Introduction

World War II is well known for the European campaign, but in the early years of the war the Third Reich reached down to the north of Africa. In the beginning of 1941 Adolf Hitler formed the “Deutsches Afrika Korps” also known for its abbreviation “DAK” and put Erwin Rommel in charge of the command. The Deutsches Afrika Korps was an expeditionary force sent down to the north of Africa to fight in the campaign.

Since this is a review and not a history lesson, you can look up the rest on Wikipedia if you want to know more .

History of the figure

In the past Verlinden handled this figure under number #784, in November 2014 they re-released it under number #2806.

Packing/Contents of the box

The packaging is very straight forward; it is a simple cardboard box which contains a zip lock bag with the resin parts for the figure and a Verlinden logo on a piece of paper.

Review

The figure is not supplied with a manual or a painting guide. If you want to know how to put all the parts together you can only use the picture on the front of the box or have to do some research on the subject. I think that is a disadvantage, it should be supplied with instructions of some kind. Without instructions this a figure for the more advanced modellers.

Casting

I never saw the #784 release of Verlinden and so I can’t compare it to this one. From what I can see the parts are very crisp and clean. There isn’t a lot of resin flash, maybe a little bit on the finer detailed things like the trigger of the MP40. Other than that everything looks very nice. Some parts could have do with a larger channel between the pour plug and resin part, because some parts where so close to the pour plug that you had to be very careful not to cut or saw into the part.

Details

The parts are very crisp and have a lot of detail. There is a lot of detail on the medals on the chest. The accessories like the water bottle and mess tins are also very nicely detailed. Other parts do have some minor flaws in detail for instance the entrenching tool and combined bayonette is missing the leather strap and extra belt loop. You have to be very careful working on the entrenching tool because before you know it, you could cut of the wrong thing or accidently break off the bayonette.

The MP40 is good enough on detail, but I suggest you swap it for a plastic one from the 1/16 figure series of Tamiya or Dragon, as it is too big and so over scale. I also think the back of the magazine pouches could use a little bit more detail, because they really stick out and show no detail on the back.
 

Fitting

Note before working on the model! This figure is made out of resin which releases very fine hazardous particles when working on it, you don’t want to breathe these in. You should work in a well ventilated room with a facemask on or a folded towel if you don’t have a mask.

The main parts of the figure clean up very easily and cleanly, but you have to be very careful with the arms and feet. Get that wrong and you’ll end up with the hunchback of the Notre Dame.

As I mentioned earlier on, the figure does not come with an instruction manual which can make the assembly a bit tricky, especially when you get to the back of the figure and the accessories. There are no pinholes or other markers to precisely locate the parts. There are some pointers, but you have to know what you’re doing. I would suggest you visit a few websites on the equipment or buy a good book to help you along.

The MP40 that came in several parts looked nice, but you have to be very careful with assembly or you end up with a really weird looking and crooked machine pistol. Another thing is that for some reason the gun is a over scale and when you finish the figure and think you have everything on correctly, the gun doesn’t fit in between his hands and body and his bread bag gets in the way of the gun (or is it the other way around). Either way, I suggest you get another one.

The fitting of the accessories is also very tricky, you have to dry-fit everything and try to line up the all the parts to fit the magazine pouches that fit and cover that, get the placement wrong and the result will be that the arm doesn’t and the hand doesn’t fit and also the gun doesn’t fit correctly.

All in all the figure was a lot of fun to build and the end result was OK to my mind, the only thing I would suggest to Verlinden, is to add a manual. It could also do with a painting guide. but you could also do some research or use the picture on the box, however it would be helpful.

I admit I was wrestling with this figure now and then, trying to get everything together with bluetac and wire, finally thought I had it right and then something fell off and I had to start over.

Conclusion

During the build I wondered if I should glue everything together before painting or leave several parts off in order that I had easier access to the details while painting. Because the magazine pouches get in the way of the medals to paint and there are a few other areas I went with not cementing the figure together at this stage.