Plastic Soldier Review: Airfix 54mm British Paratroopers

 

Overview: This set is a reissue of an original Airfix figure set from 1972, depicting British paratroopers in WWII (although, if you paint their berets blue-grey, they can also be used to depict Polish paratroopers of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade).  They wear either the British paratrooper helmet or beret, the much-coveted camouflage "denison smock" (also worn by scouts and snipers), and 37-pattern webbing and battledress trousers with gaiters and ammunition boots.  They are equipped with Number 4 Enfield rifles (some with scopes), Sten guns (the regular "plumber's nightmare" infantry variant, not the paratrooper model with a wooden stock and bayonet mount), or Bren guns.  Like many Airfix figures, they're just equipped with"skeleton order' webbing, lacking field packs, entrenching tools, or other heavy equipment.

Left: Airfix paratrooper, with "skeleton order" webbing Right: Mars British infantry, with "battle order" equipment

They are suitable for the Northwest Europe campaign of 1944-45, where they were used in 3 major operations: Operation Overlord (the Normandy Invasion), Operation Market Garden (The unsuccessful attempt to secure a series of river crossings in the Netherlands), and Operation Varsity (the crossing of the Rhine).

Sculpting: For a set from 1972, the sculpting holds up really well, even by today's standards; back then, things like there being a visible mesh pattern on the figures' scrim scarves must have been considered phenomenal.  The equipment, faces, and poses are quite well done, with only a few complaints:

• I wish the Bren gunner was depicted firing his gun, not just standing around with it
• The bayonet seems a bit short and thick compared to the real thing
• There are quite prominent ejector pin markings on the figures' upper backs
• The helmet netting smooths out at the top of the helmet

 Molding: The figures are molded in a fairly hard plastic, which makes some parts (particularly the barrel of the Sten gun) brittle and prone to snapping off.  That said, flash was kept to a minimum.  Airfix used the same material and color for both these figures, and their regular British infantry, which gives the two sets (when unpainted) a unified appearance:

Packaging: The set comes in a plastic bag inside a cardboard box with a reprint of the original 1972 packaging artwork, showing the figures storming Arnhem Bridge.  Meanwhile, the back features a painting guide for the figures, and images of every pose in the set.  The packaging did a good job protecting the figures, with no bent or snapped-off parts.

Selection: According to the packaging, the exact number of figures in each pose may vary; the set I got came with 1 each of the officer and radio operator, 3 each of figures running with rifles and standing firing rifles, and 2 each of every other pose (sniper firing while kneeling, Bren gunner, Sten gunner throwing a grenade).  I would have liked them to have possibly made another pose (like a Sten gunner firing) instead of having 3 of the same pose in each set, but in the balance I'd say this is a good selection of different poses and makes for a convincing unit.

 

Scale: These figures scale well with Airfix British infantry, but are a bit undersized compared to Mars or Weston British Infantry.  Naturally, they would appear very undersized compared to 60mm-scale infantry.

Left to right: Mars infantry, Airfix infantry, Airfix para, Weston infantry

Overall: For a set from 1972, this stands up really well, even against more recently-tooled figure sets.  This set is a true classic from Airfix!

Plastic Soldier Review: Toy Soldiers of San Diego WWII Greatcoat Germans

 

Overview: This is a set of 16 WWII German soldiers in greatcoats made by Toy Soldiers of San Diego in 60mm scale.  The set has a somewhat ambiguous timeframe, given that the soldiers wear early-war uniform items like M35/40 greatcoats, helmets, and jackboots, while also being equipped with an MG42 machine gun and a sniper with an M43 cap (more appropriate for a late-war look), making the set most appropriate for a post-Stalingrad scenario on the Eastern Front (up to and including Berlin 1945), or a Battle of the Bulge scenario in the Western Front.  If you remove the sniper and MG42 gunner, then this set becomes suitable for earlier-war situations like the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 or the later stages of Operation Barbarossa in the winter of 1941/42.  I feel like they should have either included an MG34 if they wanted to go early-war, or have late-war uniform features such as M42 helmets and coats, ankle boots with gaiters (or felt winter boots), and helmet coverings like rope netting or chicken wire which typified late-war troops.

Sculpting: Despite my nitpicking of the temporal accuracy of this set, I must say that the sculpting I have seen on this set is second-to-none; from the soldiers' facial expressions to the way things like their coats and scarves look like they're flapping in the wind, the details of this set is truly amazing (down to there being hobnails on the undersides of the boots!).  One thing about this set that truly stands out for me is how they accurately depicted each soldier's gear; apparently, no two German soldiers ever wore their kit the same way, and this set shows that off accurately.  Also, unlike most other figures I have bought, these soldiers come with quite detailed bases, with each figure looking like it's standing on a pile of rubble.  Indeed, the only real complaint I have about the sculpting in this set is that the stick grenades some of the figures have stuffed into their belts are much smaller than the ones that are being thrown.

Note the variation in what gear each figure has, and how each figure wears it.

Note how the coats and scarf look like they're flapping

Compare the size of the grenade being thrown with the ones in their belts

 

 

 Molding:  The figures are molded in a very soft plastic, making it possible for such phenomenal detail to be included, but this comes with the drawback that when I got them, some parts (generally rifle barrels) were heavily bent.  This was relatively easily corrected by soaking the bent parts in hot water until they straightened, then soaking them in cold water to keep them in the desired shape (although sometimes multiple treatments were required).  While there was generally little or no flash, on some figures there was some rippling/pooling near where the figure was cut off from the sprue (although it's generally difficult to see once the figures have been painted).

Packaging: For such a high-quality set, the packaging is very basic, just consisting of a plastic bag with a folded cardboard label.  I think this is part of why they arrived in the condition that they did; the plastic bag offered no real protection for the figures, in addition to keeping them packed quite tightly together.  The label has basic information about the product, but no historic info or painting/modelling guides.

Selection: The set comes with 2 figures in each pose, making for a total of 16 figures.  In total, the set has the figures equipped with 4 Mp38/40s, 2 Mg42s, and 10 Kar90ks (including the grenade-thrower, sniper, and casualty figures), making for a convincing infantry squad (although I think I would have preferred it if they replaced the casualty figure with either a spotter for the sniper, or an assistant machine-gunner).

Scale: At 60mm, these are larger than the standard Airfix 54mm figures, but not overly so; I think part of what kind of offsets the size difference is that the figures are in greatcoats, so part of these figures' bulkiness can be attributed to them wearing those heavy coats compared to the temperate-weather uniforms being worn by most other figures.  They are quite large compared to Mars' Red Army infantry, but I think that's more of a case of Mars making their Red Army figures undersized rather than these being oversized.  That said, they do scale much better with TSSD's own 60mm scale Red Army figures.

 

Left to right: Airfix British infantry, Mars Red Army infantry, TSSD Greatcoat German, TSSD Red Army infantry

Overall: Despite my nitpicks about the accuracy, I must say that this is a truly outstanding set, with some of the best sculpting I have ever seen.  In addition, sets of soldiers in winter gear in this scale are somewhat rare, so this set is a must-have for anyone wanting to depict winter combat.