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Warriors is one of the few companies to offer grouped sets of related figures to be used as gun or vehicle crews. This new set is a set of early-war Waffen SS, and are intended to fit inside a Kubelwagen. Note, these figures will not work on a Kubel with the top in the raised position; only top down.
The kit consists of bags of parts, individually sorted out for each figure. This is the first Warriors kit I have seen in the new clam shell type plastic box with a color photo on the front. As a retailer, I like the built-in hanging hook, which makes store display easier, and the larger sized photo is attractive for the buyer.
Each figure is made up from half a dozen or so cleanly cast parts. Warriors' light cream colored resin is easy to work with. Clean-up is minimal, with just a sharp knife and sprue cutter being necessary. Pour plugs and flash are easy to trim off of all the parts with just a couple of exceptions.
Probably the part that takes the most cleanup is the driver's hands/steering wheel part. The wheel is cast integrally to the hands and is very fine, but also has three giant sprues and a lot of flashing between the wheel spokes. Be careful here, because if you break the fragile wheel, grafting the driver's resin hands to a plastic kit steering wheel will be very difficult.
The parts generally fit together very well, and no real filler was necessary. I used white glue to fill some minor joint lines, but even a brushed on layer of thick paint would do. There were no air bubbles or other casting blemishes of note. The box art photo must serve as an assembly instruction, as no other info is provided. The rear passenger figure takes some care to assemble because of his somewhat odd pose. It is definitely helpful to have a half-built Kubel kit handy to test fit the figures during assembly to make sure they fit properly. I notice the helmet chin straps stop short of the inside of the helmets. Not really noticable after painting, though.
Now, the down side of the set... This is one figure set that has really bothered me alot. The quality of the sculpting, accuracy of the uniforms, etc. are all very good. However, the poses are, in my opinion, dreadful. The four figures don't relate well to each other and just look odd. The driver is rather casual, but is looking up in the air with a blank look to his face. The front passenger is leaning to his right, with his right hand raised to "shoot the bird". He is also looking up in the air but in a different direction. The rear passenger, who, based on the tool box and pistol on his belt is a machinegunner, is sitting on the edge of the seat. His pose would be better for a figure getting up out of the seat of a parked vehicle. Again, his is looking and pointing in the air (and in different directions from the other crew).
I really have no idea what you would really do with these figures and I have doubts about the gemans giving the finger during W.W. II. It seems to modern. In the end the driver is useful by himself, but the other figures have no real place unless you try to do some complex diorama work, but the figures are still oddly posed and animated. Even the box art does not solve the problem of what do do with the figures, as they are shown just sitting in a Kubel superimposed in front of a photo background.
Review sample courtesy of Warriors.
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