Rado Miniatures is a new company from Warsaw,Poland producing 1/35 scale resin World War II subjects. Owned by the young talent Radek Pituch, also the sculptor and boxart painter; the company got into the market with two German figures. Two more Germans are already announced to be released soon and it seems we will see WW II Russian, Allies and more German figures of Rado Miniatures in future .
RDM35003 - Battlefront Normandy 12. SS-Pz.Div. “HJ”, Summer 1944 is a multi-figure kit including the first two Rado releases and depicts young soldiers of HitlerJugend on standing poses with standard uniforms, field gear and weapons.
review
Inside a clear acetate box, both figures are inserted into seperate zip-lock bags and small parts are double secured with smaller ones. A label in front of the box shows a color photo of painted figures, company name and product info. Backside is labeled with a warning sticker.
Parts are cast clean in medium gray resin. No mistakes, holes, excess resin or visible seamlines on the figures. There will be no need for a serious cleanwork other than removing casting blocks before priming. Details are sharp.
As I read the title 12. SS Pz.Div. HJ, I first checked if the figures look young like Hitlerjugend members of the Division. I have to admit that both heads show nice facial features and have baby faces, the sculptor captured the young appearance very well.
FIGURE-1
Sculpted as a standing posed SS-Schütze; figure comes in 6 parts; Head, body, 2 arms, machine gun and folding stock.
He has an SS-Panzer enlisted men Side cap on his head. Hand sewn Bevo woven type eagle and skull insignia are well sculpted for that scale.
He wears standard tanker uniform of Panzer Wrap jacket - painted in Pea /Dot 44 pattern camo on boxart, Panzer Trousers and Long boots. Cloth folds and wrinkles on the uniform, scarf on his neck, Jacket details like wide collars, buttonholes, shoulder straps, Iron Cross on the left breast, MP40 gunstrap on right shoulder, Trousers details like front fly, front pockets with flap covers and watch pocket are all nicely defined. Enlisted men belt with metal buckle and triple MP40 ammo pouches on both sides are sculpted on his waist over the jacket.
Right arm is posed to hold the gunstrap on right shoulder and left arm is posed to put his hand over triple ammo pouch. SS sleeve eagle on left arm and small bandage on the right forearm are nice touchs.
MP40 submachine gun and folding stock are given as seperate parts. Extra care will be needed for muzzle and stock when removing from sprue as they are tiny parts and look fragile.
FIGURE-2
As a standing SS-Sturmmann; figure comes in 5 parts; Head, body, 2 parts of field gear and rifle.
He has a helmet with cover - painted 2nd pattern Oakleaf Spring pattern camo on boxart. Besides nice facial features , panels of the helmet cover are also visible.
Body is cast together with arms and support pin on the right hand should be removed first. He wears an SS Camo Smock over his field tunic, field trousers, ankle boots and gaiters. Besides nicely done cloth folds, all other details of the uniform like SS and rank collar tabs, elastic cuffs, foliage strips on upper sleeves and torso of smock, laces on the boots, straps on gaiters are very well defined. Most of the field gear is cast on the figure. He carries Y-straps, belt with triple Kar.98 rifle ammo pouches attached on both sides and breadbag on the left back - all sculpted in crisp details. Two M39 egg grenades are added under the pouches and a field shovel is inserted to the buckle belt.
M31 Canteen and Bayonet in scabbard are given as seperate parts and will be assembled to the hollowed places on the back of figure.
Figure carries a Mauser Kar.98 laid on his left arm. Rifle shows nice details and wounded left hand with a small bandage is cast on the rifle.
conclusion
I think Rado Miniatures made a nice entry to the market that will satisfy his customers. The figures are carefully sculpted and cast in high quality. Poses are natural, uniforms and gear are adequate for the period.
I like the figures are same posed and both heads are slightly turned to left so they can be easily displayed together as watching someone or somewhere, maybe looking at something like a poster, etc.
Panzer Wrap and Reversible smock are good uniform options because they can be painted in different patterns for different scenes.
Congratulations to Rado Miniatures for the first releases and Good luck on market.
SUMMARY
Highs: Nice sculpt and cast. Assembly is easy with less parts.Faces look young and fit to the kit title HitlerJugend. Camo uniforms give option to paint different patterns.Lows: No serious lows.Just a little extra care is needed on MP40 folding stock. It is a little soft, tiny and fragile.Verdict: Good to have a new company producing high quality WW II subjects.These two figures give high credit to Rado for future releases.
About Engin Kayral (Graywolf) FROM: IZMIR, TURKEY / TüRKçE
Born in 1962,married and having 2 sons. I started modelling about 8 years old building USS Fletcher with mom. It was a model dad brought from USA., I think in those days only a few people in Turkey had info on scale model kits. Grown as an AF officer son , I built many aircraft models in years. Som...
These are good looking figures. Nice poses and the minor injuries are a nice touch. To be honest there is nothing about these figures that ties them specifically to "HJ"; they could just as easily be from "Hohenstaufen", "Frundsberg", "Das Reich" or "LAH", or even "Gotz v Berlichingen", or indeed elsewhere other than Normandy. By 1944, conscripts for any SS division would be teenagers. The Panzer wrap rather than the leather U Boat jacket actually suggests a unit other than "HJ" or "LAH".
I like these a lot and think that they seem to be comparable to Alpine figures in terms of details and sculpting. Nice, useable poses without anyone holding binocs pointing!
Rado is a legit business run by master modeler Radek Pituch. Please keep the comments civil, as these are Radek's original sculpts not knock-offs.
As for the poses, take a look at the last set from the company... one of the best animated German figures I have seen in a while:
link
Mario
A comparison made in goodwill brought it to a wrong spot. Noone can deny the fact of Taesung sculpts are nice and Alpine figures are high quality, but Alpine is not the original or the only company releasing WW II German figures.I know many companies with figures of same quality. I don't think Alpine has the copyright to produce German figures so others can be considered as knock-offs. They all are inspired by the same history and may sculpt similar figures. I am sure Alpine Miniatures would be really sad to be mentioned in such a thread.
If we talk about knock-offs; Rado miniatures first figures are already copied and sold on ebay or some pirate sites. They have hundreds of Alpine figures too. That's what we should critize and react. I believe new sculptors and companies deserve respect and support.
best regards
Mario, I was being flippant and I regret my post (which I have deleted). Having seen more of the figures and some of the other figures referenced in another news article, I agree that Radek has created something original, and which I actually prefer to Alpine's more static poses. If I have given offense, I apologize.
No problems, mate. My response was a bit harsh as I didn't want the discussion to turn into a food fight... Radek is a well known name in figure world and these are his first sculpts available on the market under his own label.
Cheers,
Mario
Hello gents,
Thank you for positive feedback.
As for the uniform of the tanker, well the research for Rado Miniatures is based on available archive photo material, photos made during the summer of 1944 confirm the usage of this kind of cloth by the HJ tankers/SPG crews, the u-boot leather jackets must have been quite uncomfortable during the hot French summer Of course the figure is suitable for any othr SS formation and you can even paint the panzer wrap plain feldgrau/black color, you just need to remember to add the rank insignia to his collar.
Again thank you for the comments.
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