DML/Dragon 1/35 Soviet Infantry Tank Riders Kit no. 6197 MSRP: $6.60 By Ray Mehlberger

It is always nice to get a welcome break from all the figures of German soldiers that keep appearing on the market by several manufacturers. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate them too. However, a new box of Soviet soldiers is most welcome.

DML has released a very nice kit of six Soviet infantrymen that can be posed all over the deck of a Soviet tank. The box art shows these figures on top of a T-34.

The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. Inside are one large tree of parts and two smaller trees packaged into two cello bags. There is a single sheet of instructions. These instructions are of the glossy color type that DML has introduced into a few of their newer kits.

The instructions show the six figures from two views each and fully assembled. There are numbers and arrows telling us what goes where. However, the colors to paint the figures with are called out in numbers only and we are not told what brand of paint these even relate to. Bad move DML!! Although these illustrations are in full color, DML could have printed what the colors were.

All the parts trees are molded in a medium gray styrene.

The largest tree contains the six figures separate legs, torsos, and heads. The remainder of this tree holds: six canteens, two large bag like pouches, three steel helmets, one side cap, two wool caps with fold down ear flaps, two ammo pouches for rifles, an assortment of various sized small pouches, a pouch for a snail drum for the heavy machine gun, and three pouches to hold ammo drums for the PPSH-41 sub machine gun. (61 parts).

A smaller tree holds the separate arms for the figures (12 parts here)

The final small tree holds the weapons. You get one heavy machine gun with one ammo drum separate , three Mosin-Nagant rifles (one with bayonet in place and the other two without) , two PPSH-41s with three separate ammo drums, a couple of ground tripods, and a couple of banana clips of ammo (for what? I don't have a clue!) (15 parts here).

The figures are all dressed in quited shirts and pants that are breeches. The pants are tucked into knee high leather boots. two figures wear the steel helmets, one wears the cloth side cap, and the remaining two wear the wool hats with the ear flaps.

These figures are are in some really good poses and will look great posed on a tank.

Molding is very crisp and sharp and flash free.

Highly recommended.

I purchased my kit at my local hobby shop.