Introduction

Plus Model are makers of fine vacuum cast, polyurethane plastic kits and accessories for the modeling industries. They have offered such quality kits and more since the early 1990’s. The German Rucksack WWI accessory set is one more addition to the ever growing line of products to reach the market.

The German Rucksack WWI comes sold to us in a sturdy, peg-board style display package. The parts are nicely placed in the package atop a small foam insert for protection. The set is sold online from various E-stores and retails for around $15.00 US.

Review

There are 29 cast resin pieces in the German Rucksack WWI set all geared toward accessorizing WWI diorama and/or vignettes. Each piece is cast very cleanly with a high level of detail for what they are to represent. I found little to no flash on the parts and are free of pinholes.

The 29 pieces included are as follows:

• 1 – Large Rucksack – A canvas backpack used to hold soldiers personal supplies
• 1 – Medium size backpack holding a tent roll, bedroll, sheet roll with a space for inserting a mess tin
• 2 - German Tornister “Pony Fur” Packs. These were unshaven goatskin rucksacks with bedroll and a small medical kit attached to the front
• 2 – Small bedroll backpacks with a space for inserting a mess tin
• 5 – Mess Tins – Small aluminum containers for holding and cooking the soldier’s food
• 2 – Breadbags – Used to hold personal items or spare ammo
• 2 – Signal bags – Used to hold signal flags for battlefield communications
• 3 – ‘Coconut’ style water bottles
• 2 – Small valise and water bottle (canteen) combos
• 2 – M27 ammunition pouches for the Mauser 98
• 1 – Single ammunition pouch for the Mauser 98
• 1 – M91 Ammunition pouch
• 1 – E-tool – Small entrenching tool for digging in the trenches
• 1 – Metal field trunk – Used to carry a multitude of supplies from food, ammunition and medical supplies
• 1 - A pack containing tent poles and rope for constructing a field tent
• 1 - Pickelhaube or spiked helmet, covered with the canvas wrap
• 1 – Stahlhelm M-16 steel helmet

All of the pieces of the German Rucksack WWI set can be used either together or separately. Since the German Army was comprised of different regional regiments from separate countries there is a collecting of styles of equipment used. Several items were adopted by the German Army from the Belgians, which were allies with them, and the Finnish.

In the case of the Bread bags there is a secondary tap which appeared on the Finnish version which is represented in this set. The triple ammunition pouches could actually be either the leather based German pouches or the rubberized version created by the Belgians. In the case of the two supplied helmets with this set, the Pickelhaube (spiked helmet) was seen early on in the war and the canvas cover was phased out due to embargos on materials leading to using the Pickelhaube without the cover until the introduction of the Stahlhelm M-16 steel helmet.

Conclusion

I am a big fan of these collective accessories sets. They give the modeler a multitude of options while building a scene. The parts were well researched, sculpted and cast. Clean detailed features of the parts should allow for plenty of detail when painting and weathering the set. I feel this would be a great addition for any WWI era project.