Martin64
A Fixture
Hi,
just wanted to show a brief look into the contents of Andrea Miniatures newest release:
It shows a German "Obergefreiter" (Private First Class) throwing a model 24 (stick)handgrenade (Potato-smasher-type) from a prone position. The more than once overlooked detail that the grenade has to be made "hot" (by removing the cap at its bottom and pulling the string of the fuse out of the handle) before you throw it has been reproduced in the model. The pose of the soldier resembles the recommended way to throw that kind of grenade and is in line with the way this was trained in the German Army. Opposite to the many figures available throwing grenades while standing upright the way to throw a grenade from a cover on the ground was naturally much more common in combat.
Figure and pose are based on a series of pictures taken for propaganda purposes.
IMHO the pose is perfectly translated into the miniature.
There is a video available that shows the painted boxart figure
The model kit is made up from nine white metal parts and three resin parts. The resin parts include the upper body with rolled up sleeves, ammo pouches, bread bag and another grenade tucked into the belt and the two separate legs. All other parts ( head, helmet, K 98 rifle, arms, gas mask with strap, field bottle, bayonet and base) are cast in white metal. The price of the 1/16 scale model kit was 79,95 Euro on offer from Berliner Zinnfiguren shop.
I assembled the kit and took pictures without a base coat and some more with a base coat for better visibility of details.
Pro`s:
Realism of the pose, perfect anatomy and details of uniform with folds and equipment are at the highest level IMHO. The assembly is straightforward and the fit of parts is quite good. At the joints of the arms and at the joint between the legs a wipe of filler was necessary.
The metal castings and the resin castings have some hairlines that are best carefully removed with a sharpe knife. Did not take too much effort.
The helmet is daubed with mud which is already represented on the surface of the helmet. (Another plain helmet without this detail would have been a nice extra btw.)
Con`s:
The box comes without a sheet providing a short background or a picture that inspired this figure as it was the case with the first release in this line. Of course not necessary but at this price level something you might expect. There is also an absence of decals - the Handgrenades usually had printed instructions on the the outer shell ("Vor Gebrauch Sprengkapsel einsetzen"). Looking at the releases of this series it would be nice to have some decals included to ease painting.
The resin is of a brittle and hard sort that - as usually with Andrea Miniatures - tends to have have small holes from airbubbles at the surface. Several had to be filled with putty - for example at the hobnails on the soles of the boots that are nicely sculpted but less nicely cast so that detail was lost.
The metal parts need at places some treatment with hobbyknife and filler where they were separated from the sprues before packaging leaving small damages to the surface of the parts. The number of metal parts indicates that Andrea Miniatures is aware of their problems to produce high quality resin castings.
Summary:
I like this kit a lot but hope that Andrea Miniatures take another look at the way they cast the parts and at the resin they use. If they find a way to improve this they could produce more parts in resin and maybe as a result decrease the price of their kits slightly. Nevertheless the kit is worth the money and I hope that Andrea Miniatures extends their range further. It is pretty much a painter`s figure considering the good fit of parts and the small effort in preparation for the painting.
Hope you find the pics and info useful if you consider to buy this kit.
Cheers, Martin
just wanted to show a brief look into the contents of Andrea Miniatures newest release:
It shows a German "Obergefreiter" (Private First Class) throwing a model 24 (stick)handgrenade (Potato-smasher-type) from a prone position. The more than once overlooked detail that the grenade has to be made "hot" (by removing the cap at its bottom and pulling the string of the fuse out of the handle) before you throw it has been reproduced in the model. The pose of the soldier resembles the recommended way to throw that kind of grenade and is in line with the way this was trained in the German Army. Opposite to the many figures available throwing grenades while standing upright the way to throw a grenade from a cover on the ground was naturally much more common in combat.
Figure and pose are based on a series of pictures taken for propaganda purposes.
IMHO the pose is perfectly translated into the miniature.
There is a video available that shows the painted boxart figure
The model kit is made up from nine white metal parts and three resin parts. The resin parts include the upper body with rolled up sleeves, ammo pouches, bread bag and another grenade tucked into the belt and the two separate legs. All other parts ( head, helmet, K 98 rifle, arms, gas mask with strap, field bottle, bayonet and base) are cast in white metal. The price of the 1/16 scale model kit was 79,95 Euro on offer from Berliner Zinnfiguren shop.
I assembled the kit and took pictures without a base coat and some more with a base coat for better visibility of details.
Pro`s:
Realism of the pose, perfect anatomy and details of uniform with folds and equipment are at the highest level IMHO. The assembly is straightforward and the fit of parts is quite good. At the joints of the arms and at the joint between the legs a wipe of filler was necessary.
The metal castings and the resin castings have some hairlines that are best carefully removed with a sharpe knife. Did not take too much effort.
The helmet is daubed with mud which is already represented on the surface of the helmet. (Another plain helmet without this detail would have been a nice extra btw.)
Con`s:
The box comes without a sheet providing a short background or a picture that inspired this figure as it was the case with the first release in this line. Of course not necessary but at this price level something you might expect. There is also an absence of decals - the Handgrenades usually had printed instructions on the the outer shell ("Vor Gebrauch Sprengkapsel einsetzen"). Looking at the releases of this series it would be nice to have some decals included to ease painting.
The resin is of a brittle and hard sort that - as usually with Andrea Miniatures - tends to have have small holes from airbubbles at the surface. Several had to be filled with putty - for example at the hobnails on the soles of the boots that are nicely sculpted but less nicely cast so that detail was lost.
The metal parts need at places some treatment with hobbyknife and filler where they were separated from the sprues before packaging leaving small damages to the surface of the parts. The number of metal parts indicates that Andrea Miniatures is aware of their problems to produce high quality resin castings.
Summary:
I like this kit a lot but hope that Andrea Miniatures take another look at the way they cast the parts and at the resin they use. If they find a way to improve this they could produce more parts in resin and maybe as a result decrease the price of their kits slightly. Nevertheless the kit is worth the money and I hope that Andrea Miniatures extends their range further. It is pretty much a painter`s figure considering the good fit of parts and the small effort in preparation for the painting.
Hope you find the pics and info useful if you consider to buy this kit.
Cheers, Martin
