Every time Dragon announces a new set of figures, there is the usual moaning and groaning about "What? ANOTHER set of German figures?" While it might seem as though DML could go years without releasing another set, I have found that things are not as they might seem from working on a Normandy dio right now. All the Summer-attired Waffen SS soldiers for that theater are rather ancient releases (certainly no Gen 2 ones).

Here are some areas that I think could use DML figures (Ron Volstad, are you listening, LOL?):

1. Waffen SS grenadiers in SUMMER attire (lots of Winter Eastern Front)
2. Radio operators
3.) Waffen SS and Germans in general AT REST (Stalingrad Figures is carving out this niche nicely).
4.) Waffen SS officers in the field (no heroic poses, but reading maps or talking on radios or field telephones).

I could go for some new, improved styrene figures. I'm partial to fallschirmjager and basic Wehrmacht figures my self, but upgrades of previous releases are needed, just like they've done with their armor. I would like to see more focus on cohesive sets rather than the four individual figures in a box, and more than four figures in a box.

I'd like to see more Gen 2 figures of all nationalities and not just figures with Gen 2 weapons and equipment.

I'd also like to see DML improve the "crisp-ness" of the non-fabric details on their figures. Things like buckles, clips, buttons, etc, should have the same degree of mechanical precision as the details on their vehicles. I can understand fabric details like straps, pockets, collars, folds and wrinkles should appear soft, but there's no excuse for the degree of imprecision that DML molds onto most of the details on their figures.

Their Gen 2 figures were a great leap forward in the plactic figure market, but then their releases of actual Gen 2 figures has seemed to dry up...

This is too bad, since DML has shown that they can do a really good job with their figures if they want to.

I agree with you about the Gen 2 Figures- they seem to have dissappeared...!

Bill- I would keep my fingers crossed for those releases, they will probably get round to something like them sooner or later. Although if you are looking for more variety you should take a gander at some of Zvezda's recent and future releases, they seem to have a good variety of German figures.

Thanks, Karl, but I've gotten the impression that Zvezda figures aren't in the same league as DML.

BTW, great review of the Meng pick-up.

Thanks Bill- !

As for Zvezda figures- you are right that they are not in the same league as Dragon. However, I think if you substituted their gear for Gen2 and possibly use Hornet heads then you'd certainly alleviate some of the discrepancies.

Hi

For whatever reason it appears Dragon has ceased production of any new figures to it's so called "Gen2" range and seems to prefer the "normal" way of producing the figures but with Gen2 equipment sprues added.

I can see the logic in this, as many felt some of the Gen2 figures were overcomplicated in construction just for the sake of it, rather than to create a more detailed figure, which of course they were as well.

I'd like them to re think the Gen2 figure approach and whilst I can see the advantages in detail of separate collars to tunics, belt buckle badges etc. maybe the split face/heads torsos etc. could be done the "normal" standard way.

But in the short term Bill maybe you should look beyond Dragon being the one to satisfy your requirements. Plastic figures from Masterbox, Miniart, and even dare I say it, Tamiya (latest releases of course) may have what you require.

As mentioned already whilst the older Zvezda figures are probably as good as the old Tamiya stuff, as in yuk !!! it would appear somebody at the company has decided to up the game and some of their latest stuff looks more like today's standards.

Are you sure what you've listed isn't available ?

I'll have a check round when I've got more time.

Alan

According to the owner of my LHS they weren't selling. They were over engineered and higher priced than normal figures.

The two part heads were a turn off for me. As Alan says maybe a mix of gen 2 and normal parts would sell.

Amen to the "at rest" and "doing routine tasks" ideas (I'm paraphrasing). One thing I'm always surprised at, for instance, is the lack of a late war tank crew set either sitting about eating, bunking in for the night, or doing routine maintenance on their tank as a group. Talk bout instant diorama in a box as opposed to the usual sitting in their hatches or gathered idly in a group, squinting at whatever the commander is pointing at. . .

Matt

Wel, I replace all the heads and hands on plastic figures with resin anyways, so the two-part heads were never an issue for me.

However, the extra detail on the bodies and uniforms was worth the additional work to assemble the figures. Although the fit of the parts could have used some improvement, I don't know how DML could have engineered them much better than they were.

A box of the Gen 2 figures was also cheaper than buying a comparable number of nice resin figures, so in that regard, I thought they were a pretty good value, too. Add to the fact that the Gen 2 figures were actually available in the LHS (so you didn't need to add postage, handling and currencey exchange fees to their cost like with ordering resin figures) made them even better.

The DML Gen 2 figures proved that plastic manufacturers can produce well detailed figures if they want, but I guess that's the rub. The major plastic kit manufactuerers won't be motivated to bring better figures to market if model builders aren't willing to buy them.

The limits of two-part injection molding are a barrier that can be overcome, but as the state of plastic figures stands now, even the best are not much more than a slight improvement over Tamiya's figures from the 70's.

The DML Gen 2 figures were a step in the right direction. It's too bad that the modeling world refused to go along for the journey...

How do you mean?

Like these from Miniart
Set number 35010

Set number 35011

Set number 35062


Alan

Great discussion, Gents, thanks.

Alan, I don't want to leave you with the impression that it HAS to be Dragon for me. I have numerous resin and other plastic manufacturers in my stash. I used them because whenever DML announces a new Wehrmacht figure set, everyone seems to pile on saying "boing," "been there," "ho, hum."

My original point was that despite their many sets, Dragon has not by a long shot used up all the possibilities, and that some of their sets are in dire need of refreshing ("Von Luck at Normandy," for example).

I like the MiniArt figures, and am really impatient for them to release 35132 (tank crew, Normandy, 1944) with the figures in U-boat leathers. But MA tends to concentrate on vehicle crews and not infantry/grenadiers.

I will look into the recent Zveda figures, since I have a load of Hornet heads and have been adding hands where appropriate. But in the case of my current dio, I need Waffen SS grenadiers in smocks. I'm going to mix & match with the Kovel Defense set, the Von Luck set and some Hornet resins figures, but it's surprisingly hard coming up with non-Winter infantry. I guess the coats and other gear are more interesting to sculptors, but it is making my life difficult right now, LOL.

Hi Bill

No problem. I personally get a bit sick and tired of the usual "not again" , "why this and not this" posts on all new release announcements , not just Dragon's although they seem to be the ones who take the most criticism, unfairly in my book. They've contributed a tremendous amount of new kits over the years, but there are other companies also doing good business these days and releasing a steady stream of new kits, which is great news for us.

But as you say there are some "gaps" in their range and certainly some older sets need more than the "Premium" treatment to make them up to today's best. A couple of years ago I wanted the "Battle of the Hedgerows 1944" set. See below. When I did eventually get them I was disappointed to say the least !!


Is this an "action" scene in some way, or a "before the action", "after the action" scenario ?

Alan

Alan, I would be very happy to pick up this set for the dude in the smock with his helmet off. I know I will have to combine figures from different sets, but they will have to have similar duds, as they are supposed to be the 2nd Waffen SS/Das Reich.

And I get your point about thread hijacking. It gets tiresome to say the least.

Hi Bill

Smocks.....have you this set down as a possible, if it's not an action scene you are doing.



You'll need to "upgrade" their weapons for late war, and ditch the little pouches (ammo I think) on their fronts. But I think you are okay other than that.



Alan

Hi

another possible, late war, more action style though.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/1559

Alan

Re: The Miniart kits. Yup, like 'em, have 'em. More would be welcome, especially if they're at Dragon's current standards. Tank crew at rest, either eating, swapping stories, or how about sacked in for the night, would be so sweet!

Matt

I'd also like to see more late war Whermacht troops with gaiters and low boots.Resting or non combat poses preferred.The Stalingrad resting troopers are very nice but the jackboots date them.You might get away with one pair in a vignette but not a bunch of them. Murray McLennan

Yo, hello everyone.

Nice, a figure dedicated discussion !
Bill, Hohenstauffen set from dragon is a very good one, lot of accessories, decals, very nice details etc. If you were to pick only one set, it would be this one in my opinion.

I think that highly detailled figure is a nice stuff, but a very simple figure in the hand of a good modeller can turn out very nice. I've made a vignette on pacific theatre where a dragon figure stands next to a masterbox one. Sure the Dragon one, gen 2, have very crisp details. But the masterbox box figure doesn't look ridiculous next to it. You just paint or craft the details where they miss on the Masterbox one.




As far as Dragon is concerned, I'm part of the guys who traditionally rant when dragon announce a figure release. Dragon is the best company in terms of details and innovation in figure molding and so on.

But damn, it's all about german, and in very boring poses.
Dragon never released civilian figures in 10 years for example : lack of imagination. Sucess companies are the one who introduce revolutionary/change in a market. Dragon did that 15 years ago, and more recently 5 years ago with Gen 2, but since then they dried.

In addition, the poses of Dragon figure are, with very few exceptions, stiff, unnatural, boring, and more and more there is NO interaction with figures..No story is told. Sometimes they hire external sculptor who are better in the pose exercise. The example I have in mind is the last set on German SS Panzergrenadiere set in Arhnem with two wounded tankers. In this set the pose were good.

Their recent trend to release 4 different figures which are not related is very surprising for me. You cannot use them on a single display, but you cannot neither use them all together.. If you take their last allied set, I guess it's nearly impossible historically to have all the figure in the same dio. Then maybe it's a commercial strategy, consisting for the consumer to buy two sets to get a pair of figure that could fit together.

Finally, thanks to Dragon, companies like Miniart, Masterbox, and I must say Zvezda (their last fallschirmjager set is just absolutely great, like their russian moutain or sniper set) can become VERY popular !! (like thanks to Microsoft, Apple became very rich and popular)

My two cents

Julien
The pacific vignette I'm referring to above

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm mining eBay for these older kits.