Fallschirmjäger Paracadutisti Tedeschi 1943-1945

Recensione dei Figurini ESCI in Scala 1:72

Fallschirmjäger wearing tropical uniform e tan aqueous camouflage smocks during the 1943 campaign. The kneeling anti-tank cannonieri are conversions, combining body parts of due standing e due kneeling soldatini from this set. The standing figure wears a typical Luftwaffe side cap taken from Airfix Luftwaffe Personnel. The 2.8 cm s.Panzerbüchse 41 heavy anti-tank rifle is from the old Airfix Afrikakorps set. The s.PzB. 41 proved inadequate against medium e carri armati pesanti encountered on the Eastern Front, e many of these armi were handed down to Italian forces which kept them in inventory until the Armistice in 1943.

Most of the soldatini in this set carry equipaggiamento o oggetti dell’uniforme which did not appear until 1943, although some soldatini will be suitable for earlier campaigns as well. The soldatini are fun to paint, e the jump smocks look very attractive when finished in plain green-grey, splinter o tan aqueous camouflage pattern.

Contenuto

50 soldatini in 15 Poses – 23.5 mm pari a 169 cm di altezza

• Fallschirmjäger l.MG No. 1 (gunner), at ease
• Fallschirmjäger l.MG No. 1 (gunner), resting
• Fallschirmjäger l.MG No. 2 (caricatore), resting
• Fallschirmjäger standing, contemplating grenade
• Fallschirmjäger standing con Panzerfaust (2)
• Fallschirmjäger kneeling, tirante con Panzerfaust (2)
• Fallschirmjäger standing, throwing grenade (3)
• Fallschirmjäger advancing con rifle (3)
• Fallschirmjäger standing, tirante con fucile da tiratore scelto (6)
• Fallschirmjäger kneeling, tirante con fucile da tiratore scelto (6)
• Fallschirmjäger advancing con StG44 (6)
• Fallschirmjäger running con MP40 (3)
• Fallschirmjäger advancing con MP40 (3)
• Fallschirmjäger advancing con MP40 (6)
• Fallschirmjäger advancing con MP40 (6)

Valutazione

• Nicely sculpted soldatini, wearing the baggy "Knochensack" jump smocks. The soldatini are anatomically correct, but many of the poses are marred by incorrect o missing oggetti di equipaggiamento.
• Exceptional detail in the uniforms, armi, ed equipaggiamento, these uniforms paint up beautifully.
• Nice facial features. Unfortunately, the mould line runs right through the face, ed it is very difficult to remove.
• Good casting quality, crisp detail, e practically no flash. However, most soldatini have visible mould lines which devono essere tolto prima di dipingere.
• The legs delle due kneeling figure types can be used for conversion projects. Combined con upper bodies of the advancing StG44 gunner ed one of the MP40 gunners, they make excellent soldatini dell’equipaggio dei mortar e cannoni anticarro, one facing left e the other facing right. Most of the StG44 needs to be removed from the figure, but the muzzle protruding from the soldier’s hand may be trimmed into una granata per 2.8 cm s.PzB 41 o cannone anticarro da 37 mm PaK 35/36. The latter is the most common cannone anticarro tedesco available in scala 1:72 plastic. The former may be taken from an old Airfix Fanteria Tedesca o Afrikakorps figure set, con small wheels from an Airfix Spitfire kit glued on.

• Support armi are missing: la scatola includes only due mitragliatrici leggeri, not enough to raise a typical Fallschirmjäger platoon. One wonders, when will manufacturers learn to include the correct amount of armi della fanteria in a set of soldatini. Military Modellers around the world, experts e beginners alike, continue to shake their heads in disbelief when they see figure sets like this one. It is not any more difficult o more expensive to do things right, but plastic figure manufacturers seem to have a knack at consistently selecting the wrong figure poses ed armi for a particular historic subject.
  Not surprisingly, sales of these bungled figure sets fall far short of the manufacturers’ expectations, but the problems are carried forward set after set after set. Airfix folded, Atlantic folded, ESCI folded, Revell dropped a large part of its historic figure line from the new catalog, but there is very little indication that manufacturers are interested in what their customers want. On the bright side, Italeri e HaT Industrie have been actively researching the historic figure market, e their products show consistent improvement.
• Many wasted poses: To compound the lack of proper support armi, most of the specialist types in questa scatola are armed o posed incorrectly. German soldiers operating crew-served armi were issued con pistols, but these specialists carry almost no gear at all, not even canteens. The lack of pistols is a grave oversight, because German paratroopers were all issued pistols con which to defend themselves until they reached an airdropped container delle armi.
  • The due mitraglieri cannot be anywhere near the combat zone; one is using his weapon as an armrest, con the barrel stuck into the dirt, e the other is standing at ease, in formation. Nobody else is in formation, making this solitary pose rather pointless.
  • The only No. 2 gunner in the set is resting his foot on a single ammunition box, very little ammo for an airborne operation, e he has no magazine in his MP40.
  • One of the Panzerfaust cannonieri has cradled the weapon in an secolo XVIII style march-attack pose. To make matters worse, the Panzerfaust is sculpted in perpetual motion, due to gravity, for ever slipping off the man’s shoulder.
  • One of the granatieri must be in a philosophical mood, deeply contemplating a stick grenade. This figure might be saved by placing una bottiglia di vino francese in his hand instead. Like the No. 2, this man carries an empty MP40 in his hand, instead of slung over the shoulder. Neither of the granatieri has extra grenade pouches, e nobody else in the set carries an egg o stick grenade on his body. Clearly, these are not the airborne assault troops one would expect.
  • The second granatiere has a fucile da tiratore scelto slung across his back. That mistake is relatively easy to correct by slicing the telescope off prudentamente. Unfortunately, the rifle is also defying gravity. The weapon does not hang on it’s strap, it has actually flipped 180 degrees, barrel up, e the muzzle is pulling the strap into the air. To make sure that his rifle cannot fly off without him, this clever trooper is wearing his webbing gear over the rifle strap, a rather impractical fashion.
  • The standing e kneeling riflemen in this set are incorrectly armed con fucili da tiratore scelto, but they are neither camouflaged nor posed like tiratori scelti. The standing firing figure is another wasted pose, only a fool would stand upright in a firefight. If a standing e firing figure were required in a diorama, it could easily be converted from a kneeling rifleman. The most useful soldatini for dioramisti e giocatori wargame are in advancing e kneeling poses. Soldiers in combat spend most of their time observing, covering an area o advancing cautiously. The set includes quattro advancing poses which fulfill this role very nicely, but they are not enough to create plotoni e companies.
  • The StG44 gunner is left-handed. It is well documented that elite troops train to be ambidextrous in their use of armi, but the left-handed firing position is only really useful in streetfighting, where it allows the firer to make maximum use of right-hand cover. On patrol, soldiers covering to the right-hand side of the advance do not actually need to fire left-handed, unless the terrain provides close-range ambush positions. If fired upon o if an enemy position is detected, the unit adopts firing positions in line, facing the enemy, ed everyone may fire right-handed. The trouble con the unusual pose of the StG44 gunner is that all six castings of the figure are posed this way, e that’s an unusually high proportion of left-handers. The figure does come in handy as a kneeling cannoniere anticarro o mortarman, suitably converted con legs from one of the kneeling parartroopers.
  • Finally, one of the firing tiratori MP40 has no magazine in the weapon, e none of the tiratori MP40 carry more than one pouch of spare magazines.
  • 86% of the men are without entrenching tools.
  • 42% of the men wear improvised chickenwire elmetto covers, instead of the much more common cloth covers.
  • 30% of the men are without canteens.
  • 14% of the men are without ammunition pouches for their personal weapon.
  • Ufficiali e NCOs are not included. Section e platoon leaders would carry binoculars, torches e map cases, e they might wear the Meier-Mütze cap in the field. Considering how many poses have been needlessly wasted in this set, the ommission of NCO ed officer types is unfortunate.
  • Incorrect painting instructions. Trousers ed elmetti should be blue-grey, not blue. Bandoleers should be blue-grey, although tan o blue-grey bandoleers were worn con the tropical uniform. Pistol holsters e belts should be brown, not black.

  The ESCI soldatini are the best e most useful plastic Fallschirmjäger in this scale, despite the many bungled poses. By comparison, Airfix Fallschirmjäger are too small even for 1:76 scale, e Revell Fallschirmjäger are inconsistent in size e sculpting style. Some of the Revell poses, the radio operator, the standing MP40 gunner, the kneeling firing e the pointing riflemen may be mixed con these ESCI troopers, but it will still be difficult to build a typical Fallschirmjäger platoon from these due figure sets. The ESCI soldatini are the most detailed of the bunch, e they do convert very well. With a little modelling magic, maybe the missing figure types can be built from parts available in the ESCI Fallschirmjäger ed Afrikakorps sets.

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  – Pubblicato: 29.09.1997 – Aggiornato: 18.06.2008
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