Introduction

This is NOT a 'conventional' review, rather it is a quck overview of a product which is going to hit the shelves in the next few weeks. With the interest which is being generated at the moment in U.S. subjects - due in no small part to the extraordirily good Allied vehicles which are coming out, there still remains a shortage of good (plastic) U.S. figures. Masterbox has announced three new sets which are covering the Mid-Late war period and will serve as a good basis to 'populate' dioramas and vignettes.

The Figure Set

3520 - 'D-Day' 6th June 1944 is a four-figure, injection-moulded plastic figure set covering Infantry of the U.S. 29th Infantry Division who landed at Omaha beach in the first hours of the Normandy Landings. The figures comes on a single sprue and are moulded in (this advance copy) in a light-grey plastic. The set consists of only 54 parts with each (basic) figure consisting of seven parts plus their respective equipment.

POSES: The figures are sculpted (in what we have now come to expect from Masterbox) in very active poses - in this set running.

Equipment: All the usual equipment is provided - rifle pouches, entrenching tools and the small U.S. backpack. One of the figures is provided with a 'Bangalore' torpedo in it's waterproof cover (commonly seen on images from Omaha)

WEAPONRY: The figures come with the usual weapons - M1 Garands and a Thomson SMG. In addition, a nicely rendered model of an M-1 Flamethrower, whether or not it was actually used at Normandy remains open to question, but it is VERY well done...

UNIFORMS The figures are dressed in the commonly-seen U.S. infantry M-1941 Field jacket (Parson's Jacket) with two of the figures being sculpted wearing the 'Battle-jerkin' over the Field jacket. This will allow the figures to be used in a variety of settings from Tunisia onwards although the battle-jerkin will make life a touch more problematic.

Conclusions

Once again, Masterbox has produced a set which is both useful and versatile. Although, with the nature of this Preview, I haven't done a real 'in-depth' evaluation of the set, it does appear to be very good indeed. This set should be useful - either built out of the box or used in conjunction with others to give more variation.

My thanks to Alexander of Masterbox Ltd. for the opportunity to give the users of Kitmaker Network an advance look at these and several other NEW sets..