Introduction

With the second Jeep on its way out to retailers from Bronco Models they have released a set of four US troops as an alternate choice for the first Jeep offering, or as a crew for the second Jeep offering. It should be mentioned that the driver figure in this set is also included on its own with the GPW ¼ ton 4x4 utility vehicle Mod 1942 with 37mm anti-tank gun M3A1 offering.

Contents

The product is packaged in an end opening card box with a nice artwork by Andrey Karaschuk, on the rear of the box are painting instructions for the figures. Inside the box you will find;
• Two grey sprues
• A decal sheet

Review

Starting with the sprue containing the figures, which are each placed within their own areas of the sprue, and which are also in relaxed poses including the driver.

Figure A
This figure is the driver and is the figure included with the GPW ¼ ton 4x4 utility vehicle Mod 1942 with 37mm anti-tank gun M3A1 offering. The figure consists of;
• A bald head
• Torso
• Two arms
• Two legs
• Steel helmet
• Two open portions of the jacket

The facial and hand detail of this figure is very good in my opinion and to my knowledge is the best, if not the only, example I have seen to date of a figure with a partially open mouth. The regulation shirt looks to be accurate with the possible exception of maybe being a button short but it is difficult to be sure one way or the other. The M1941 jacket is also nicely detailed which with it being undone and gaping is a nice detail for injection moulded plastic. The M1938 canvas leggings look a little odd in situ but judging from pictures of troops wearing them they do appear accurate.

The M1912 belt has also been nicely detailed especially across the back of the figures which, where visible, has the stitched line detailed. The M1 steel helmet contains no internal detail but the general shape and appearance looks good, another nice aspect of the helmets is that the chin strap has been replicated strapped around the rear of the helmet which was the norm for most troops in order to keep it out of the way. The boots depicted on these figures would appear to be the ankle type which were made with brown leather with a black sole which is worth noting down. The trousers on these figures are hard for me to tie down as any specific version but they do replicate the way pockets gap when a person is sitting very well.

General Detail
The information supplied above is the same for all of the figures in the set regarding the uniform and I will highlight any changes in the other three figures. Crease detail in the uniform is fair to very good with me having already highlight the nice detail of the gaping pockets to various degrees across the figures and where appropriate. The general poses of the three riders are also good as they provide a natural variation in the figures as opposed to the stiff uniform appearance of some figure sets.

Figure B
This figure is made up of a;
• Bald head
• Torso
• Two legs
• The arms are crossed and supplied as a single moulding
• Helmet

A highlight of this figure is that he is supplied with a “stogie” wedged in the corner of his mouth which is also supplied with the figure, and the face detail of the figure has been suitably replicated to show this facet. The figure has been supplied with an M1912 pistol in service holster which has the “US” placed on the flap. There is also a small piece of plastic listed as part “B9” which I cannot identify and which, as well as the holster, is not mentioned in the instructions other than on the list of parts.

Figure C
This figure is made up of a;
• Bald Head
• Torso
• Two arms
• Two legs
• Helmet
• Five ammunition pouches as a single moulding for the Thompson MG
• Thompson MG
• Puppy in two parts

The figure is depicted in a relaxed seated position while casually holding a Thompson MG with a puppy placed on the figures lap.

Figure D
This figure is made up of a;
• Bald head
• Torso
• Two arms
• Two legs
• Helmet
• Six ammunition pouches

This figure has been moulded wearing an M1923 rifle belt which contains 10 ammunition pouches, four of these pouches are moulded as a part of the figure with the remaining six being the individual offerings. The figure has again been moulded in a seated relaxed pose.

Second Sprue
This sprue contains small arms for your figures which I am sure will go down well with customers, on the sprue you will find;
• 1 x M1 Garand rifle
• 1 x M1 Garand rifle with fitted bayonet
• 1 x Skeleton stock M1A1 rifle
• 1 x wooden stock M1A1 rifle
• 1 x M1903 springfield rifle with scope fitted
• 1 x Browning automatic rifle with a folded or deployed stand.
• 1 x M1A1 Thompson MG with two magazines
• 1 x M3A1 grease gun
• 1 x M1A1 Bazooka made up of 5 parts, one of which is a projectile

This sprue has, in my opinion, an excellent selection of weapons which all look good to me. I cannot confirm the accuracy of the scale as I lack the ability to accurately measure them at the moment as I need a new battery for my digital caliper, but as I said my Mk 1 eyeball says they look right. One thing that will need doing on these weapons is the barrels will need to be drilled to improve appearance.

Decals
The small decal sheet contains shoulder patches for eleven units which are;
• 1st Infantry Division
• 2nd Infantry Division
• 3rd Infantry Division
• 4th Infantry Division
• 5th Infantry Division
• 6th Infantry Division
• 7th Infantry Division
• 8th Infantry Division
• 9th Infantry Division
• 28th Infantry Division
• 1st Armoured Corps (I believe as it is hard to tell due to size)

The decals look very good but it must be mentioned that due to the small size some of the more complex patches such as the 2nd Infantry Division patch are difficult to distinguish. I do however continue to praise Bronco Models highly for including decals with some of their figure set offerings. Also included on the decal sheet are one pair of the following NCO rank badges;
• PFC Private First Class
• CPL Corporal
• SGT Sergeant

Conclusion

This set of figures from Bronco Models is an excellent figure set designed specifically to man your Jeep models. The inclusion of a great set of weapons and decals are praise worthy as I am sure we have all bought figure sets where you only get a rifle or another rifle with no variation. I highly recommend this figure set to you as I believe they are Bronco Models best effort to date and would look equally at home on one of Bronco Models Jeeps or as riders in a lorry and to some extent tank riders.