Introduction

Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan in 2002 and will be completely withdrawn by 2014. The use of Canadian armoured vehicles in Afghanistan was instrumental to reaching objectives and successfully completing missions. Over the years there has been only a small amount of Canadian figures produced that complement the ever growing conversions and kits of modern Canadian armoured vehicles coming on to the market.

Canadian Crewman

This new figure set by Djiti’s Production contains four resin parts to build a present day Canadian armoured crewman. The figure is positioned in a very realistic relaxed sitting pose with the left leg pulled up, the left arm resting on the knee, and the right hand holding a water bottle. This figure would look great sitting on the hatch of a Canadian Leopard, Coyote, or LAV III.

Details:
The figure wears the standard issue CADPAT uniform, Model 4100 Personal Body Armour, and the CG634 helmet with headset and microphone. This figure’s body armour has the protective collar and shoulder pads. The arms have the shoulder pads molding on them and this will give a more realistic look to the components of the of body armour when the arms are attached. The buttons shown on the figure’s pants pockets are not visible on current issue pants and are easily removed.

The helmet is nicely formed with the headset top and neck straps but does not include the chin strap, the night vision mount, goggles, or the commonly worn elastic band with cat’s eye reflectors. On the left boot bottom there is no visible tread pattern. This will be obvious when the figure is posed on a vehicle. The water bottle is molded in resin attached to the hand and so therefore some creativity will be needed as most water bottles are clear.

Assembly:
It took me about five minutes to completely assemble the figure. There is minimal cleanup on the arms and head. The boots require a bit more cleanup due to the position of the casting attachments. There are minor gaps created when the right arm and head are attached.

Conclusion

Overall the details of the figure are terrific. Cleanup is minimal making the assembly uncomplicated. This figure will most definitely add another new element of realism to any model of a Canadian AFV in Afghanistan. Let’s hope that Djiti’s Production produces more modern Canadian figures.