The latest tankers to hit the streets represent an “Early World War II Panzer Crew” as they may have appeared discussing their next moves across some portion of land in Europe.

While these figures can be purchased as a pair or individually, they seem to have been sculpted for the other in mind, so a builder may be better of buying both figures at once for a sense of balance. However, if you have other plans -- or other figures -- you can pick these guys up one at a time (35026 is the pointing figure and 35027 is his counterpart. Both have an MSRP of $14.95 by themselves)

Early War tankers

The figures are sculpted wearing the familiar German black panzer uniform. Parts are pretty basic, each is offered with a choice of heads ( the pointing figure can be built with a standard panzer commander hat or with a Panzer Schutzmutze, while the standing figure offers a head with the Model 1938 Feldmutze or one wearing the Panzer beret).

In both cases the arms and heads are the only parts that need attaching. For the most parts that’s easily done with the removal of the molding plugs which are inside the shoulder on the standing figure, and along the ridge of the arms on the pointing figure. In both cases clean up is fairly straight forward.
Molding plugs also need to be removed from the bottom of the feet.

Items like binoculars (on the pointing figure) and holsters for both figures are molded to the one-piece torsos. Combat badges are also molded to the uniforms and appear to be nicely done. Additionally, the standing figure has a set of goggles around his neck while the pointing figure is wearing a nicely sculpted scarf.

The build

Overall molding is strong and crisp and the facial detail really seems to pop on these figures (and this line in general). Folds and seams in the clothes are nicely done and look the part. Overall molding is nicely done and is really crisp. Both figures appear to have slight mold lines on the insides of their legs that will need to be removed. The nice thing about them is that they are hard to see and are in areas that won’t get a lot of attention, making them less obvious.

The figures build up nicely with a pretty good fit at the joint between the arms and the torso. A little putty and sanding will be needed here but it’s nothing major. I did notice the joint on the pointing arm had a little bigger gap than usual for Alpine figures along the back, but this is something that is easy to fix and is expected with most figures... in other words, nothing most modelers who are shelling out the bucks for resin figures can’t handle.

Conclusion

Well this seems to be another winner of Alpine, I’m starting to sound like a skipping record when it comes to these figures, but they build up nicely and have some very fine details that are nicely done. These guys should find some homes on some early war armor and may even find company with a few of the new early war German infantry sets that seem to be cropping up as of late. They also offer a unique two-figure subject for people specializing in figures and/or small vignettes.

Both figures are sculpted and cast by Taesung Harmms and the box art images feautured with this review are painted by Jaume Ortiz Forns

Thanks to Alpine Miniatures for providing the review sample.