By way of an ''exclusive'' Masterbox have sent us a series of images of what will be part of their ''core'' release schedule for autumn 2007 - a new series provisionally titled ''Stalingrad''. This is the first of a series of 1/35th scale figures. The image report can be seen:

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

More and more good stuff coming out of the Ukraine. Masterbox seems to improve by leaps and bounds with every release. It's also great they are giving exclusives to Armorama.

Enemy at the gate anyone?

Zvezda soviet sniper + MB german with wire reel on his back

I love how they don't seem afraid to make their figure sets have a great sense of action to them. Some might think its just another German set but I think its another great offerring with great diorama potential.

Anyone has an idea of what's special with the helmet on the right. The upper section is not styrene grey and looks like an imitation of field made clothe cover, but the figures are dressed in summer. It's intriguing.

Thanks to Masterbox for the exclusivity and their inspiring releases.

My guess is it's a mosquito net

Several of the helmets in the set look like they have this covering.

My guess is that they represent field extemporised helmet covers, possibly cut from old/spare/stolen zeltbahn or similar.

There are a couple of pictures in Brian L Davis' excellent German Army Uniforms and Insignia 1933-45 that show items like this.

I see no reason to suppose that such helmet covers should be restricted to non-summer months though...

A preview of the box art would give us an indication of Masterbox's intentions.

acav out

I'm very impressed with the great strides that Masterbox have made.
I, for one, am glad that there is no longer a monopoly on which company produces quality styrene figure sets. It's nice to have options.
Keep it up Masterbox!

Jeff

I'm afraid the box-art will be some way off. These are the early figures in a set which probably won't be out until the fall. However, meantime, within a week or so, we'll have reviews of ALL the new sets - the German Heavy MG team, the card-playing German mechanics and (as a site exclusive) the Check-point set which includes three civilian figures (some of the first in plastic).

As a bonus, in a couple of weeks time, we've been promised News of something REALLY special.




Exactly. The success and innovation of both Masterbox and MiniArt, will inevitably encourage other (bigger) companies to improve and to become more imaginative which, at the end of the day, can only be good for the consumer..

The owner of MB is following this thread with some interest and has just sent me an explanation of these particular covers:




He also enclosed one of the images they were working from:

I have several set from both masterbox and miniart, and eventhough the have developed qualitywise over the time then they do have two things in commen - attractive price and usability.

We did see a set with 2 civilian girls and two GI´s on leave from ... ? and Preiser have done several civilians i styrene, even if the quality is not quite up to current standards.

Oh, its great times for modellers

The picture on the right is used in the afore mentioned Brian L Davis book...

IIRC, the cover is described as cut from a zeltbahn.

But, of course, many things were used to create field improvised covers.

Brotbeutel (breadbag) straps and sections of inner tube were used to make foliage holders, as was chicken wire.
Sacking/scrim was used also (as described above), and plain sections of white sheet were also used in winter time.
Often mud was applied, which makes sense if your Landser is spending a lot of time hugging chewed up Russian landscape...


acav out

ONLY thing I hate about all this is that with every new set I get so many new ideas.. I eventually find myself at a loss as to which to start working on.

I love both Masterbox and Miniart for their courage and imagination.

Two thumbs up.

@ hisham


same problem
every new kit makes my head spin !
and working on my campaigne " crossing the Rhein" is getting harder and harder as more and more new kits come out , giving me all kinds of new and exciting dio idea's.

Well, we'll have to take more time then hé!
modeling the nightshift


Tha Pit

Hello everybody,
These figures just look marvellous !
The action pose are great, and it seems to be a must have !
From what I see, MB seems to have corrected the problem with the fitting between head ad helmet.
The equipement looks very original : net for the helmets, ponchos with nades attached and the thing the guy have his back (is it for barbe wire or for telephone line ?)
The artillry set from Miniart and this one from MB are really pushing the standard in styrene very high.
A very good and welcome release.
The only negative point is that we will have to wait this automn to have the set on our workbench..

Best,
Julien

Whoa I'm impressed and I'm not an Axis builder...
The sculpting looks superb, especially the muscles on the arms and hands, and the poses don't look too contrived for 'full-on' action...
If I was to invest my $ thhe two figure kit looks a great diorama/vignette candidate.
Cheers
Brad

Well don't worry, I had an e-mail a couple of days ago from the company owner and you'll DEFINITELY be seeing a LOT more Allied sets as well..

MB is rapidly becoming one my fave manufacturers and quickly drawing me back into WW2 modeling after a very long absense

At the risk of being reprimanded for extreme threadomancy, I'd like to, first, join the praise others have already heaped upon Master Box - quite deservingly, I might add - and second, give you some impressions of the kit. Yes, purchased it today, I have. Guess being this close to the manufacturer pays off, unless it's already been shipped everywhere.

The box art is wonderful, once again. How I wish MB would, one day, release a high quality artbook with all those marvelous pictures. Perhaps it is tantamount to blasphemy, but I believe MB in-house artist might give even Ron Volstad a run for his money, if not right now, then sooner than we might suspect.

Enough of the blasphemy, on with the kit. First, moulding is okay, if a bit heavy on mould lines. No flash evident, however, and I've yet to see any mould defects. All parts are fully formed and free of major distortions. There are some problems near the mould lines, but nothing a good blade and needle file wouldn't fix. As for the detail, it's rather crisp. The figures are resplendent with folds that would make Burne Hogarth proud. I have compared the equipment with DML Gen2 stuff, and while the comparison is a bit unfair, taking into account Dragon's advanced moulding technology, MB is pretty good. And while we're at it, the figures have at least one Gen2 feature - separate lower shirt pieces. A first for MB, and I believe a first when it comes to non-DML figures. The heads are different as well, with pretty nice expressions. Not Hornet, but I've seen resin heads worse than those MB has provided. Also, they are "full", as in "not flattened at the top", and bald, which means leaving helmets off, or substituting them for field caps will be far easier than in traditionally moulded kits.

Yet, those are merely technicalities. This kit has something, I regretfully have to say, current DML releases lack terribly. It has action with just the right amount of tension evident in all participants. One might easily turn those Germans into a great mini diorama. A Soviet sniper, waiting patiently for the man with the cable might work quite well IMHO.

My, looks like I have made a micro-review out of this post. Hope you don't mind, folks. Now, I'm off to try out my Gunze lemon glue. Smells nice, unlike their thinners.

I'm impressed - frankly, I believe there is far too much respect towards DML - Armor yes, figures - not so much. That was a seriously impressive post.

Thanks! I'd write a full review, but unfortunately started cutting up the sprues as soon as I have returned home from work today. Still, guess I'll be buying another set on Monday and then perhaps I'll write a proper one. Wonder whether we'll see the MB Stalingrad casevac or "friendly airstrike prevention group" soon. I'll be getting those two as well... Perhaps one could exchange slowly moving casevac folks for fast moving signals troopers. Fast casualty extraction anyone?

Also, I do have to agree with your opinion on DML figures. Yes, DML armor is great, and this stems from the fact that Dragon has possibly the best manufacturing base in the whole industry. I'd wager they also have best mold makers money can hire too. Unfortunately, what makes their armor kits so grand and remarkable, also makes their figures look somewhat dull. Frankly, to me, it is the case of putting engineering before art. Sure, those Gen2 figures are marvelous and are almost of resin quality, but most of them are static; same with new Gen1 DML offerings. Sure, there are exceptions, "Last Battle" for instance, or the Omaha Beach set (although MB kit is just as good, and it has Bangalores to boot), but the rule is "two guys standing, one leaning, one prone" or variations thereof. It does get repetitive, and more often than not, it does no justice to wonders Ron Volstad paints.

Oh well... We have MB to make good poses and DML leftovers to supply those dynamic warriors with appropriate gear. A perfect combination, wouldn't you agree?

Jim, I'm with you on that....no figgy guy am I, but Marcin's post is an excellent "pre-review." Latch onto it......! DML is nice, but they've got folks chomping at their heels!!

Mike

Hi Guys,

These look like another impressive set of figs from MB. They are doing some great stuff, particularly in the Russian, American and Axis areas, well thoughout and interesting figs, they are producing some of the most 'user friendly' and interesting figs I've seen for a while, so hats off to them.

Still a shortage of Brits though and no sign of that first ever .303 Vickers MG Team I've been dreaming off for 30 plus years lol, lol. Keep up the great work but don't forget about those British Wounded that could double as prisoners too lol, lol.

They certainely are building up an impressive range of figs.

Cheers

Al

Hey Al, do you have any photos of what this team would look like? Could be an interesting topic to sculpt...
Brad

Hi Brad,

Resicast do a version but the gunners are in Greatcoates, There is a good pic in Jean Brochery's The British Soldier Vol 2 page 73 if you have it, which is from IWM but no pic reference No. Still I think you should find a few on IWM site.

I'll have a look and see what I've got.

Cheers

Al

PS working on a chap with a Mk III Mine Detector at the moment, will post a few pics when he's done.