This second early/mid war British Tanker in this series is again typical of the North African, Greece, Crete or Italian campaigns with the set have the sitting tank crew figure and a small puppy looking longingly at its new master.

He wears a pair of tropical shorts, long woolen socks with leather anklets over black leather boots and a woolen pullover over his tropical shirt with scarf and as usual for Alpine figures there is a choice of two heads, one with a field service cap and the other a black armoured corps beret.

The figure is sitting in a relaxed pose but you should note the wall he is sitting on in the boxart image is not included in the set and you can pose him sitting on just about anything the appropriate height.

The full body is cast as one piece with just the two heads separate and this does result in a little more cleanup than usual with some casting seams to be carefully removed from either side of the shorts and a little excess resin film between the legs and from between the leg and foot join. This is fairly easily done with a sharp #11 blade but take care not to damage the nice short folds in the process.

The facial features again have natural expressions with the hands very well done as is the exposed legs with the overall pose being very natural in appearance.

Detail on the uniform is very well done with nicely defined details on items such as the seams, pockets, collars and fabric folds with the woolen socks and pullover in particular having excellent texturing. The soles of the exposed left boot is also well defined for a good appearance.

The texturing of the woolen pullover as mentioned is quite subtle but will give a very good appearance with careful painting and the pullover folds are also well done especially at the front due to the sitting position. The beret again has a well defined RTR badge that will stand out nicely once painted.

Assembly of the figure was very straightforward with just the head of your choice to be attached and the puppy is also in a single piece with subtle hair texturing and you can exercise you painting skills to give him any colour finish you wish.

As with previous figures I added a small “wire” pin to the neck of each head to go into a hole drilled into the body to make fitting and swapping the heads easier if you don't 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.

This is another superb early/mid war British tank crew figure with the woolen pullover a very good inclusion as it does get very cold in the desert at night with the pose allowing the figure to be posed as per the box art image or sitting/resting on a turret or basically whatever setting you like.

The uniform detail and casting quality of the figure is first class as we have come to expect from Alpine and I must admit I particularly like this figure along with the Sergeant in set #35078 British Armoured Crew Set #1. Not only for the excellent natural poses and superb casting quality but also for the inclusion of the warmer clothing for desert night time conditions instead of the usual short sleeve shirt.

Very highly recommended

Also see set #35078 British Armoured Crew Set #1 and combined set #35080 British Armoured Crew Set

The resin parts

Views of the assembled figure
note alternate heads with wire pins added


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