Darren Baker takes a look at the set of 7 US Infantry in the ''Move, Move Move!!! US Soldiers Operation Overlord Period, 1944'' set from Master Box.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

I want the M1917. But those M1s seem substandard by today's standards.

At the time of the Normandy landings wasn't the T handle shovel issued yet, the folding shovel didn't get issued till Holland. The trousers look like the herringbone one's with the cargo pockets. Some units may of had them but for the ETO wool shirt and wool trousers was the standard combat uniform for infantry at the time of the Normandy landings .

Not that it matters but some troops did have brand new folding shovels on 6 June and some units were wearing herringbone twill. The holes on the M1 carbine are the indents for the sling. They're supposed to be there though the detail looks shallow and soft in comparison to the real cut-outs.


And sadly some assault troops were tasked with carrying M1917 machine gun ashore in the first wave. Sucks but it's true. The USMC assault troops carried them ashore in the Pacific as well.

Stephen I understand what you are saying about the rifle slings, but these extend way to far up the butt for that.

Guys, these are Rangers during op Overlord as they are wearing the green pocketed fatigue herringbone twill pants and (Darren has not mentioned) 2figures wearing assault vests. Although assault vests were worn by infantry units also during the Normandy invasion, 1 in 4 Rangers wore them during the landings, though popular for carrying kit for the assault they were discarded early after the landings. My kit just arrived and confirmed by the painting guide they are in fact wearing the 'Ranger' tabs and helmet markings for same. The two MG crew members are not wearing the herringbone pants and as Darren's review they are the old MB kit thrown in with the RAnger team. Ron Volstad art work in Concord publication 'The GI in Combat' advises the Herringbone twill was worn by 4th ID during the landings also. So you could get away with either Rangers or Infantry for a dio anyway. MB could have done a nice 'Point Du Hoc' kit here with a couple of climbing/ crouching figures instead of the MG crew...!

Jason out of interest are the rifles faulty in your set as well, or was I unlucky?

I come to realize that it's "hit & miss" with Masterbox. Some sets are good others are just cheese. By the looks of the pictures, this is a full plate of Kraft Dinner.

It's too bad that 15 or 20 years after Tymiya's subperbly detailed US Infantry weapons set we get something like this...

But in my general experience, MB figures turn out well after clean up and painting and they certainly do have more action packed poses than other manufacturers. One I will likely get at some point.

Darren, yes mate, mine are bad also.....Tommy gun is probably the only useful weapon out of the kit.

Agreed They made a cavern out what is supposed to be a slit trench.


There are sink marks in the helmet tops too.

Hi, All! At least MB had the stones to come out with a new set of GI's, specifically US RANGERS/4th ID. I question the M1917 crew exposing themselves to enemy fire as depicted on the box cover. BUT, it IS just a box cover, so there's no sweat over that.

Re: The smooth helmets: My cure is just to stipple them with a tiny bit of TESTORS Liquid Cement and a small, semi-stiff nylon brush. As to the helmets' camo netting, it's a 50-50 toss- I've seen just as many photos of WWII GI's without the netting as with. Besides, there are a few A/M US WWII Head w/ Helmet sets out there that you can substitute if you don't care for what comes in the box...

It's too bad that WARRIORS went out-of-business, as they had the BEST 1/35 US WWII Heads that money could buy. I find that the HORNET US WWII Infantry Heads have helmets that are cast a bit too small. Their US WWII Tanker heads are perfect, however.

I was also disappointed by the 1970's quality of the weapons in this figure set. I like to use the slide-molded DRAGON Gen 2 US WWII light weapons with my figgies. I also like to use EDUARD's 1/35 US WWII Rifle Slings with these weapons.

If you have conversion and sculpting skills, the figures this new MB figure set can also be converted into GI's wearing the wool trousers, and with a bit more work, they can also be converted into US WWII Marines wearing the earlier HBT Combat Utilities as seen at Guadalcanal...

In any case, I HEARTILY WELCOME this new set of US WWII GI's, despite some of the obvious lapses of quality. With a minimum of work, the figures in this set can easily be brought up the quality found in "state-of-the-art" resin figure kits...

Dennis, you are right, Warriors were great and I wish someone would pick up the Molds and re-release the lines. I too appreciate MB giving us some Herringbone strides in the mix as I am sick of converting the Dragon Rangers/Armoured infantry figs to make different poses.....cheers.

Add MB's previous US infantry sets to this and you'll have a real nice assault going on.

[quote]Add MB's previous US infantry sets to this and you'll have a real nice assault going on. [/quot

Hi, All! That's what I have in mind- I normally don't do dios, because of my limited available space, but this is something that I can't pass up. I have several of each MB 1/35 US Infantry sets, June 6, 1944. I'm going to use my older 1/35 ITALERI US LCVP w/o the 30 figures, which I bought several years ago. Of course, the LCVP will be decked out with EDUARD PE, and a few resin bits and pieces here and there.

I'll be doing some mixing and matching, converting, and re-sculpting with the figures, so that they don't all look the same. I also have several of the old DRAGON WWII Rangers sets. I'll be changing out the heads and weapons as well, as I have a nice stash of the old, out-of-production 1/35 WARRIORS US WWII Heads sets, some of which will be altered with HORNET Heads sets. I have more than a few 1/35 DRAGON WWII US figure sets that I'll be using as donors for the GEN 2 weapons. It'll be tedious, but worth it in the end...

(Luckily, I'm an accomplished figure builder and painter- 1/35 on up to 120mm scales. I've had great success in selling some of my figures and lots of my models professionally. Now I model strictly for my own pleasure. I especially like the 54mm range of Napoleonic figurines, HISTOREX, and the like...)

I will also be adding some of the out-of-production 1/35 resin WARRIORS, CUSTOM DIORAMICS figures, and some of the still available VERLINDEN WWII GI figures and sets to this project. Add a few TAMIYA 1/35 German "tetrahedon" beach obstacles, and I'll have a scene right out of the first 10 minutes of the "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" movie...

One of the previous MB sets have a GI dragging a wounded buddy by his pack straps. You could re-create the scene where Tom Hanks is dragging the half-corpse up the beach.

You're reading my mind... I may not do the the "half-corpse", but probably will do the same basic idea, only with a "save-able" GI, instead. (Hit in the legs..?) VERLINDEN makes several GI figures that are in the process of being killed or wounded, so I'll be converting and re-sculpting them to match the other figures, and then including them in the dio as well. Quite likely, I may also incorporate the mini-scene where Tom Hanks is still in the roiling surf of Omaha Beach, and he comes into contact with the "staff" and radio-operator GI's. They're loaded down with all of the extra impedimentia of office equipment, etc. That's when a timid member of the staff asks Hanks- "Captain! What do we do now?" "Captain" Hanks replies, "GET RID O' THAT CRAP"!!!, and he goes on to live and fight through more mayhem on the beachhead...

The whole 20-minute invasion segment of the movie is inspiring- credibility starts to taper off once the basic plot starts to develop thru the course of the movie. (Just my opinion). Still, in all, it's a great movie otherwise.

I really enjoyed the HBO miniseries "BAND OF BROTHERS" and "PACIFIC"- I have both of those DVD "Boxed Sets"...

These should be a useful set of figures. Now if Italeri would add a new LCA that would be most welcome.


Al

THANKS, Jason! In all fairness, WARRIORS made some pretty darned good German figure kits and sets, as well as other Allied subjects. Their Japanese "BANZAI" set of figures and Polish Lancers "CHARGE" figure sets were exemplary, to say the least!!!

Hi, Al! THAT'S FOR SURE!!! So far, we haven't seen ANY British/Commonwealth/ANZAC landing forces figure kits, either. How can these important and brave troops have been ignored for so long?

Also, I'd like to see some company do the original early-style US Marines Amphtrack amphibious vehicles, with corresponding crew and Marine figures to go along with them.

Al and Dennis....amen to your suggestions.
Al, I'm sure we had this same conversation sometime ago re the LCA, I think I got the last kit of the Fonderie Miniatures brand in the Southern Hemisphere as I have not seen them in Aussie model stores for years. I'm surprised the LCA has not been manufactured by Italeri or others as it was one of the major assault craft of WW2 supporting US Rangers and UK units. Anyway I guess we can only hope

Can't you take Dragon's 'Commonwealth Infantry', 'British Infantry', and 'Monte Cassino infantry' sets and stick 'em on a beach? Maybe add a few discarded bicycles - lots of pics of landing Brit troops with folding bicycles. Don't know how long that lasted! Not too many pics of Brit troops cycling around the Normandy countryside!

Leo....you have to have an LCA in the background to show how the bikes got there...😜

HI, ALL! When I typed "early Marines' Landing Craft" in one of my earlier threads, I was referring to the US Marines' LVT-1. These vehicles were first used at Guadalcanal. They also saw service in other amphibious landings, notably at Betio and Tarawa...

Hi, Jason! I AGREE WITH YOU 1,000% REGARDING THE LCA!!! REVELL revived the old MONOGRAM US Navy's UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) boat and Frogmen recently. I remember seeing quite a few pics of US Marines landing in these boats- Guadalcanal, Betio and Tarawa, specifically... I may even use the figures that we discussed, and the REVELL boat (The designation of this watercraft escapes me, at the moment) to do a Guadalcanal landing, adding some of the stuff contained in the MASTER BOX USMC in Guadalcanal figure set and the DRAGON USMC Guadalcanal figure set, and converting/modifying/re-sculpting etc, to match-up with the 1942-issue USMC HBT uniforms...

PS- Wish we could have a full set of 1/35 Amphibious Landing troops, i.e US/British/Commonwealth/ANZAC and USMC in crouching/kneeling/ducking positions, readying themselves as if the landing craft has not quite reached the shoreline yet...