The Modelling News: Review - MasterBox MB35103: Cold Wind, German Infantry 1941-42

MasterBox have spent a lot of time inside this winter in the Ukraine - obviously a lot of time staring out the windows into some cold landscape because they have been inspired to make a replication of some German troops slogging it out in freezing temperatures on the Russian front – we have a look at these windswept and interesting figures for you in our review…

Review - MasterBox MB35103: Cold Wind, German Infantry 1941-42

Kit No: MB35103

Kit type: Styrene injection moulded

Sprues: 2 in tan

Figures: 5

Scale: 1/35

Available from: MasterBox Distributors

There are five figures in this kit from MasterBox - Called “Cold Winter, German Infantry 1941-1942” The box art is as usual up to the high standard that MasterBox produce it shows these five soldiers trudging through the snow – a machine gunner team of two soldiers, two other riflemen and an officer of n.c.o. looking earnestly back at his charges to see their progress through the cold wind which forms the kit’s name.

The back of the box shows a map of each of the two sprues and the numbers on the box (there isn’t any numbers on the sprues as is the norm for MasterBox kits – neither do they need them for figures) Anyway there is also a coloured two shot view of each of the soldiers made and painted up. The red numbers show construction part positions and in one case an alternative weapon choice. There is no colour guide here – usually there is one with Vallejo colours but none here – this is the second kit MasterBox have released to my knowledge that have this omitted. Please bring this back Masterbox

There are two tan sprues in this kit in the box. The plastic itself is flash free and well detailed. The faces are showing an ever increasing rate of improvement from MasterBox – though one or two of these look pretty similar to each other. The quality is good – easily recognizable facial features – furrowed brows – different nose sizes and mouth expressions - but with the hair covered by wraps and helmets there is a lot of attention on the faces. They could be a little more different from each other.

Sprue A

Sprue B

The sprues all have a seam down the sides of the torso and the legs and boots as well as small seams again on the arms. This is the only downside to the plastic on the kit and can be rectified very easily by anyone who calls themselves a modeller! The detail on each of these troops is very fine for an injection moulded kit. Sprues are joined in sensible places to the anatomy and clothes of the soldiers and equipment and rifles are easy to remove without destroying them.

We will look at each of these soldiers in turn – first by showing you the picture then the sprues and a short discussion of each of them in turn....

Starting with the first figure on the box back – He is shown walking forward head down carrying ammo.

This soldier - like all of the others here is wrapped up very well with a steel helmet and gloves, he is wearing a winter great coat with a white sheet placed over the top of it to better camouflage himself in the snow. The bottom of his coat is billowing slightly forward with the wind and his stance is slightly forward – as if walking against the gust.

Equipment on this soldier – and all of the others here is separate from the body of the soldier so you can add or remove them. He carries two ammo boxes for the MG34/42 choice of the gunner soldier. He carries across his chest a kar98 bolt action rifle and the ammunition pouches for around his belt to feed it. Also equipment wise he has a brad bag and a water (Vodka?) canteen and an entrenching tool for his hip.

The second solder down on the right of the back is the Machine Gunner.

This soldier is wearing pretty much the same as his ammo carrying kameraden – An M40 steel helmet (all of the helmets are bare and have no covers), and from the neck down a scarf and a great coat again billowing off to the side. This covers his uniform mostly except his high boots. Again this solder’s body language is leant slightly forward.

There is an option here with this soldier to carry either an MG34 or the latter make MG42 machine gun with bipod stand folded away or deployed – your choice again – I like this option as I always need a good looking machine gun going spare for my diorama work. The gunner carries an aluminium mess cup/water bottle combo plus a tarpaulin bread bag.

The third soldier is walking with his rifle strapped over his shoulder and hand in his pocket.

This soldier is seen trudging forward against the wind which is separating the back lower parts of his greatcoat. The plastic is neatly bent as you can see on the sprue below. The soldier has again the greatcoat and regular army breaches with high jackboots and this time the soldier is wearing an M40 helmet hanging off his hip while on his head the soldier has an M-40 Feldmutze field cap.

The soldier carries a Kar98 bolt action rifle which is well moulded as are the rest of his equipment that is fine in detail and can be added or left off as needed. His ammunition pouches, forage bread bag and mess tin/water bottle, entrenching tool on the hip are all fine in detail as are his M-39 webbing which can be seen here in the absence of the white poncho/cloth that the other soldiers are wearing.

The fourth soldier is the officer/N.C.O who is seen adjusting his gear while leaning to the side looking at the soldiers who are following.

This soldier has the “pips” showing clearly on his shoulderboards and from the built up example you can see he is the superior officer. He is – like the third soldier in a large greatcoat and scarf with the collar of his coat turned up.

The squad leader is wearing the standard German helmet and jackboots. The soldier wears no webbing but you can see the details on his M-35 belt.

Hanging from his belt is a map pouch and a bread bag, mess/water canteen with some ammo pouches for the Mp-40 he is carrying on his shoulder. The wind is blowing his coat in the direction he is looking which is – as the box art suggests – following his gaze toward the troops in his command.

The fifth and last soldier looks the coldest of the squad – he is seen carrying an MG ammo box on his hip and trudging forward.

This soldier wears a gull great coat double-breasted with buttons visible down all of the front like all of the other soldiers he has the collar turned up to hide his face from the cold. He is wearing a “Feldmütze” soft cap with cloth over it to keep his ears warm. The coat covers his whole uniform and all you can see underneath is the pants and long boots the soldier is wearing.

As well as his Kar98 rifle and ammunition the soldier is carrying his M-40 helmet on his hip of his belt. This belt is connected to his webbing on which he carries an entrenching tool and a bread bag and mess canteen/water container as well. This poor soul carries ammo for the MG34/42 at the opposite hip to his helmet.

His facial expression looks pretty sad as he walks forward as well – funnily enough on the box art he is the soldier bringing up the rear!!

Well this set will look great in a diorama – I would add a few things that you can do yourself – maybe bend the flaps of the greatcoats a little more and add some furry Russian style boots to one or two of the soldiers as well as an adoption of a Russian SMG maybe – this is a minor alteration but just my personal taste.

I found this set great in detail and pretty easy to make incorporate into a winter diorama – it should be - and deserves to be a good seller for MasterBox – well done to them!

Adam Norenberg

Many thanks to the guys at MasterBox for this kit to review