ICM 1/48th Luftwaffe Pilots and Ground Personnel By Mike Whye

The Kit

ICM’s 1/48 scale kit of Luftwaffe Pilots and Ground Personnel, 1939-1945 (Kit # 48082) is a kit that appeals to me, simply because it has 1/48 figures, something I always like to have on hand to “people” dioramas or small settings.

The kit has 41 pieces molded on one large sprue of white styrene plastic. All told, they make seven figures: three pilots and four mechanics. Two of the pilots are officers standing while the third is buckling on his parachute pack with the aid of one of the ground crewmen. All of the detailing is very fine.

Construction is straight forward. As you proceed, you’ll find you have a choice of work hats for the ground crewmen plus a choice of pistol holsters (P-38 and Luger) for the officers. You’ll also have an extra head by the time everything is done.

Initially I assembled the bodies although I left off the heads until the very end. When the glue from my initial assembly was done, I brushed Mr. Surfacer 500 on the joints where pieces met to help eliminate those gaps. I also scraped and sanded away off seam lines, an easy task.

Then the painting began and it’s straight forward too; by using the reverse box top drawing as a guide, you should be able to paint and build these guys with little if any problem. For the Luftwaffe blue uniforms, I used Model Master enamel PRU Blue and simply brushed it on; the same with the black for the black ground crewmen uniforms including the one officer’s greatcoat (I think he is to resemble Adolf Galland). For the pilot strapping on his parachute, I used Model Master enamel Midstone that was lightened with a bit of white. A mix of brown with a touch of red created the leather jacket worn by the third pilot.

Once those paints were dry, I then went to work on the finer parts--brown belts, a brown workman’s box, white parachute straps, blue or black work caps, black boots, hair colors and the flesh tones. Very fine touches included the silver belt buckles, insignia badges and a screwdriver blade.

All in all, the painting and final assembly of the figures took me about three hours, a pleasant evening. When done, you have a set of figures that can nicely dress up a display of any aircraft.

Conclusion

I couldn’t find the suggested retail price but I’ve seen it selling from $6.95 in various hobby shops. I recommend this kit as a good one to help your dioramas, large or small.

Thanks to Testors for making this kit available for review.