Modern German tank crew set in 1/35 scale made by Goffy Model contains three resin figures. They are packed in a small cardboard box with a single resealable zip-bag inside.

We get two full figures, one standing and one sitting. The third one is a 3/4 figure from the knees up, so is meant to be put in the open hatch of the tank. All figures have separate arms and heads. Figures wear uniforms with body armor vests and caps. Armor vests were standard issue for German troops during operations in Balkans, but Leopard 2 tank crews rarely wear them (if ever). Also caps are quite rarely seen on tanker's heads. I was able to find a few pictures of German Leopard 2 tank crews wearing such caps, but black berets seem to be standard headwear for them. Therefore it is possible that Goffy figures may be more suitable for e.g. Marder fighting vehicle crew than Leopard tank, but check your references to see whether they fit your modeling project. Figures are wearing quite unusual flak vests. These are not standard Bundeswehr vests and I found only one picture, taken most likely in Kosovo, of German soldiers wearing such vests and those vests had the British DPM camouflage on them, instead of Bundeswehr Flecktarn camo. I don't know what is the story behind this - maybe Germans borrowed some vests from British army?... In any case it limits possible uses of Goffy figures. This also means that painting those figures may present quite a challenge - not only you have to master the Flecktarn camouflage, which is rather difficult to properly reproduce in this scale, to apply it on figure's uniforms, but you also have to paint vests in DPM...

Heads are well sculpted with facial features quite nicely done. The only problem is that two of the heads have too large caps on them, what doesn't look quite right.

Standing figure seems to have slightly too thin legs, particularly the right one, and the vest is too large. Generally the pose of the figure is acceptable, but not fully natural and something around shoulders is not correct. The figure stands on spread legs, so it might cause some problems if you try to put it in a tank hatch.

Sitting figure has too large torso, what is immediately visible on box photo, which shows painted figures. This problem makes the figure look rather unnatural.

I've found some air bubbles on parts, but nothing that wouldn't be easy to fill. There was no flash and while some care is required during removal of resin pouring blocks from parts, it is not difficult as the resin used is "knife friendly".

There are no painting instructions provided so you need to find your own references for Flecktarn (and DPM!) camouflage.

FINAL VERDICT

Modern German tankers are interesting subjects, and could be a great addition to Tamiya and Italeri Leopard 2 kits, or Revell Marder 1A3 model. But Goffy Model product is not exactly what I expected. Figures are well molded and have nice details on them, but poses and "anatomical features" are not quite correct and the choice of caps and unusual flak vests is questionable. I'm sure Goffy based those figures on some photos, but they do not show typical Bundeswehr tankers. If you think these figures fit to your modeling project then get them. But if you just want your figures to represent average German tank crew, then you need to look somewhere else.


Many thanks to Petr Zatrepalek of Goffy Model for the review sample!

Goffy Model products are available from Modelimex Online Shop. For other sources, contact Goffy Model at [email protected].