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Jeff Shiu has
continued his very good looking (not to mention well selling) line of elite German
soldiers in service this century. This time he continues the WWII theme with Fallschirmjägers
in their heroic struggle in the invasion of Crete. We have the inspiration and
the pictures of it put together and in pieces in our preview…
Item No: JS120025
2 figure set
120mm
Resin Scale Model
Designed by Jeff Shiu
Jeff Shiu’s “German Paratroopers in Crete- May 1941” is a
combination of two figures in a set; they are 120mm or 1/16th scale
that includes not just the soldiers and their equipment but also a wall in
which the two were depicted against.
Here are two pictures of some of the inspiration of these figures
from Jeff himself. You can see in both
of these pictures and when you look at the sculpt he has really caught the look
of the young man especially who seems to be the focus of these two shots.
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You can see in these shots the rolled up sleeves of these
soldiers in the hot climes and the bandage on the younger man’s left arm. Let’s
look at the figures a little…
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You can see how these figures match the picture very well –
and details like the veins in the soldier’s arms and details in their loose
clothing pockets and wrinkles have been pretty faithfully replicated. The
sculpts must have been a fair bit of work.
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The figures are cast in resin and all of them are attached
to small casting blocks, they both carry MP40 sub machine guns which are in
three parts – this enables you to position the folding stock whichever way you
like. Another interesting thing Jeff does is make the legs join at a precise
jagged join. This keeps them secured and the position in place exactly so you
don’t go off at a jaunty angle.
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The first soldier carries a Luger in his right pocket – as a
backup I would suppose as his holster is unopened on his left hip. His Mp-40 is
in several parts and he also carries a water bottle on his back left hip. The unbuttoned
tunic looks especially well done and will detail up very effectively. You can
see by looking at the figure how his clothes hang nicely off his torso and
things like his bread bag hang down as it would in real life.
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The younger soldier leaning against the wall has as we said
the bandage covering his left elbow under his tunic. His right arm then joins his
hand going into the right pocket of his tunic.
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Again he is sporting a pistol in his left hand lower tunic
pocket whilst he carries a small pair of field opticals on his chest. He also
has a water bottle on his rear hip. He has also some spare ammo pouches on his
rear as well
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This set looks pretty darn good to me – the two men in one
set INCLUDING the wall are a pretty good value pairing. It is nice to see that
these are sculpted on an actual scene and to have some reference makes a real
difference when you want to make and paint this pair.
This set is now
available thru Jeff Shiu’s Website
and his distributors worldwide.
Jeff Shiu’s August 2013 new figure
"Imperial German
W/'Mauser' 1918"
Resin Scale Model 120mm/ 1/15th scale
Designed by Jeff Shiu
Price US$45
This figure – sculpted by Jeff Shiu in resin 120mm (1/15th
scale) is the second in hopefully a
series of little done but much desired World War I figures in that scale.
Germans in WWII have had a lot of attention so this look back at more of an
imperial time will sit well with many modellers and stash builders.
The soldier carries a little known German weapon of World
War I called the Mauser Mod. 1918 13.2 mm Tankgewehr (T-Gewehr) that appeared
in February 1918. This was the world’s first Anti-tank rifle. The Mauser
Company began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The first of
these off the production lines were issued to specially formed anti-tank
detachments.
Mauser T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle troops, plausibly belonging to
Infanterie-Regiment 124., Somme front, August 1918.
Inspiration for this
figure came partially from this excellent box art from the "HAT” model kit
box art 1/72 “WWI German Heavy Weapons” – though the figures in that box surely
were no guide of the excellent kit that Jeff has made the box art certainly
gave him a great inspiration – so thanks HAT!
If you like what you
see from this kit – you might want to look at Jeff’s other WWI kit - Item Nos.
JS120024
Resin Scale Model 120mm
"209th"
Infantry Regiment Western Front 1916
Designed by Jeff Shiu
Anyway this figure (and
all of Jeff’s other great stuff) is available this week at his website - Jeff Shiu Miniatures