Stop the Madness – Heroically over-sized Miniatures.

[Danielius]

From the experimenting i’ve done, you can kinda use the arms meant for certain bodies on other bodies not meant for them if the sleeves match (basically you can sorta fit the smock-wearing arms onto most of the smock-wearing torsos and sorta fit the zeltbahn poncho wearing arms on the zeltbahn poncho wearing bodies, and you can cut the smock wearing arms at around the elbows and fit them onto the poncho wearing bodies)

It does take a bit more effort than Warlord stuff where pretty much all arms are interchangeable.

[Jim Ripley]

That would work , I just didn’t feel like messing around that much when the Warlord plastics were easier arm swaps , just remember to have the same cuff on both arms .

[Jim Ripley]

Just picked up the newish Warlord resin Winter British Vickers MG & a 3 inch mortar . The figures , while nicely sculpted are on the small side . I even added a camo mesh  covered plastic helmet to a figure by just gluing it on top of molded helmet , another bare head figure got a plastic helmet as well . While basing the 3 man mortar crew I wanted to add a 4th figure , the new Brit/Canadian plastics are too big , so I dug out one of the original plastic Brits ( 5 figure sprue ) , he also is bigger than the resin guys but not as bad as the B/C guys  so he’ll have to do . And don’t get me started on the Vickers loader , sitting there like he’s seated in a car , holding an ammo belt , not kneeling beside the gunner , feeding a belt from an ammo box . Come on Warlord , let’s try to make things look realistic

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[Kar98k]

I just picked up the new “plastic” German heavy weapons and Pak 40 boxes. First things first, yes, they are a bit “Heroic” Scale. Its the new trend that will not die.

Now that we got that out of the way, I would like to quickly talk about the new boxed sets. They are a great match up for the German Veteran Infantry Platoon (plastic) box set. Why? Simple really, the bodies are interchangeable. In fact, two of the bodies on the crew sprue, which you get with both the heavy weapons or Pak40 packs, are exactly the same as two of the bodies on the Veteran Infantry sprue. Okay, well, they are not exactly the same. The two bodies (the kneeling poses) are pretty much exactly the same, sort of. If you look a them at a glance, they look the same, but look closer. The boots are different (which is okay). Also, on the Vet Inf body, there is a stick grenade stuck in his boot.

Regardless, you can use the Veteran Infantry bodies as crew for your heavy weapons and Pak40 and vice versa – interchangeable. For mid to late war, different boots in the same unit is okay. However, if you are concerned about the boots for early war, you can easily use the bodies from the Veteran Infantry sprue and the bits and arms from the crew sprue to make early war crew with the earlier boot.

If you have a lot of extra bits from the other German Infantry plastic boxes, there are a lot of great kit-bashing ideas you can explore.

If you do not have any Germans yet, I recommend getting the new Cross of Iron (all plastic) starter set, a German Veteran Infantry Platoon (plastic) box, and maybe one more Pak40 (the new plastic one). Between the Panzer Grenadier sprues and the Veteran Infantry sprues, you get lots of great options and combos. Yes, the boots are different, but from mid to late war, that is okay. Also, you can always keep the same boot type in the same unit if you like.

[Jim Ripley]

I pre ordered both the Pak 40 & the Heavy Weapons box . A little pricey for what you get but nice models . Nice having ammo boxes for the weapons as well as both left and right hands carrying them included .  Having both boxes  , I ended up with 16 crew figures ( 4 sprues of 4 ) , by adding extra troops from the parts box I was able to make a 5 man crew for the Pak and 3 man crews for all 4 MGs , both mortars and both Panzerschrecks .Still have lots of arms left over to sort into the parts box . Hopefully both the crew & weapons  sprues will be available during the next half price sprue sale . My only negative comment is that the Panzerschreck loader has the round in his left hand , making it weird to load the weapon if he’s kneeling behind the gunner , which in pictures he usually is .  I sometimes wonder if the guys designing these actually look at period photos to see how things were done . And don’t get me started on machine gun ammo cans and artillery ammo boxes that look nothing like the real thing . Thank goodness for 3D printers

 

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Jim Ripley.

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[Peter]

Because i’ve never liked the metal MG’s, Pak’s and the new chunky fatboy miniatures, i took the old way….kitbashing! WLG Fallschirmjäger and Grenadiere + parts of the Afrika Korps sprues and the Pak 40, Panzerbüchse 41, Panzerschreck and MG’s from Rubicon.

It works much better for me, and it doesn’t have the historical errors that WLG constantly has.

[Jim Ripley]

Just received the new British plastic 6 pounder and Heavy Weapons platoon , they shipped early , well done Warlord . The figures are a little smaller in height ( maybe 1-2 mm ) than the new Brit box , pretty much on par with the original 5 man plastic sprue . I always thought the 5 man sprue looked a little off , with 3 of the figures having skinny legs compared to the other 2 . This new sprue has fixed that IMO , they look “right ” , if you know what I mean .  I test fit some of the one piece weapon arm pairs from the new Brits , Commandos & Airbourne that I had in the parts box and they fit the shoulders of the new figures easily , no filing needed .

I’ll get around to  building them this weekend as I am converting 8th Army prone bodies into European theatre troops by giving them long pant legs from some of the old original Brit plastics .

Only negative on the new kits : they both could use loose ammo boxes . You get 2 per mortar , 1 on the ground , 1 being carried . The Vickers has the same , 1 with a belt and 1 carried . Not enough in my opinion . The 6 pounder gives you 2  closed metal boxes , would like to have seen a few more plus one molded with an open lid . Hopefully one of those 3D print aftermarket guys will fill the gap . I have got some 1/56 German ammo , 75mm Pak and 88mm Flak  sets in resin from Frontline Games , maybe they’ll branch out into Allied ammo

[Kar98k]

First, the background story: A long time ago I picked up a couple of Rubicon Models Pak 40 (1:56 scale) plastic model kits because frankly I didn’t want the metal Pak 40. Rubicon Models also released the Pak 36 AT Gun, the Pak 38 (Pak 97/38) AT Gun, Flak 36/37 (88), Flak 38, and others. All in plastic. Just recently I picked up a couple of the new plastic Pak 40 kits by Warlord Games. The Rubicon Models kit is a completely different plastic kit than the Warlord Games plastic kit, and before anyone asks, I do not have a preference (or recommendation) as to which one is better. Either one will make for an excellent model for the gaming table, and they are ten times, no wait… twenty times better than the metal Pak 40.

Also, before someone asks, “Why did you buy more Pak 40 kits?”, well, the short answer is that I missed my Miniature-Maniac-Addiction-Anonymous meeting.

That’s good and all, but what about the 28mm figures? The Rubicon Models kit gives you six crew figures while the Warlord kit gives you four crew figures. These are 28mm figures*, but the Rubicon Models figures are much more anatomically correct while the Warlord figures are definitely heroic scaled. That being said, Warlord was forced to do this so the figs would be more compatible with their later plastic infantry sets. As for the two different AT Gun models themselves, well, after you assemble and paint them, they look identical on the gaming table, so the gamer is good to go for either one, and I highly recommend either one instead of the metal Pak 40.

Now I do not have the new soon to be released US 57mm anti-tank gun (plastic) and British 6-pounder anti-tank gun (plastic) kits, but if the Pak 40 is any indication, they are going to be a must have for anyone wanting to avoid the metal guns. Hmm… I wonder what is next, a Soviet AT gun?

*but isn’t 28mm figs related to the scale-creep of 25mm figs?

• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Kar98k.
• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Kar98k.

[Jim Ripley]

I feel your pain in having to have more then one of a tank or gun . I too am afflicted with that malady . I tend to build more then one of something because there is such a variety of source material in the form of pictures , never mind a lot of kit fought in Asia , Africa , the Russian Steppe and Europe , so different paint schemes , crew uniforms , ground cover  etc .   Here’s a couple of examples : PSC 28mm  Soviet 47mm Anti tank gun . I have 12 IRC , maybe 14 . Got the first 2 on sale years age . Loved it was plastic and was easy to kit bash . I have whitewashed guns on winter bases , I have a couple with closed trail legs in tow order and I even built one knocked out , that way I able to use some metal casualty figures

The WG plastic Pak 40 is awesome , will be getting one for my FJ troops . The new Brit 6 pounder is great as well . Just figuring out the crew and have ordered another one to base inside a building ruin .

I did add a few gun tools as that’s what my sources showed . Hopefully the next plastic gun will be the ZIS 3 , I do have 4 already , 2 WG metal & 2- 3D print , but who wouldn’t want more ?

 

• This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by Jim Ripley.

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