very welcome release.

Cheers

Karol

Ow,

I really like these figures.Will be mine soon!



Jelger

I think this is good news despite the minor issues Karol mentioned,. By the way - Thanks Karol for the additional info on the Polish Brigade's uniform.

I would have been happy with any Allied figures from Tristar but hopefully these will sell well enough to show Tristar that Allied figs sell as well as Germans.

These look great! It is a shame about the minor issues Karol pointed out, but I am actually considering buying a plastic figure set after quite some time.

Pat and Luka

You're both right these are minor issues - no real deal breakers . When it comes to certain uniforms I can be very particular - but ultimately, let's keep it real, they're nice figs.

Cheers

Karol

I agree. right now there is a lot of interest in British airborne troops and British/ Commonwealth figures by the major manufacturers.The only problem with all airborne troops is that they are usually difficult to combine in dioramas with armored vehicles (like mountain troops) since they are often sent on their own. So these will be for the vignette builders.But the inclusion of the welbikes is a very good idea. I think Hornet make an expensive resin version of this little scooter.

This is truly exceptional news.

Also, don't forget that there are several images of infantry staggering ashore with Welbikes in Overlord. So, they aren't just limited to Paras.

You're right Jim the Royal Marine Commandos used them at Normandy.

A very interesting release from Tristar, and as always, it's great to see British/Commonwealth subjects getting a look-in, particularly the less common subjects as this.

Still a lack of 'in-action' poses available though in the area.

Thanks Tristar, lets hope some more releases along the same lines are along the way!

James

Hi Guys,

The minor issues aside what a neat set of something new and unusal. The poses of the figures look good and I'm sure they will be wlecome by many.

Re mixing with other infantry/vehicles, These chaps would be best suited for Arnhem or the Rhine Crossing both daylight drops. That said, if my memory is correct, Paras in general should be OK for Normandy as they went into the line as Infantry for a period after the landing as best I can remember, but I'd need to check to be sure.

Al

Great new, top notch, very inventive, I like it a lot.
Best,
Julien

I've got some ideas for these guys

these are on my list !

the hells angels!
with wings!

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know if this set has been released yet? If so do you know who's stocking it?

Thanks

Al

Hi Alan

As you may be aware Tristar had a bit of a bumpy start to the New Year with speculation on their future, stories of closure and moulds sold to AFV Club etc. As I understand it it had more to do with their relationship in business with a Far Eastern distributor. I can't remember details and I don't think it came from an offical source anyway.

So the upshot of this I guess is a lot of stuff got put on hold. Certainly as a fan of the kits I've found them in short supply. Check any on line retailer, certainly in the UK and you'll see "out of stock" on nearly all the range. Hopefully they'll get things completely back to normal in the near future and these items will appear. I hope so as I think Tristar a one of the best.

Alan

It was rumoured (not confirmed) Tristar has stopped operations (or close to liquidation). Finished tooling will be sold. I don't have high hopes on any unfinished moulds ever go into production. Too bad.

Paul

For those interested in Parascooters (welbike and others) their is a nice article in Issue # 3 of Wheels & Tracks Magazine.
Joe

Hi Guys,

Yip, I heard the rumours but they were dismissed. Their site is still running but I can see no memtion of the set

These looked pretty close to production when the news was announced, perhaps Jim might know something?

Al

Hi

Well some good news as regards Tristar. Terry Ashley has posted on his site a page in New Kit News showing information on releases for Tristar, so it seems at last its business as usual. Great News. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/newkitnews/tristar.htm

Alan

wow alan , thanks for that! great news, now where did i put those references for the welbikes