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TRISTAR 1/35 GERMAN SELF-PROPELLED GUN CREW SET

By Ray Mehlberger

KIT No. 002  MSRP: $12.95 By

 

Tristar is a brand new, Hong Kong based, model company. Only two figure kits have appeared from them so far. The first one (kit no. 001) was of a four man panzer crew. The subject of this review is their second figure kit.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?:

The kit comes in an end-opening type box. It contains one sprue of medium gray plastic parts and a tiny fret of brass PE parts.

The box art shows a four man self-propelled German gun crew. One figure is on the radio with headphones on his head and holding some maps or charts. Two other figures are busy loading ammo rounds into the back of a self-propelled gun vehicle. The fourth figure is standing off to the side, holding a cigarette in one hand and a map or chart in his other. He also has a pair of binoculars around his neck.

The radio man and one of the ammo loaders have their shirt sleeves rolled up. The other two figures are depicted on the box art, and also on the back of the box, as being SS. They have the SS sleeve eagles and black cuff title bands.

There is no instruction sheet in the kit as the rear of the box has the assembly drawings printed on it. These are followed by paint number charts, calling out four different brands of hobby paints. There is also some general instructions in very fractured English and Chinese about painting the figures. Small scrap drawings depict two different styles of spotted camouflage. On the small tabs inside the end flaps of the box are printed some charts and maps. These obviously are to be cut out and placed in the radio operator's and one of the standing figure's hands. There are many extras of these to use on other projects.

The four figures on the one parts tree are all in standing poses. One figure is slightly bent at the waste to represent the figure on the box art that is receiving a ammo round from another figure handing it up to him. However, no ammo round is included in the kit.

All figures are divided into separate legs, torsos, arms, and heads. Two figures have side caps molded onto their heads. The other two figures have separate peaked caps. All four figures are provided with pistol holsters.

A small fret of brass PE holds four head-phone straps, that go over the top of the head of the radio operator figure. So you get three extras for your spares box. This fret is in its own tiny cello bag and is inside a larger cello with the one plastic tree of parts.

I like the hands on these figures. They are much better than ones encountered in DML and Tamiya kits. I have found that those two brands hands are oversized, mis-shapen, and sometimes have parts of their fingers missing.

The only reservations I have about this kit is its price and the lack of that ammo round. This kit is almost twice what I paid for a comparable DML kit of four figures. But, being a brand new company I guess they have start up expenses to re-coup.

Otherwise recommended. I intend to use this set with the Alan Grille M kit I recently purchased.

I bought this kit at the local hobby shop.