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TAMIYA 1/35 GERMAN SS PANZER DIVISION "FRONTLINE RECONNAISSANCE TEAM" FIGURE SET

By Ray Mehlberger

KIT NO. MM-253  MSRP: $9.00

INTRODUCTION

The minute I saw the box art it dawned on me that I had seen this scene before a few times in books. There has been a widely published picture, that has come from a frame from a captured German combat film, that is in numerous books of mine. This film was shot during the Battle of the Bulge and this photo has, in the past, been erroneously labeled as a picture of Joachim Peiper. This has been DISPROVED since. First: Joachim Peiper was never near the road sign post shown in this photo. Second: Close examination of the figure that is identified as Peiper shows his rank to be that of a SS Untersharfuhrer...and not the rank of SS Obersturmbannfuhrer...that Peiper was at this time. Third: Facial features, ears and nose, do not match other photos of Peiper. So, it is NOT him.

Can the kit replicate this scene? Yes and no! One of the seated figures, in the kit, is close enough to resemble the guy mistaken for Peiper. The driver figure would be okay, if you change his head gear from a side cap to a cap that looks like a pilot's leather helmet. For the third figure, in the famous scene, who is leaning over the back of the vehicle...you will have to find in another kit (if that pose even exists somewhere).

The figures in the kit are meant to be posed around a Schwimmwagen. Tamiya makes a kit of this and they shamelessly tell you, on the box lid, that you need to go buy it to copy the box art That kit is no. 35224.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?:

The kit comes in an end-opening type box.

The kit contains two medium green styrene trees of parts. There is no instruction sheet inside, as the box rear, sides, and inside of one end-flap are the assembly and painting instructions. I wish that Tamiya had used a lighter shade of styrene than the rather dark green. Painting lighter colors over a lighter shade would not tend to distort the paint. Priming these figures with a white or light gray is a must then.

The first parts tree, letter "Y" holds all the weapons and personal gear for the figures. It contains two Gewehr 41(W) rifles, one MG42 machine-gun with two ammo belts, a bipod, and spare barrel case, one panzerfaust, five gas mask canisters, two MP44 assault rifles, four MP44 magazine pouches, five canteens, three of them with cups and two without, one pair of binoculars, two pistol holsters, three potato masher type grenades, one map case, four folding spades, two in carrying cases and two without cases, one smaller shovel, one peaked hat, five bread bags, five steel helmets, three with cloth camo covers and two without, and one miscellaneous pouch. (48 parts). The second parts tree, letter "Z", holds the four figures. Two are seated and two are standing. The two sitting figures have their hips and legs as one piece. They have separate arms, torsos, and heads. One of them has a side cap (the schwimmwagen driver) molded to his head. The figure that was misidentified as Peiper has a separate officer's peaked hat. This same figure also wears jodhpur type pants and jack boots. The driver figure has regular shoes.

The two standing figures have their legs and torsos molded as one piece, with separate arms and heads. One of them also has a side cap molded onto his head and the other one needs a separate steel helmet from the equipment sprue.

Three of the figures wear SS camouflage smocks. One of the standing figures sports a leather jacket, which was originally developed for U-boat captains.

There is also a straight piece of rod on the figure parts tree to use for the sign posts. This is to go with the signs printed on the side of the box, that we are supposed to cut out with a scissors. However, the towns printed on these signs are NOT the towns on the sign post in the famous photograph. So, if you want to replicate that scene, in a diorama, you will need to get some dry transfer letters and spell out the right towns on the sign post.

Conclusion

I found that the detail molded into the figures is a little SOFT in certain areas. One standing figure has a potato masher molded onto his belt and it looks too two dimensional or flat. Better to shave it off and use one off the equipment sprue. I also am not too wild about the hands on these guys. I recommend this kit to figure modelers with only the few reservations about it that I mentioned above. I bought this kit at the local hobby shop.