Introduction

This really brought me back in time. I clearly remember these 120mm figures from the Verlinden Productions catalogs, which were cool looking and so lifelike. Verlinden was king of AM and figures back then, and through his various magazines, he motivated an entire generation of modelers.
Well, enough of the old man’s talk.
In the box you’ll find a figure of a US Army Sgt. From the European theatre of operations, which is dressed for colder weather. The figure is wearing a buttoned up standard US uniform, leather ankle boots, a M1 steel helmet, gloves and is armed with a Thompson sub machine gun. He stands in a rather relaxed posture, with his weapon lowered.

Contents of the box

The box size has changed since back then, and has become quite smaller than the long shaped box in green camouflage colors. It’s now around half the “normal” size and in white carton, though still with the old familiar picture of the assembled and painted figure. In this box is a clear zip lock plastic bag with 23 pieces of light sand colored resin parts, where the largest part is the torso. No instruction of any kind, except the picture of the finished figure on the box cover, but nothing more is really needed to construct this kit.

The review

The figure consists of 8 parts; head, torso, right arm, right hand, left arm, legs and two feet (boots) Various gear is provided in the kit.
• 1 M1 steel helmet
• 1 canteen
• A close combat/trench knife
• 3 hand grenades
• 1 entrenchment tool/spade
• Side arm (.45)
• Ammunition pouch w. 2 clips for the .45
• A 5 magazine ammunition pouch for the Thompson sub machine gun
• First aid package
• Small pouch
• A sling bag for personal belongings
All of the parts are very well molded, and the fit is also quite good. Before starting to glue the parts together, I’d suggest you wash the parts in warm water with soap, because they seem a bit oily, and this might give you trouble making the glue work and also when it comes to painting.

As said before, the torso part is especially well cast, with some very nice details, such as the webbing and the folds in the uniform. Another great detail is the M1 steel helmet, which is cast with a rough and sandy texture, just like the real thing. This will really come out during the weathering process.

For making the figure seem realistic, the pistol grip of the Thompson sub machine gun is molded into the figures right hand. The right arm also has a molded space for the butt of the sub machine gun, which also adds to the realism.

On both arms are molded the contour of the Sgt. Stripes, but this can be quite a task to get these markings straight, so I’d suggest the modeler use some decals, which unfortunately is not included in the kit.

Another thing not included is the piece of led foil, which was always were present in the old kits. Maybe it’s due to some environment issue on led being poison or such, but it would really get that extra edge in detail, if the Thompson had a gun sling.

Conclusion

This might be an oldie, and it might not belong in the same league as some of the newer resin companies, but it’s actually not bad. It stands in a realistic pose and it still holds some very nice and crisp details. It would also fit right into the movie “Fury” hype, which is currently roaming around the modelling world. I’ll recommend this kit for any allied figure builder.