It is very nice to see the smaller and newer companies doing their own stuff to find their gaps in the market. Masterbox again shows their ability to fill a gap with the creation of a figure set which has a interaction between the figures that you often only see in resin figures. A very nice set of three late war German Tankhunters.
The Basics
3515 – German Tankhunters comes in the well known Masterbox packages of a side opening cardboard box. On the front a beautiful box art painted by A. Karaschuk and at the back you will have a drawing of the sprue inside the box and three line drawings of the assembled figures and where all the parts need to be fitted. One thing that is missing from the back is the painting details and paint numbers and so on. The figures are sculpted by A. Gagarin. And show a very crisp detail. In the box you will find a sprue with 37 parts moulded in medium grey plastic.
In Detail
Ok I kinda “stole” this way of doing the review from Jim Rae simply because it is a good built up to do so… So just like Jim I will do the several aspects of these figures seperately.
The Heads: The heads were quite impressive. Where you definitely had to change the heads for Hornet or Warriors examples because the detail was not that sharp and the faces had a bit of a flat appearance in this box I was surprised to find 3 heads all having variation from the other. And some good detail. Nice facial expressions, And the choice of giving two of the figures Helmets or field caps
Hands: The hands in this set are very good.. All to scale, not bulky, too small or the size of coal shovels. Also the animation in them is very well sculpted.
Legs/feet::: Apart from the clean up of seam lines and such which actually every injection moulded kit manufacturer has troubles with the legs and feet are very good too. Two of the soldiers wear the high soldier boots and one wears the shorter variant with gaiters. The buckles and such on the gaiters are very well moulded. Also the folding detail of the trousers fabric is very good and will make painting an ease
Torsos: The torso’s are single-piece mouldings and the detail is very sharp of all the fittings and awards. Two of the soldiers are wearing the standard wehrmacht service uniform for the private and one is wearing an Fieldblouse with camo presumably SS
Equipment: The equipment looks to be very well done. The kit comes with a load of Kar 98 ammo pouches. The boxart shows the guy with the Panzerschreck wearing a shovel but no appearance of that shovel in the set. So if you want him to carry a shovel you have to get it out of the scrapbox. Two figures carry both the breadbag as the canteen, the guy with the panzerschreck only carries a canteen
Weaponry: Included in the kit you will find two Kar 98 carbines, one Panzerfaust 60 and a Panzerschreck. The detail is very nice of these things… the only thing I thought was a pitty was the end of the Panzerschreck which normally is a sort of open basket type thingy… in the set it looks a bit like a funnel with closed sides.
The Poses:: Absolutely one of Masterbox growing specialities. To tell you the truth I bought the set for the bending guy… I had no real plans with it but it was his pose that was just so good. The guy with the Panzerfaust kinda has a bored feeling over it. The guy with the Panzerschreck pointing really looks happy and his whole appearance tells you the same. As I said before it is a set of which the figures do interact with each other very well. And if you built them you are already halfway to your vignette. Construction Notes: No real problems were encountered during the building of these figures. Everything fitted well on to each other. The only problem and it is a well known problem with the Masterbox figures is that the fieldcap appears to be too small for the heads.
Conclusion
A very useful set. Well sculpted, well engineered and really a jump forward to their older figures. Masterbox really proves they are wanting to innovate their figures to let them reach a higher level. What I really love about these figures is the interaction between them. They tell a story when put together, even the bending guy and the pointing guy do tell it, The bending guy has a ton of other possibilities as has the Standing guy with the Panzerfaust. They definitely can be used along other figures in larger diorama’s. Masterbox has choosen very wisely here by making this subject and with these poses they have an absolute winner on
SUMMARY
Highs: Definately both the subject and the poses together with the very good molding. Tankhunters always have spoken to the Imaginatio. and the story that is shown by these three guys is just a winner.Lows: Actually the only lows I have found in this set are a sinkhole in one of the fieldcaps. The end of the Panzerschreck, And the fieldcaps being too small for the heads.Verdict: A very good and useful set. Brilliant poses good fit, an absoluteminimum of filling is required. resulting in three very neat soldiers... Highly recommended
About Robert Blokker (FAUST) FROM: NOORD-HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS
Started modelling when I was about 7 or 8 years old had a little break in between (school, girls partying) and eventually returned when finding this site in 2002. Main interest WW2 German army, wheeled vehicles and radio and communication troops or every other thing that manages to catch my interest...
Ola Jim
Thanks for the compliments mate. I really appreciate them. There will be some more stuff following for review... some stuff I couldn't add under the old "Regime".
With friendly greetz
Robert Blokker
Apologies for going against the grain- but to my eye there is a marked difference between the poses on the boxart and the actual built figs.
Initially I was impressed by the poses - the way the guy with the panzerfaust was leaning back on his heels , bent at the waist, and looking toward the horizon- but the actual fig does not represent this, being too straight and unanimated, resulting in an uninspiring relaxed pose.
Similarly the guy bent over is barely bent at the knee, and there is a striking difference to the angle of his back to the ground, making him merely appear to be resting, in comparison to the artwork, which depicts an alert guy peering between the buildings or trees at an oncoming target.
Still in saying all that I will probably get a set, but they will require a fair bit of surgery to replicate the the poses on the boxart.
Steve Camley
Hello
The kit is quite decent, and I enjoyed building it. However, I have some comments about it.
The first one - the rifles are not K-98. They look much more like an Enfield. Not much a problem to replace, but still a bit disturbing. In my case I replaced them with a Tamiya Kar98, Dragon MP40, and Italeri Sten.
The second thing is, that the gas mask containers, which were a must when using the early "Ofenrohr" AT-launcher, which had no shield. Not a problem for the good-assorted parts box, but might be a problem for a beginner.
The third issue is - the box art features much more equipment then in the box. Shovels, etc are missing. Same solution as above.
But generally seen, a set I enjoyed, and which builds a nice group in my latest Diorama.
I know where you are coming from Steven
I had this grievance with some DML figure kits, especially since the beaut Ron Volstad box art was not matched with the included figures. Funny thing is that I know not of any resin figure companies that use similar amazing boxart, as I'm certain this would result in a more comparable figure inside...
This is in no way detracting from a good review by Robert!
Have to ask though; any reason why the Panzershreck bloke is so jovial?
Brad
Comments