The increasingly interesting Ukrainian manufacturer, Masterbox Ltd., have just announced three new 1/35th scale (plastic) figure sets. What makes these three sets particularly noteworthy, is the very conscious attempt by the manufacturer to produce more varied (and active) poses than the usual. The full story can be seen:

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

That's a good news,
Those figures in action pose look promising.
MB developped really original subject and for that they deserve their success.
Maybe only one regret : they may remove my taste to improve and convert figures, as they are ready to use in a dio....

Best,
Julien

Thanks for the heads up Jim, thankfully masterbox kits are cheap so won't affect my bank balance too much

I for one will be purchasing a couple of sets of each.
I applaude Masterbox for the courage to try something different.

Definately something to chase the "standing,pointing german" blues away... :-)

Pat, that depends where you live - here, MBox (and MiniArt) are around €12 a set. The distributors here seem to doing their best to promote U.S. and Far-Eastern retailers...

Those hand to hand combat figures look awesome. Also its good to see some figures in the process of being shot - adds some definate realism to combat scenes.

James

If these figures are as good as the box art it looks promising enough to entice me back into ww2 stuff. But with past experiences of some eastern european figures Im half expecting "hand to hand combat between John Merrick and Michael Jackson on steroids".

To be fair,I havent seen anything by master box and the other stuff was some time ago .I wont say who made it because I can do without the tirade of abuse and the Polonium spiked tortilla.

About 2 weeks ago I was fortunate enough to check out the German Panzergrenadiers set. If the new sets are of this quality, Tristar and Dragon may not top the league of plastic figures, any longer. The details were excellent, actually some of the best injected figures I have seen.
Coupled with the fact of their amazing poses, Masterbox will be the next big thing in plastic figures. Im already sold!

Some pretty refreshing poses in those new sets.
Masterbox, like MiniArt figures seem to be improving with each new release. Thanks for the info Jim.

Totally agree. A few months ago, I reviewed their 'German Captives' set and the reality is that the quality of MBox figures is increasing by leaps and bounds. The sculpting is excellent and yes, probably of greater importance, the thought they have put into the poses is excellent. What STILL remains a problem (although improving) are the heads which can be a little on the soft side regarding detail.

This is DEFINITELY going to be a company to watch thru 2007...

Oh My GOD! Do you just see those poses? You could incorporate them all in just a single vignette! I really loved the last set. A hand to hand combat had been a very rare subject. Let's just hope their plastic kits look as good as their box-arts.

I have recently bought the german captives from MB, after having waited them for a long time. Subject is very original and poses are quite natural.
But I must say they are not perfect. Two critics : the heads. They are the same from one kit to another. I've also bought the US para set, and the helmets did not fit the heads..sounds the same for german sidecaps, althought facial expression are more realistic. The second critics, and which is specific to this captive set is that the cut out of the figures is not clever : the trouser is cut half the thighs, the figure with open shirt need a lot putty on the shirt to be decent (at this stage you could do the shirt yourself). I know the particularity of the figure in some way impose this cut (shirt open, arms wounded etc.) but the only thing I hope is that this nice set won't reproduice that. Dragon Gen 2 needs puty, but the detail is here, which is not entirely the case for MB..

Anyway great news to see these releases.

Julien

It might only be a personal thing, but the addition of a hornet / ultracast / Legends / Warriors / Alpine head is almost a necessary step for figures, no matter what injection company ... and including Gen2. To be honest, I dont even take this into consideration longer. I have so little time to model, I´d rather pay the bit extra and go with the best quality available!
When using helmets, some of the better figure sets do have some heads that are definately useable ... but with bareheads, side caps, etc ... an update does make a big difference.

Wos, very impressive looking sets! I think the Hand to hand looks the best, I see a Stalingrad dio already! Seen a couple sets in our LHS, and price isn't too bad, about 9.99-11-99, very reasonable!

Hand-to-hand combat using shovels and helmets.... superb.
I presume tht the German set, whilst named "Eastern Front 41-42" can also be used for a Western Europe themed dio in 1940.
Great stuff. Now, to complement this I would love to see a set of 1940 Dutch Marines, fighting of the Germans around Rotterdam or the afsluitdijk...

Cheers
Henk

Some interesting looking kits coming out from MB. I have worked on several of their other kits and found them to be well made and with plenty of detail. The main problem I have found is the heads, most are too squat and have the always tricky seams along the sides of the heads. I usually go with Hornet heads and presto, the figures look terrific.
I like the way MB has the figures in normal or action poses, walking, moving, hands in pockets etc.... Nicely done thus far and am looking forward to the new figures.
Ironmike

Hi there

Thanks for the news. They look good, and would fit any close-combat dios.

Cheers

Simon

Shoot I could have used this in my Russian human wave dio. I guess I can still add more figures.

Hi guys,
The MasterBox kits are generally great quality at a reasonable price(in Belgium anyway),their only downfall that i can say is that they are a big 1/35.As Frank mentioned the possibility of using a head from Hornet is viable but the heads would have to be very full,a gaunt looking face wouldn't go so well on these figures.
I like the the new selection of kits,especially the hand to hand combat set.MB seem to be coming up with some inventive poses.
Here's a nice pose of one of the MB US Paratrooper figures (wip) that i'll be using in a campaign on the Benelux site:



cheers,Shay

Yes, I will have to agree. Masterbox figure sets are good to go. I bought a set of German Military Men 1939-42 (MB3510), and was very impressed with the level of detail. Its good to see Masterbox coming out with some new items. I recommend them to anyone who builds 1/35th armor/figures/diorama

Thanks for the heads-up Jim

Cheers !!

Robert

Oh Yeah! MB rocks! As far as I'm concerned,these guys have already jumped to the front of styrene figgy makers. Awesome poses.All the criticism so far is either a preference wish or a simple skill fix.
Plus,the boxes are small enough to hide better from you-know-who!
Cheers!

Any idea of the release dates for these and those American Sets?