Verlinden’s new Red devil with a dead eye – we review the 2775 1/16th scale “British Red Devil Sniper”

“Red devils” as they were called by the Germans who opposed them and then as a nickname they assumed – the elite British Paratrooper corps was one of the best fighting units to see action in the second world war. Verlinden has made a new figure from resin replicating one of their deadliest – a sniper in 1/16^th scale. Is he off target or on the mark? Let’s have a look in our review…

2775 “British Red Devil Sniper” 
1/16th scale

16 parts in cream resin

Purchase: directly from Verlinden $24.26

This Para of the British armed forces – a “Red Devil” as they were called, would look very much like he was out for a walk if it were not for his large Lee Enfield .303 rifle, camo gear and helmet! His Thick moustache seems to scream “English Gent”. He could maybe do with having the helmet separate so it is hollowed out underneath - making it look more realistic if you viewed it from that angle.

At 1/16^th scale this figure is made up of sixteen pieces of cream resin. The figure itself is wearing a rounded regular issue “P-H4” Airborne Helmet with a small brim and camo netting over it. His “Denison” smock was popular with the soldiers and this one has a scarf inside the neck. He also wears parachute pants tucked into his boots with M37 leggings (galoshes) wrapped around them.

His haversack on his back carries a toggle rope under the flap and nicely there is enough space for this well packed bag to fit on the back – the is because moulded into the underside is a thoughtful x-shaped recess so the bag sits flush with the back.

The Lee Enfield MK 3 rifle is shown here – one of the fellows on preview of this kit on Facebook remarked that it should really have been a Mk.4 for the timeframe and I suppose there is a case for that, but maybe this sniper liked his trusty older rifle he used previous to them issuing their newer firearms? We know the Australians used the Mk3 during the war right up to Vietnam so who knows – the thing is that once compared to an Mk 3 this is a pretty good representation. The barrel has a slight recess in it which will come up well with painting and the scope is pretty good from pictures I have seen. It may not match the scope shown below as it is most probably a different scope altogether.

And the original

Here she is put together - nicely detailed "shooter"

On his M37 webbing hangs two general purpose pouches on his chest – thought fully moulded with recesses so the arms can fall in a natural state around the body.

He carries on his rear hip a pint water bottle and carrier with skeleton carrier attached to his webbing in a tricky method, showing again some nice engineering it all comes together easily. You have to be a little careful carving around the rear of the entrenching tool but that is resin figure modelling. A little work is required sometimes.

 The arms have several indentations for the packs to fit snugly into 

All in all I feel an improvement with Verlinden’s figures. They have adjusted to some criticism especially about their “squashed” faces and the very nice features of this soldier illustrate they have done some improvements. I like the engineering of the kit as well – making the construction easy and fast – more time for painting.

We liked this figure it is a solid release - here he is painted up from the Verlinden website..

Adam Norenberg

Thanks to Verlinden for this kit to make and review - You can get it ( on sale now as well)  Directly from Verlinden or their Distributors Worldwide You can find excerpts of this review & pictures on their blog page previewing their new items.