PMMS
Tristar
German Africa Corps
1:35 kit No.35011
Review by Terry Ashley

Tristar continue to produce some excellent figure sets and this is no exception with the set containing six figures wearing typical DAK uniforms.

The set contains the five standing and a seated driver figure with a selection of weapons all moulded in light grey plastic to a high standard with only the usual minor mould seam cleanup needed for plastic parts after carefully cutting from the sprues.

The breakdown of the figures is fairly conventional with four of the standing figures having two separate legs, torso, arms and head with separate head gear while the fifth standing Officer figure has the body and legs in one piece with separate boots, arms and head. The driver figure is wearing shorts and has the lower body/legs in one piece with separate upper body, arms and head.

One of the figures is designed to be carrying an MG34 and has the MG handgrip included with the right hand moulding so you just cut off the handgrip from the MG34 on the weapons sprue before use and also the hands carrying ammo boxes have the box handles included with the hands for a good sit.

The driver figure would probably be most at home in a Kübelwagen but could be used for any softskin DAK vehicle and also has a pair of sand goggles moulded with his forage cap.

The detail on the uniforms is excellent with well defined details and good fabric folds that also include the fabric seams on the trousers with all wearing forage caps with the facial features are also well defined. There is some variety with three having the trousers down to the boots with another wearing leggings and the Officer with full length boots and the driver in shorts and rolled up sleeves, all other figures have their sleeves down to the wrist.

There is a selection of personal gear for each figure again with nicely rendered details and include items such as bread bag, water bottles, trenching tool and Kar98, MP40 ammo pouches and MG34 ammo boxes where applicable.

The fit of the parts is very good and any small gaps can easily be dealt with using thicker liquid cement as using filler is a bit overkill such is the good fit.

Also included with the set are two additional weapons sprues with some of the best weapons you will find in plastic figure sets, these include a selection of Kar98 rifles and MP40 SMGs plus additional items of gas mask canisters and meal tins with four steel helmets to use for some variety on the figures if you wish. The rifles have separate bolts so you could even show these open and there is a separate folded stock for one of the MP40s.

The two MG34s are superb with excellent details on the guns and have separate ammo feed covers which can be shown open as well as open or closed tripod mounts and a choice of drum magazine or open ammo box and as a final touch they also include the sling often fitted to infantry MG34s and a spare barrel container.

The colour box has photos of the assembled figures with the parts called out by number showing their location and paint numbers for Tamiya, Humbrol and Mr.Color paints for a painting guide.

Conclusion:
Another superb set of figures from Tristar with excellent details on the figures and weapons with nice variety in the uniforms and weapons provided and will be a most useful set of figures.

Highly recommended.

Sprue images
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Thanks to C.K.Pat from Tristar Model Shop for the review figures.



Page created 13 September 2004

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