Sunday, February 5

Dangerous men with hazardous hobbies – four new releases from Alpine Miniatures this Feb.

Alpine Miniatures gives us their second bust in 16th scale this month along with their normal 35th scale single and twin releases. Let's have a look to see a little more of what Alpine has coming to us this month...

Alpine Miniatures four new items for February 2017.

82nd Airborne "All American"
1/16th scale
#B002
Original Sculpture by Jorge Scorciaffico / Conversion by Taesung Harmms
Boxart by Sung Hak Yun & Dr. Jin Kim
This new bust from Alpine Miniatures suits their other new release in this format in 1/16th scale. This lets you concentrate on the facial and upper body with just as much detail as we might see on the full -body figures int he same scale. This bust captures the face and body of a GI from the US "All-American" 82nd Airborne Division.
One of the most famous airborne divisions in the war, the 82nd fought in Italy, Normandy D-Day, Market Garden and the battle of the Bulge and then on into Germany. This Paratrooper has two head choices – one smoking a big cigar and the other with a nice smile on his face. Both wear the M1 helmet with camo webbing, whereas one has a medical pack strapped to it while the other head gear choice go without this.
The para wears the jump jacket with the "AA" badge sewn into his left shoulder, and the easy identifier of nationality these troops often wore on operations where they were new to the population of a US flag sewn onto his right shoulder.
Also on this bust are the M1 Garand rifle with a strap over his shoulder and the ammo pouches to hold the many rounds these guys needed for a jump. With his thick leather gloves, this Parra looks ready to jump into any battlefield.


German Panzer Crew #1
1/35th scale
#35226
Sculpture by Sergey Traviansky
Boxart by Toshihiro Sano
The figure captures a 35th scale German early WWII tanker from the Panzer Korps in his distinctive black uniform. He is the second of our men taking their life into their hands – this man is also having a smoke while he ponders his life. You can see that he has two head choices afforded with this kit. One of the flat overseas M38 forage cap the tankers often wore, you can see on this one the details that picked out a tanker's cap, the black colour, the national emblem eagle in silver braid, and the real identifier of the Panzer Korps, the Waffenfarbe Rosa (pink) color with pink being chosen for Panzer crews.
The second headgear choice is just as nice for modellers who like a black beret on their early war panzer men. The black panzer beret/crash helmet or Schutzmütze was an easy identifier of the early WWII German tanker, made from black wool, this beret has the cockade and laurel wreaths around it with the German eagle above it.

This tanker is seen in the short black panzer Jacket or wrap which has large collars piped with the pink colour arain, and witht he Panzer Korps skull and crossbones "death's head" emblem on them. This tanker's jacket is opened up to reveal his uniform shirt underneath it and the Wound Badge, or Verwundetenabzeichen in this case in Silver (2nd class) for being wounded three or four times. You could make yours gold or bronze depending on how many wounds you want to inflict onto him.
The figure is sculpted by Sergey Traviansky, and in this case painted by Toshihiro Sano who has done a great job here. They have caught the tight midriff, the wrinkled pants and folds of the jacket sleeves as well as all of the gerneral demeaner of "Ol' Smokie" very well.


German Panzer Crew #2
1/35th scale
#35227
Sculpture by Sergey Traviansky
Boxart by Toshihiro Sano
The second tanker of this pair is also sold seperately , he also has two headgear choices, the first being the Panzer Beret again on this figure, the folded back paddded beret looks really nice and weighty on his head, again we see the cockade with silver leaves and the German eagle on the top of the hat. The black Panzer beret proved impractical as wear of headphones was restricted and it was also considered unattractive, and uncomfortable which made it unpopular with the troops resulting in further production being halted as per regulations of January 15TH 1941.


The second choice of headgear is again the overseas cap. This became more and more used by tanker crew after thephasing out of the Beret. So this is ideal if you want to make a early or mid war tanker. You can see again the cockade and the German eagle clearly sculpted into this hat.
This tanker's jacket is opened up to reveal his uniform shirt underneath it, this is not typical of many sculpts although quite a relaistic way for the tanker to cool down. We see the same death's heads on the collars, the stripes on the shoulder, and the wound badge (again – unlucky bunch) as well as the tanker assault badge on this panzerman.
I like the way the large lapells flap in the open look of the jacket, which slightly hangs forward and down, just like it would when it is not done up. Nice reading of gravity and realism by the sculptor.
More body language as we look further down the figure, the man is slightly leaning off to the right as he enjoys his cigarette which is placed inside his finely sculpted fingers. The wringles in the pants, floppy hang of the jacket make this a great figure.


German Panzer Crew Set
1/35th scale
#35228
Sculpture by Sergey Traviansky / Boxart by Toshihiro Sano
These two risk takers – who could beleive these tankermen take their life into their own hands every day – the risks that were involved – and that is just the smoking! Seriously they go well together – the differences in the uniforms are very slight, but enough to have them looking like two individuals. The addition of the sure to be popular Panzer Beret as a head choice on both of these soldiers make the ideal for both early, and with the latter style cap, mid or latter war.
These releases are now available from the Alpine Miniatures Website and also from their distributors worldwide