Introduction:

During World War II, Lieutenant Kelly learns of a German bank located behind enemy lines containing 16 million dollars in gold bars. His platoon, led by Big Joe, has three days of R&R coming, so, with the aid of anachronistic hippie Oddball and three Sherman tanks, Kelly leads his men deep into enemy territory to steal the gold for themselves…

Filmed in 1970, Kelly’s Heroes is an entertaining hybrid of WWII action and anti-war satire. The film spurred a lot of interest in the modeling community and several model companies released figures depicting Kelly and his motley crew. Oniria Miniatures recently produced a 1/48 scale vignette recreating the famous "showdown with a Tiger” scene from the movie, already reviewed on Armorama (link). Oniria now goes a step further offering figures of Oddball and his Sherman tank crew, along with some tank accessories, again in 1/48 scale… a real treat for Kelly’s Heroes fans.

Review:

The kit is packed in a hard cardboard box, with a zip-lock bag containing all the kit pieces. The box art photo showing the painted miniatures is missing, as this particular review sample was sent before the kit was officially launched. However, all commercially available samples of this kit should include the box art photo.

The pieces in this set are molded in white metal, with the exception of large loudspeaker piece which is cast in resin. The molding is really good and other than some thin seam lines which need to be carefully cleaned, I did not find any casting imperfections. The kit consists of 10 pieces; 8 pieces for assembling 4 figures:

Pvt. Kelly (Clint Eastwood) - full body, head, hands w cal .50 spade grips, Thompson, holster,

Sgt. Oddball (Donald Sutherland) – 3/4 body,

The Turk (Shepherd Sanders) – 1/2 body,

Moriarty (Gavin MacLeod) – 1/2 body,

and 2 pieces for assembling the loudspeaker.

The figures are sculpted by Antonio Zapatero and Jose Hidalgo, and these 1/48 scale masterpieces represent the Oddball’s tank crew perfectly. It is not just that sculptors got the peculiar motley crew uniforms and equipment right, they even managed to get the facial features of the actors quite recognizable… Wow! As for the garb and gear, the sculptors delivered all the equipment as worn by the actors in the film. I’m sure nitpickers might argue some of the equipment is historically inaccurate, but hey… these miniatures are based on a Hollywood movie from 1970s! Pvt. Kelly wears US tanker jacket, wool trousers and buckle boots, M1 helmet with netting, canteen and holster secured to his belt, and carries a Thompson submachine gun slung on his shoulder. The figure is posed manning a .50 cal on tank turret, with the spade grips molded in his hands securing a tight grip on the weapon. Sgt. Oddball is depicted wearing A2 leather flying jacket with 6th Armored Division patch and Sgt stripes, Herringbone twill trousers and pilots leather skull cap with earphones, plus goggles around his neck. The Turk, a member of Oddball’s tank crew, wears a fez and a simple T-shirt. The last figure in this set, Moriarty, Oddball’s pessimistic bow machine gunner and mechanic, sports a headscarf and large goggles, dog tags and M43 jacket over a T-shirt. I wish this set also included a figure of tank driver to complete the crew and fill the last hatch on Oddball’s Sherman tank.

A large loudspeaker is a great addition to this set. A peculiarity of Oddball’s tank, it should give a final touch of Kelly's Heroes realism to the 1/48 scale model.

Conclusion:

Oniria Miniatures dedicated their 7th Art figure series to recreate famous movie classics as scale miniatures and vignettes. This review covers the latest release in this series: a 1/48 scale set depicting a peculiar mix of characters from Kelly's Heroes labeled as Sherman Motley Crew. The set consists of 4 figures nicely cast in white metal, portraying film characters in amazing detail... from the garb and gear to the individual facial features. An added bonus in the set is the big loudspeaker, another detail specific for Sherman from Kelly's Heroes.