introduction

Shooting with cameras rather than guns, war reporters act as the eyes of the military. Whether taking motion pictures or still photographs, they have produced images to document historic moments capturing some of the most iconic images of World War II and also for the purposes of strategy, intelligence and mapmaking.

Lately BRAVO-6 released a series of War Correspondants from World War II. First of the series, B6-35100 Kriegsberichter (1) depicts a German war reporter in standard Army uniform kneeling with his camera.

packing &casting

Kit content comes well packed in standard light brown cardboard box labeled with a photo of painted figure. Body part and other small parts like arms,helmet, holster and camera are split into two transparent bags. Resin quality is good with no casting mistakes. Details are clean and sharp. No need for a serious cleanwork, just a few seamlines on the arms.

figure

Figure is sculpted by Vladimir Demchenko in 1/35 scale and cast in grey resin. It comes in 8 pieces.

Posed to kneel, main part is body in standard German M36 field uniform which was the most commonly issued uniform in early years of the World War II. It was worn by all Heer units and some Waffen SS unit in early and mid-war battlefields. His uniform consists of Feldbluse - tunic in field gray with 5 front buttons, two breast and two waist patch pockets with scalloped flaps and pleats secured with metal buttons, dark bottle green shoulder boards and collar and Feldhose - trousers with two slash, one rear and one wrist pockets. Trotters are tucked inside Marschstiefel - marching boots. Cloth folds and wrinkles on jacket and trousers, details like BeVo woven breast eagle, collar tabs, pleated pockets, shoulder boards and metal buttons are well defined. He has a black leather Belt - Koppel on his waist and strap of the battery pack is cast on his chest.

Head is sculpted in nice facial details and strap of the steel helmet is cast on the face. Top of the head is carved for the fit of the helmet and hair on sides and back are well defined.

M42 Steel helmet ; Liner rivets and air vents are visible.

Arms are posed to hold the camera and shows nice cloth folds.

P38 Walther Hardshell Leather Holster will be assembled to the left side.

He carries a Arriflex 35. Arriflex 35 was the first reflex 35mm production motion picture camera. It was built around the spinning reflex twin-bladed - butterfly mirror shutter designed by Erich Kästner, chief engineer at Arnold & Richter Cine Technik (ARRI), Arri Group, set at 45 degrees horizontally to the lens axis. The camera utilizes a three lens turret with three aluminum Arri lens mounts and is capable of frame rates up to 80 frames per second with an accessory speed unit. Film magazines are for 200 ft or 400 ft loads. The DC motor is mounted downwards as a handgrip. It shows nice details and hands are cast on the camera.

Two Battery pack - with open and closed flap cover is supplied on the kit and will be attached to the right side of the figure.

conclusion

Besides Vladi’s high quality sculpt in crisp details and BRAVO-6’s high quality casting, he is a rare figure as a war correspondant that can be added to many World War II German scenes.