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Alpine Miniatures
Waffen-SS Panzer Officer 44-45
1:35th Figure Set No. 35066
Review by Terry Ashley

Alpine MiniaturesAlpine Miniatures
Figures sculpted by Yoshitaka Hirano
painted by Arthur Miniszewski
This is the first figure sculptured by Yoshitaka Hirano for Alpine Miniatures and has a Waffen SS Panzer Officer 44-45 wearing what appears to be the 1937 style herringbone twill camouflaged tunic similar in design to the standard M37 tunic but with straight pocket flaps although it lacks the pleated top pockets as well as having a non standard leather belt. This tunic is an unusual design with different features and is shown on page 54 of the book Europa Militaria No.6 Waffen-SS Uniforms in Color Photographs which will also be useful for painting the "pea" pattern camouflage.

He also wears a pair of Italian issue camouflaged trousers featuring the two thigh pockets which were issued to some SS troops along with leather boots and the only weapon being the holstered Walther P38 as well as the usual two alternate heads, one wearing a side cap and the other an Officer's cap and he also has a pair of binoculars around his neck.

The full body is cast as one piece with just the two heads and two arms separate as well as the holster with a bare minimum of cleanup required consisting of fine casting seams between the legs and a little excess resin on the soles of the feet which are easily removed with a #11 blade

Detail on the uniform is well done with nicely defined details on items such as the fabric seams, pockets, collars and fabric folds as well as having nice facial features with natural expressions that should come up well when painted. But there should be a fabric seam along the top of the shoulders and the tunic top pocket pleats as mentioned above, the lower pockets don't have the pleats which are depicted correctly on the figure.

Assembly of the figure was very straightforward but you should add the holster before the left arm and also cut off the holster locating tab as there is no corresponding hole on the torso but this fits neatly in place after trimming and the arms can then be added without problems along with your chosen head.

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 with a good 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 is a nice figure with the combination of interesting tunic that is different from normal and Italian trousers offering contrasting camouflage finish although there are a couple of minor tunic details not present if you want to get real picky.

But the figure will look good when painted and be a welcome variation from the usual Panzer Officer figures for use on its own or in combination with other figures.

Highly recommended 9/10

Also see set #35067 WSS Panzer Crew 44-45 and combined set #35068 WSS Panzer Crew Set 44-45

The resin parts
Alpine Miniatures
Views of the assembled figure
note alternate heads with wire pins added

Alpine Miniatures
See the Alpine Miniatures web site for ordering details and thanks to Taesung from Alpine Miniatures for the review sample.



Page created June 28, 2008