For many years, those of us who built US armor were stuck with three or four less than sterling sets of Tamiya US tanker figrues. These were mainly the stumpy figures from 1969 with the sergeant based on Humphrey Bogart in the movie "Sahara", and all of them were stocky and 5'2". No matter what you did with them, they were short, dumpy figures. The only option at the time -- white metal or pewter -- did not lend itself to conversion, and was very difficult to shape and fit into the context of a tank turret.

Verlinden broke the mold about ten years ago when they began producing highly detailed resin figures, and tried to cover all the bases. This meant that they had a few figures for each venue, but then began to concentrate on larger scale figures (120mm) and "lost the bubble".At the same time, DML emerged and began producing excellent injection molded styrene sets, but began to get caught up in the trap of doing only German figures.

In the last two years, two companies have entered the marketplace with excellent resin figures. While the prices are not as cheap as the DML or Tamiya styrene sets -- one figure usually selling for what four styrene ones go for -- they are more personable and have a nicer overall touch. The two companies are Warriors and Yanks, and while Warriors is covering all the venues, Yanks is sticking with just "the good guys" or Allied forces from WWII.

This figure is typical of the Yanks line. It is a US tanker in coveralls and tanker's jacket sitting down with a canteen cup at the ready. (We can hope he is drinking coffee, but hey, this is probably "France", and what are dioramas for!?!) Yanks also thoughtfully includes a color photo for painting reference and a description card with the figure. This latter explains his uniform and suggests other figure sets in their line which will complement him.

The description card is one of the first ones I have seen in a long time like that, and makes good sense. Many modelers and diorama builders pick figures for their personalities, and may not understand what the figure is supposed to represent (or his time period). Yanks is to be complimented for including a nice touch like that with their products.

As a US and Soviet armor fan, I am always happy to see "fresh fish" like this for use with my favorites. Advantages: nice pose, good uniform choice; disadvantages: resin figure at resin prices (estimated price $9.95).Recommended for all WWII US Armor fans and especially "Shermaholics". Thanks to Dave Bighia of Yanks for the review sample.