In my previous post, I said I would split my review of BMC's Korean War Winter Battle Pack into separate parts for each set of figures; the first set of figures from the battle pack that I will review will be the US soldiers.
Overview: These figures depict Korean War era US forces, either US Army or Marines in winter gear typical of the early part of the Korean War. As they are in winter gear, they would be most appropriate for the winter of 1950-51 (including the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir). By November of 1951, lines had stabilized to a war of positional warfare, after which time most soldiers tended to leave behind most of their heavier equipment like the entrenching tools and field packs that many of these figures are wearing. In addition to depicting US forces, they can also be used for US-backed UN forces from that conflict; several countries in the coalition, including Colombia, Turkey, and Ethiopia were supplied with US uniforms and equipment.
They are primarily armed with M1 Garand rifles, but there is also a figure with an antitank weapon (either a bazooka or a recoilless rifle), a squad leader figure with an M1 carbine and M1911 pistol, and one figure who has a pineapple grenade on his webbing.
They appear to be wearing the M1948 parka (or its Marine equivalent), tall lace-up boots (possibly either shoepacs or the "Mickey Mouse Boots" issued to Marines), trigger finger mittens, and M1 helmets (both with and without covers). Some figures have additional gear, including the squad leader with a binocular case around his neck (and wearing a pile cap under his helmet) and a rifleman who is wearing a poncho or blanket over his parka.
Sculpting: These are very bulky and hefty figures, even when compared to other figures in winter gear. Many of the reviews I have read or watched have criticized these figures for being oversized or out-of-scale, but factoring in the larger 60mm figure scale and the bulky quality of real-life winter equipment, these don't seem all that out-of-scale to me (I've been using Osprey's Men-At-Arms 561 for reference, which covers the US Army and Marine Corps, and in winter gear both Army soldiers and Marines have a similarly squat and bulky appearance.
That said, I must say the detailing of the equipment and other features like facial expressions is nothing short of superb; I really like the small details they've paid attention to, like the ragged edge of the one soldier's poncho or blanket, or how you can see the earflaps from the squad leader's pile cap even though he's wearing his helmet over of it. The poses are also really well-done, with this set capturing the body language of the figures huddling in the cold.
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| Note the ragged edge on the bottom |
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| About half the figures have full gear like this, the other half just have a belt with ammunition pouches and canteen |
Their bases can be painted as dirt, sand, or snow, and are not as detailed as TSSD bases but more detailed and less abstract than Airfix bases. Unlike Mir figures, kneeling figures in this set have a base.
Molding: The set is molded in a dull green, fairly hard plastic. Some straightening of the rifles was needed, mostly with the carbine, but was not as severe as some of the TSSD figures I've seen. There was almost no flashing, and an almost-invisible mold line. None of the parts came broken off, and there were no other defects.
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| The shade of green these figures are molded in is fairly similar to the classic "green army men" green |
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| Note how some of the rifles are bent, as this picture was taken pre-straightening |
The models were cast in multiple parts with separate arms; as a result, there was a noticeable gap in the joint between the arms and torsos of these figures, but when painted that gap mostly disappeared (also, molding them this way meant that they didn't have the infill I noticed on the Weston figures I reviewed).
Selection: This set comes with 6 riflemen, a squad leader with a pistol and carbine, and an anti-tank gunner; perhaps a larger group would have included a machine gunner, a figure throwing a grenade, or a figure with a submachine gun but overall this set makes for a convincing early-war squad.
Scale: Like I said before, these figures are large and bulky but not unrealistically so, especially after they've been painted.
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| In comparison to a Weston British WWII infantryman |
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| L-R: BMC soldier, TSSD Greatcoat German, TSSD Red Army infantryman (with greatcoat), TSSD Red Army infantryman (with telogreigka) |
Overall: This is a superb set depicting US soldiers during "the forgotten war"!
