Alpine's “LAH in the Ardennes Set 2” (Review)

Manufacturer: Alpine Miniatures

Item Code: 35096, 35097, 35098

Medium: Resin

Review Publication Date: July 20th 2010

Waffen-SS troops in the Ardennes offensive displayed an eclectic look in uniforms; an assortment of types of WSS uniforms was worn giving a hotchpotch appearance to the soldiers. There was also a shortage of suitable Waffen-SS winter clothing issued in this campaign – precedence for cold-weather attire went to the Eastern Front.
35098 – “LAH in the Ardennes Set 2” is set of two 1/35th scale resin figures sculpted by Taesung Harmms, the owner of Alpine Miniatures. The set features two Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler (LAH) officers, the first representing SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Diefenthal while the second depicts a LAH NCO, typifying the many diverse uniform appearances of the WSS during the December 1944 engagement on the Western Front. Released during January 2010, the box-art is painted by regular Alpine box-art painter Calvin Tan.
Both figures are also available individually as figures 35096 Josef Diefenthal in the Ardennes and 35097 LAH Grenadier in the Ardennes.
WWII German, or even Waffen-SS, miniatures are certainly not a unique subject, but what sets Alpine Miniatures’ figures apart from the rest is the manner in which Taesung (and his sculptors) pick up on the very many nuances present in German uniformology. This figure set by Alpine Miniatures is another terrific example of the various aspects of the late war WSS uniform and the manners in which it was worn.
While many armour modellers will without doubt rebuke the pointing and neutral poses of these figures, from a figure modeller point of view these poses serve to display the masterful sculpting and the historical accuracy with all the many fine details of the figures.
For the painter, as with most SS subjects, there are a number of interesting ways in which these figures can be presented due to the great range of Waffen-SS camouflage schemes or even simply revert to Feldgrau. It goes without saying that the character head can be replaced with a generic alternative should the modeller not wish to depict SS-Hauptsturmführer Diefenthal. Add in the masterful sculpting of Taesung Harmms and the high quality casting of Alpine Miniatures and modellers are presented with a really nice set of figures.
As denoted from the title, this is the second “LAH in the Ardennes” set of figures from Alpine Miniatures, the first set depicting Joachim Peiper and a LAH NCO. It would be unsurprising to see these two Ardennes sets released as a numbered limited edition set at some point, much in the same way the Kharkov set was.
Recommended.

Click here for my full review on Historicus Forma

Finally completed something... sort of...

Been a while, hasn't it? About 11 weeks, give or take.

So as the suggests, I finally completed something. A replica of sorts, and actually 10 weeks ago - to the day. About 9 months in the making, and alluded to in previous posts. Yes folks, that's right: 10 weeks ago I became the proud father to a bouncing baby girl! Our first!

My daughter, "The Kid", was born about 1 week (more of less) late, but healthy. We went the public health route, and were pleasantly surprised. The quality of healthcare The Missus and The Kid received makes South African private health cover pale in comparison. The Missus pretty much had a private suite for 2 days before being, somewhat, unceremoniously moved at the stroke of midnight into a shared room. Fortunately she was checking out later that day.

I'll spare you the details of 10 weeks of parenthood (which include being bringer home of paycheck, cook, washboy, houseboy, personal shopper and general dog's body) but leave it at modelling time has become increasingly scarce; the time situation exasperated by the fact that I started fencing again about 8 weeks ago (with The Missus' blessing of course). There's nothing that can really be said about the lack of time: those with kids will understand; those without probably won't. Indeed I finally understand why Calvin Tan has less time to paint (he became a new dad a few months ago).

That said, I've got a few reviews on the go at the moment. I manage to put in a few minutes on the morning trains. I've also recently bought a tripod to help stabilise my camera, but am still trying to fine-tune my lighting.

On the bench? Still the Tamiya StuG IIIB. I recently finished cleaning all those Friul links, but the Aber fenders are a real bitch. I wimped out of soldering them, having visions of burning my clumsy fingers or spilling flux on them, and decided to give Gator glue a try. I'm not convinced yet, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

The news blog, FigureOneThreeFive, appears to be going quite well, although I've let it slip over the past week. I blame the FIFA World Cup. I'd blame a referee, but given that I've blamed them for so much over the past 10 days I don't think it fair to blame them for the BP oil spill, the war in Afghanistan, world poverty or my not updating F135.

Alpine's Panzer Crew Heads & Hands (Review)

Manufacturer: Alpine Miniatures

Item Code: H001

Medium: Resin

Review Publication Date: April 5th 2010

H001 – “Panzer Crew Heads and Hands”, consisting of four heads and four hands, is the first set in a new accessories product line by Alpine Miniatures. The four heads, all previously released in Alpine figure sets, wear a selection of German Army tank crew headgear. The headgear includes the early Panzer beret as well as the three more common types of headgear worn by armour vehicle crews. Accessory set H001 was released during November 2009.
As I mentioned when reviewing Alpine Miniatures’ H002 “US Tanker Heads and Hands”, while these sets are terrific for those modellers not in possession of the previously released figures, those who have the original figure sets may seek new, previously unreleased heads. That said, the heads selected for this set are all from relatively early figures from the Alpine Miniatures catalogue, and many newer modellers may not own these figures (or may have long since used them).
The sculpting is Taesung Harmms at his best and predictably Alpine Miniatures’ casting is outstanding. It is nice to see a head set which offers modellers one of every significant form of headgear worn by German Army tankers, and as mentioned above these can easily be modified for other branches of service. Naturally the hands are generic enough to be used with virtually any true 1/35 scale figure. Recommended.

Click here for my full review on Historicus Forma

Alpine's US Tanker Heads & Hands (Review)

Manufacturer: Alpine Miniatures

Item Code: H002

Medium: Resin

Review Publication Date: March 18th 2010

H002 – “US Tanker Heads & Hands” is Alpine Miniatures’ second accessory set, consisting of four heads and four hands. The four heads, all previously released in Alpine figure sets, wear the M1942 “Rawlings” tankers helmet. This helmet was officially adopted as the standard Armored Forces helmet in 1942, and is now synonymous with US tankers of this period. Accessory set H002 was released during November 2009.
While great for those modellers not in possession of the previously released figures, those who have the original figure sets may have sought new, previously unreleased heads. That said, one can certainly understand the decision to reuse existing products for the initial launch of the range: it does not require substantial capital investment by Alpine for new product development, minimising the risk of launching a new product range. Hopefully as this product range establishes itself Alpine will release heads unique to these sets.
The sculpting is Taesung Harmms at his best and predictably Alpine Miniatures’ casting is outstanding. The current revival in WWII US Army subjects should make these heads very popular, and of course the hands are generic enough to be used with virtually any true 1/35 scale figure. Recommended.

Click here for my full review on Historicus Forma

Converting a Flak Gunner to a Stug Gunner

My entry for Historicus Forma's Sculpt-Along 2010 campaign isn't a full figure sculpt: unfortunately I don't have the time and I had a figure I was about to start converting for a current project.

I'm currently working on a Stug III Ausf B for a group build on Tanks and Things and need a figure to fill the gunner's seat. The gunner's hatches will be closed, and the figure will most likely hardly be visible and when so only from the rear. So why bother? Well it's simple: what if someone looks inside?

In the old days, when modellers were modellers and plastic was scared, instead of spending hours, days, weeks, months complaining about the lack of the perfectly posed figure which one modeller would only ever need once, modellers would convert existing figures to suit their needs. So, taking it old school, that's what I'll be doing with this build.

I needed a seated figure, slightly hunched. No dramas, I had the DML 2cm Flak Crew stuck away in the depths of a wardrobe, which includes a gunner. Problem: the figure has a few 'issues'.

• The pose: the pose seems stiff (like he should be lying in Ducky's morgue), the legs are outstretched (the overzealous trouser folds exaggerate that point) and he's leaning back in the flak gun's seat.
• Attire: Oops, he's a Luftwaffe ground trooper, and we need a Panzer/SPG dude - for the uninformed the uniforms are different.

So the proposed changes are:

• Legs: chop off the knees, open the groin (he looks like he's clenching), file down the folds. Resculpt the knees and trouser folds. Change the trousers to Panzer trousers by blousing them at the ankle. Convert boots to short ammo style boots.
• Torso: shorten torso (partially because the boy is too tall for the AFV), angle forward at hips and stomach. Lean and twist slightly to side. Convert flieggerblusse to Panzer jacket.
• Arms: not sure on postions yet, but drill out sleeves and repostion hands.
• Head: Off with it! Head angled up. I'll use a Tamiya head which has sufficient detail, is angled to the left and wears a field cap which is more fitting for the inside of an AFV. The Tamiya head is noticably smaller though - if the figure is out of the vehicle - inside it shouldn't be obvious given viewing angles.

The green lines below represent the current positions, the red the intended.

I'll state up front at this point in time that I have many real life things going on the moment, so this conversion may take a while to be done. That said please check back often.

Also, this is the biggest conversion I've undertaken, so bear with me - good thing it'll be stuck inside the AFV, right?