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Alpine Miniatures
Max Wünsche LAH Kharkov
1:35th Figure Set No. 35057
Review by Terry Ashley

Alpine MiniaturesAlpine MiniaturesAlpine Miniatures
Figures sculptured by Calvin Tan
Max Wünsche had a distinguished carrier and took part in numerous important actions in both the Russian and Normandy campaigns where as Commander of 12. SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend" caused considerable problems for the advancing British and Canadian forces around Falaise.

This figure from Alpine depicts SS-Sturmbannführer Wünsche when he Commanded Leibstandarte's Sturmgeschützabteilung in the bitter fighting around Kharkov in early 1943 for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross. This was awarded for the action of breaking though the Russian lines to relieve the beleaguered Kurt Meyer's Aufklärungsabteilung on 13th February 1943. Note; Alpine have also released a figure of Kurt Meyer (set #35063) which would make a perfect companion to this figure.

The figure is standing in a relaxed pose and wears a fur lined jacket with reversible winter trousers and is adjusting his fur lined gloves with the alternate heads wearing an Officer's cap or fur lined cap indicative of the subzero temperatures of the time.

The full body is cast as one piece with just the arms the now familiar two heads separate with just a bare minimum of cleanup required on the small casting blocks on the feet, heads and arm castings along with the separate P38 holster, this being the only weapons in the set.

Detail on the uniform is subtle but also with well defined fabric seams with items such as the pockets, collars with the facial features also well done with natural expressions that will come up with painting.

Assembly was very straightforward without any trimming or other alterations required, most notably with the arms that fit very snugly into the shoulders for quick and easy assembly.

As with previous figures I added a small “wire” pin to the neck to go into a hole drilled into the body to make fitting and swapping the heads easier but the head fit if you just want to glue the chosen head in place. This also allows the heads to be painted separate and easily attached later. A small tip if you do add the pin is to always drill the hole for the pin at right angles to the neck cut-off on both the torso and head as this will ensure the head sits correctly as intended when fitted together.

Conclusion:
This figures continues the high standards from Alpine Miniatures with this being the first figure to depict a specific person and as such can only be used in certain scenarios, not that this is problem as it allows you to build a particular diorama at a particular time period.

As mentioned this figure would make an excellent companion to the Kurt Meyer figure (set #35063) along with the companion figures for a larger Kharkov diorama.

Highly recommended 9/10

Also see set #35058 SS Pz NCO LAH Kharkov and combined set #35059 LAH Officers Kharkov Set

The resin parts
Alpine Miniatures
Views of the assembled figure
Alpine Miniatures
See the Alpine Miniatures web site for ordering details and thanks to Taesung from Alpine Miniatures for the review sample.



Page created May 26, 2008