Introduction

A common complaint about British/Commonwealth figures is that they are always drink tea!!! Resicast helps address this with their resin figure set of a British/Commonwealth soldier in a kneeling position with full kit. The figure comes in the standard Resicast plastic zip bag, with a good colour picture insert giving a guide to painting and building the figure. Inside is another plastic bag containing the kit parts. There are no instructions with the figure, but the basic assembly should be fairly straight forward.

Review

The figure is posed in the kneeling position with his left arm resting on his left knee and his right arm holding a rifle with the butt resting on the ground. Both arms form part of the figure with only the right hand needing to be attached to complete the main body. The pose gives the impression of someone waiting to move forward in an infantry advance or equally pausing in cover in an observation position.

The figure is dressed in standard 37/40 Battle Dress Serge wearing Anklets and Ammo Boots and the tunic collar is open at the throat. For equipment, he is wearing standard 37 pattern web equipment in the form of ammo pouches, belt, shoulder straps and a small haversack, with a ground sheet, plus a water bottle in skeleton style. All the moulding on the main body is very crisp and clear with the attachment straps/buckles for the haversack in evidence and appropriate straps for the remainder of the pack and water bottle in place.

Additional equipment in the form of a mug, bayonet and frog, plus the small digging tool worn on the web belt all come as separate items. A standard British Army shovel is also included, the shaft being in two parts for insertion above and below the back of the back pack. Two small locating holes are provided so the spade should align correctly when fitted.

The right hand holds a No 4 rifle to which you can add a sling if you wish. I compared his rifle against a Tamiya plastic one and it is slightly shorter and a little thinner. Which is exactly correct for 1/35 I’m not qualified to say but I prefer the plastic weapon although the resin version should be perfectly acceptable and may well be more accurate than the plastic one.

The head comes as a separate item, again being well cast with clearly defined detail. The face, to me, gives the impression of determination and concentration in battle. On his head he is wearing the Mk II helmet with camouflage netting and scrim and attached to that at the front is a field first-aid dressing. The helmet is nicely tilted towards the rear of the head, exposing the detail of the face and giving a nice in-the-field old soldier style to the figure.

Cast in a light cream resin, there are 3 small casting plugs to remove from his feet but other than that I could see no air bubbles or faults in the casting of the figure, which to me looks excellent, so minimal clean up should be required.

Conclusion

A very usable figure in an action type setting or as part of a patrol, his pose looks perfectly natural to me and recreates one I’ve adopted on many an occasion. He has an appropriate mix of equipment making him suitable for the NWE theatre of war or with a few changes earlier campaigns as well. The fact that his haversack is moulded to his back reduces his potential a little. That said, were it a separate item some of the excellent shoulder strap detail might be lost. Still had it been a separate item I would probably have bought 2. The only thing I can see missing from his equipment is the small gas mask haversack worn on the LHS. However, I believe many of these were discarded shortly after the landings or left in storage with the bulk of the personal kit once the threat of gas attack had been dismissed.