Plastic Soldier Company Ltd 1/72nd Scale Late War German Infantry

Well having mentioned this company in a couple of my earlier posts (see "The Red Devils" & "A Question of Scale") I thought it only right that I should share my views on the Company's 1/72nd scale Late War German Infantry.

Following the release (and it has to be said much delayed release) of their initial set, the 1/72nd scale Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform, Will Townshend at PSC was determined not to jump the gun with this set of figures and accordingly they eventually hit the market in November 2010.

Having bought the Russians (and getting a 10% off  next purchase voucher from Will for having to wait so long for them - nice gesture and much appreciated Will), I decided I would buy a box of the German Infantry (even though I knew by that time that size wise they would not be compatible with the Valiant figures that I already had) and the box of figs duly arrived at Kingsleypark Manor.

In the box you get 3 of these:-

Each sprue has enough pieces to put together 19 figures, 9 of which are multipart and require assembly. There are also a few extra heads provided to add a wee bit of variety to your warriors.

As with any plastic kit some care is required when clipping the figures off the sprue. In quite a few cases the figure is attached to the sprue by the barrel of a weapon, and being usually quite small and frail they could quite easily break in quite the wrong place and probably be nigh well impossible to glue back together.

The multipart models, on the whole fit together quite well (a wee guide comes in the box showing how the multipart figs go together). There are 2 figures whose arms look similar and so if you don't do a dry run with them first (to be recommended as in my haste I didn't) you could end up with completely the wrong pose. But eventually they should look like this

I have to say, I'm not completely sold on some of the poses. The figure on the far left is pointing his rifle slightly downwards - ok perhaps if he is in the upper floor of a building. The figure behind is holding his rifle almost right out in front of him, I think he would look more natural if his right arm was slightly further back. The man throwing the grenade looks very awkward, the right arm just doesn't look right. The squatting figure at the front right of the group again looks uncomfortable and the man firing the MG42 has his left hand flat on the ground. Perhaps you could fire the MG in that pose but I would thought it would be more likely that you would steady the weapon by grabbing the stock of the weapon with your left hand while pulling the trigger with the right. But never having fired a machine gun I may be completely wrong in that! And the figure, second from the right, holding his webbing like a pair of braces does not actually possess a weapon of any description!! At least the 2 figures who are acting as a loader for the MG and ammo carrier has a pistol holder. NB: Important edit - see comments below!

Size wise the figures are about 22mm from foot to eye

And as a comparison with a Reiver Casting 20mm figure

Certainly closer in size and proportion than my Valiant figures.

Detail wise the figures are well sculpted. Most carry the typical German webbing with bedroll and/or smock, water bottle and ammo pouches in the main all cleanly sculpted and detailed. There is a wee bit of blurring of detail where arms meet the body/ pouches/ weapon, but still a lot cleaner than some plastic models I have seen in my time.

Weapons range from the atypical Kar 98k rifle, some MP40's and as already mentioned, the MG42 LMG. Although, these are "Late War" Germans, PSC have resisted the temptation to have everyone armed with StG 44's which really were quite a rare weapon and usually only available to the elite SS units and Fallschirmjager. No panzerfausts or panzershrecks but presumably they will make an appearance in the support weapons kit which is scheduled for release later this year.

Some of the figures have covers on their helmets, the spare heads on the sprue wear field caps and one sports a bandage.

PSC, continue to add to their range of 1/72nd scale figures with the recent release of their T-34 pack (3 easy to put together plastic kits), late war British and with support weapons for the Russians and Germans promised later on this year.

Conclusions? - A well detailed set of figures whose size makes them very compatible with the 20mm figure ranges that are available. As already mentioned, I'm not completely enamoured with some of the poses but at £11 for a box of 57 figures, they are a cheap option to putting together the battlegroups that fought so desperately to protect the Reich in the last days of the WW2.