We paint a picture of Evolution Miniatures new figures in our triple build review

They don’t just get white by themselves do they? During the winter in the years of WWII the soldiers on the frontline often whitewashed their vehicles to help conceal them from the enemy – well Evolution Miniatures has made a new set of three soldiers in 35^th scale that represent just this, let’s have a look at them in our build review…

Evolution Miniatures new figure triple review:
EM-35088 SS Tank commander WW2
EM-35089 SS Tankman WW2 (Winter painting of tank)
EM-35091 SS Tankman WW2 (Winter painting of tank)
1/35^th scale
Light grey resin
Get these separately and together from Evolution’s distributor’s worldwide

We are usually a big fan of the figures brought out from Sergey of Evolution Miniatures. For the most part their releases are well sculpted and correct to scale, they are often unusual sculpts from various periods including the ever popular modern warfare and WWII genres. These three figures are separate releases but two directly relate to each other and the third – that of an SS tank commander looking directly on can be used in the same situation. We thought we would build them all up together in a review for you.

Evolution these three figures in January – they represent three soldiers trying to paint a “Weiß” portrait whitewashing their vehicle – tanks, cars aircraft all got this treatment in the winter months of WWII – and here are three Germans doing just that on the “Ostfront” during the late stages of WWII…

 

Evolution Miniatures figures come in a little box with the figure painted as the boxart against their banner. Inside these boxes are the parts for each figure secure in a zip-loc bag.

The resin:

These three kits are pretty similar in composition – rein torsos sitting on a pouring block with separate blocks with arms and heads, guns and in this case paint buckets included. The two soldiers carrying paint buckets have some nice brass wire included with them to make the handles of the buckets.

I will get this out of the way right away. The resin is pretty flawless and no bubbles mar the appearance of these figures, but the little paint buckets lose their hinges that the wire attaches to pretty easily. There isn’t any real answer to this. You can fudge it and after they invariably break off glue the brass bucket handles to the buckets with superglue or you can make some hinges from the brass yourself.

I opted to do both – one fudged and one with new brackets. I liked the new brass brackets myself. I had an RP Tools handle bender which with a pair of Xuron flat bending pliers made short work of new hinges on the buckets. I recommend these tools as your primary handle makers. It really is great to get accurate handles on the machine and tidy up with the pliers.

The other thing that troubled me was the neck joints of these figures. It is often a little hard to work out the angle an elevation of the head on the torso. With these three figures that was not an issue as they fit right into their neck joints. This was made a hell of a lot easier with the high winter collars they are wearing.

On to each in turn now…

SS Tank commander WW2
EM-35088
1/35^th scale
3 parts in Grey resin

Although he isn’t painting anything you can see by his supervisory nature – hands on hips that this man wants the job done! He is either stretching or making up for an inadequacy here as he appears to be taller than he really is with an arched back.

On the single head choice he wears and officer’s crusher type visor that is squashed in the typical beaten up manner preferred by the “Alter Hase” that showed a lot of wear and experience – a little like the test players in cricket wear the same cap right throughout their sports career. Pointy nose and slightly detailed features like hair and ears make him a good study of the human face. His neck slipped straight into the high collar on the torso too!  Nice details like the piping on his hat and skull and crossbones are clearly visible. There is a Walther P38 pistol holster that attaches onto the rear torso on this pouring block as well.

Speaking of the torso this tank commander has his body all covered with his large warm pair of tankers overalls. These fall and flap over this is broken up by his double holed officer’s belt on his waist. His forward folded pocket pop out from the torso and his buttons hold together the thick flap where his buttons join up at the crotch.

The fall of the overalls makes them look thick and heavy. The addition of woolen gloves and the thick seams on the sides of the trousers add that little extra detail to be picked out.

Here he is all made up - there as is the imperious look and body language of the tank commander as he observes the real workers getting to it!

And painted up...

 

SS Tankman WW2 (Winter painting of tank)
EM-35089
1/35^th scale
6 parts in Grey resin + brass wire

Seen carrying the bucket to the scene of the crime this tanker is made from resin with just the wire handle again. He wears the flat Feldmütze cap on his head in the sole choice which looks to me to be young man. His hair curls down on his forrid and his features are slight.

The tanker’s torso is adorned with the short black panzer wrap tunic. (Feldjacke für Panzertruppe). Decorated with the skull and crossbones on the lapels and the medal of the iron cross on the left breast as well as the German Panzer Grenadier Assault Badge. He has the same thick pants his commander has under his jacket thought these look a little thicker padded but just as wrinkly around the feet. These pants are tucked over his boots as he is walking forward.

On his rear left hip he wears a P-38 pistol in it’s holster. He really looks like he doesn’t want to be doing any of this by the body language he is displaying! He leans off to the side as he counteracts the weight of the bucket and maybe the fear of dropping it and painting himself!

His arms come on two separate pouring blocks which I have removed for you – they fit into the shoulder sockets pretty well but you must fit before you fix here as they are really only meant to go in one way.

The bucket lost it's hinges cos i am heavy handed...

but a bit of careful drilling..... 

and you have a good grip on things..

Here he is made up – a simple figure but a great study in body language that could be used in a lot of scenarios – even as a man carrying water.

And here he is painted up – very nice!

SS Tankman WW2 (Winter painting of tank) Set-2
EM-35091
1/35th scale
5 parts in Grey resin + brass wire

This guy is the real do-er in this set of figures – he is seen getting to the task at hand with his whitewash brush – this German tankman carries a bucket with handles of wire to keep scale correct but otherwise is constructed of resin parts.

His single head choice is neither young nor old looking, and his moth seems to be open maybe to have a cigarette in it. He is depicted that way on the box art anyway. Again his neck slips into his deep collar with no problems as he looks to the side he is painting and upwards. He also wears the crusher type forage cap on his head while he has a smoke and paints it up and you can note as well the skull and crossbones “death’s head” on his hat and above that the German national symbol of the eagle.

 He is seen wearing the thick reversible parka with camo’d outside (oak leaf?) and white on the other side. This is the real star of this sculpt which narrowly wins as my favourite of the three figures. The open thick collar and the bunched up creases on the arms which come from this thick material when the arms are bent as well as the pulling of the jacket under the belt around his waist are really excellent details. Items like pocket flaps and the tie around his waist and his corded trim on the jacket which is also bunched up are really very well done and lifeline in this miniature scale.

The thick pants are also bunched and twisted with movement and the slight open crease at his boots is also very well sculpted.

His right arm is lifted here and he is holding the largest must rubbish thick paintbrush that gives many of mine a run for their shabby money! His other hand has a clenched fist holding on to a bucket.

 The largest most rubbish looking brush int he world - but good for this job!

You will have to drill this gap open very carefully with a pin vice and thread the brass wire through it – easier said than done as you really need to take care to not drill through the palm or fingers. Measure twice cut once!

...the bucket parts

Here he is made up~

And all painted up!

So here they all are together – the officer I can almost bet is seen to be looking on as the two tankmen take their buckets and get whitening the tank.

I like these three figures – no fit issues – but the bucket hinges are a pain in the bottom as they are always so fragile. At my advanced age I just do not stress if they break and replace them with the extra brass provided.

Well done Evolution Miniatures on another set of single soldiers that fit in so well with each other!

 

Adam Norenberg

Postscript: There are now just released two new figures to the paint party – we will try to look at them as well – and see if they are just as nice as this lot!

You can get these figures from Evolution Miniatures at their distributors worldwide.