Review: Two new figures from Stalingrad's "Big Set" of WWI tankers.

Stalingrad Miniatures has just released a big set and single figures of British Tank Corps soldiers from World War One. We were lucky enough to get two of these figures from this big set to better show you what they are like in our construction review.

British Tank Crewman, WWI

# 1101

1/35th scale

Three parts in grey resin 

British Tank Officer, WWI

# 1103

1/35th scale

Four parts in grey resin 

You can get both of these by checking out Stalingrad's Distributors on their website.

Alexander Zelenkov is the proprietor and also handily the head sculptor and painter at Stalingrad Miniatures. I am of the opinion that he creates some of the best faces of any 1/35ths scale resin figures in the business – it he doesn’t he is in the top two as far as I am concerned. His work on the Russian and Slavic faces is particularly convincing.

The new set of very English looking soldiers from the Royal Tank Korps in World War I, just under 100 years ago I think might provide a challenge. How would he go with making tall, thin British soldiers with thick moustaches? The new “Big Set” from Stalingrad comprises just that – five figures of tankers from the First World War.

Here are the figures in the set painted up.

We have two of the figures from this large new set from Stalingrad  and we will look at them all individually now before we see the other figures we haven’t put together to review at the end in the form of a preview – Stalingrad have also provided some of the pictures that inspired the figures..

British Tank Crewman, WWI

# 1101

1/35th scale

Three parts in grey resin 

This young Sergeant this figure is the inspiration from is seen sitting on the sponson of the side of his tank. He is seen in the picture below just watching on in some peace while his comrades are filling the shot – did he know he was in the pictures as well?

This is the picture he was conceived from

The figure is made up from three parts in grey resin. He is attached to pouring blocks on his back and at the base of his neck and his hands. These two were not too difficult to safely remove with one bubble only on the back of the soldier’s right arm. There is a slight seam in the resin on the torso of this figure. It is removed pretty easily with the soft resin on offer here. Otherwise he is blemish free – let’s look at the parts now.

You can see from these pictures above and below the torso of the Sargent prominent is his thick tunic and pants which are wrapped up in puttees. The thick sideboards on his shoulders pop out at you as do the very prominent three stripes emblazoned on each sleeve.

Notice on this figure the stripes on the battledress and the piping from the shoulder boards to the pocket. 

His hands are together as he will be clasping them as he watches on into the distance. The joins is simply at the wrists and at the top of the open sleeves the battledress’ material hangs on his arms as it would in real life.

This figure is supplied with one head choice. He is wearing a regular peaked cap with the tiny tank Korps badge on the front of the peak. He has a pointy bent nose and square ears coming from under his hat with a long shaped face in which you can see the jaw bones prominent in his cheeks.

You can see in these shots his pat is nicely bent where the crown of his head pushes the cloth of his hat and the hands which are also on this pouring block. They are a really delicate work with the sinews of the hands and fingers clearly visible. Look at them – these hands and the face are just two reasons why I like what Stalingrad do  so much. 

The hands fit simply into the sleeve joints provided as did the head which is slightly turned to the left and the socket of the neck fits in there with a gap which can be seen as the spot where the collar is rubbing against it. Nicely conceived and engineered at these points!

And here he is unpainted all put together.

His bottom is flat so he can sit on just about anything flat - my guess would be a nice box- shaped Mk IV tank...

And here he is all painted up from the Stalingrad site - showing how he looks with a good painter at the brush..

British Tank Officer, WWI

# 1103

1/35th scale

Four parts in grey resin 

The picture that inspired this sculpt - He does have however a dapper officer’s cain which is behind his back. Here is the image which he might have been inspired from – taking his tank for a walk.

This officer of the tank corps is seen as a bit of a contrast to the sergeant. He has the regular tunic and wide cavalry breeches with puttees around the lower legs and boots with the “tommy” wide brimmed helmet. 

The resin is made from four parts which again are all attached to their casting blocks. These all are attached at a decent place to remove although the helmet is a little bit of a "clencher" as you shave the thin brim off the block. 

The tunic is covered with the officer’s accoutrements. The double pronged “Sam Browne” pattern holster for a small/medium sized self-loading or automatic pistol complete with Sam Browne belt. The small pouches and the other things that hang off the belt were known humorously as "the Christmas tree."

You can see here the officer’s tunic with “Christmas tree” and the side messenger bag which is sculpted here with soft leather.

His left arm is attached to the figure and his hand is in his pocket – you can see by the three crosses on his cuff that he was a Captain in the tank Corps. Nicely picked out by the sculptor there. the cane is easy to detach and the arm neatly slips into the socet in the sleeve.

Here he is unpainted and all put together.

..And here he is painted up from the Stalingrad website showing you what can be done with such a sculpt.

Finally here these two are in the centre with the rest of the "Big Set" from Stalingrad - with their other companions we did not get to see in this review.

The finesse of these two figures did not surprise me at all - as i am now ecxpecting something very good every time Stalingrad's miniatures cross my doorstep. However i had not seen any WWI figures as of yet and I was wondering how Alexander would handle the british face in his sculpt.

He has done a great job and these "fellows" look almost stereotyped in their familiarity. This is a good thing 'cos the big mustaches, the cane and Tommy hat are Iconic to the british soldier at the time and Alex has captured them here just right

Well done if you have these in mind for your new WWI diorama.

Adam Norenberg

You can see more of the kits in Stalingrad’s range at their website where you will also find their distributors around the world at www.stalingrad.diorama.ru

This set comes with five figures in all - and we thought that we would show you the others in the set we did not review - but they are built up and painted so you can still gauge their quality pretty well...

# 1102 – British Tank Officer, WWI

This highly ranked officer has a cigarette in his hand and his hand on his hip a little “teapot” style as he looks on to the scene.

The features of this soldier are mainly in his uniform – wide breaches and high boots which were expensive and just for ranking officers, the large flat pockets in his jacket are well sculpted and his light webbing look very nice indeed.

You can see some officers here in this picture that illustrate just how much “swagger” these officers had.

Here he is unpainted

# 1104 – British Tank Crewman, WWI

Almost standing to attention with his hands a little clenched almost in apprehension or unease – this tank crewman is seen with a mesh mask on his chest  these mesh face masks were used to protect these soldiers from shrapnel and spalling damage from the metal flying loose when the tank was hit by gunfire.

He also wears a flat brimmed “tommy” style helmet and a thick jacket and long pants – these pictures are some that inspired this figure, these guys all wear the mesh mask

# 1105 – British Tank Crewman, WWI

This crewman of the tank corps is seen here looking very dapper indeed with his thick moustache and almost all in one overall which goes all the way down to his boots.

He has his pistol in its holster that is attached to his neck by a rope lanyard.

Here he is unpainted 

# 1101 - British Tank Crewman, (Big Set) WWI

The bunch of tankers and their officers are seen here in front of a tank looking very much like a bunch of hipsters without the beards - who would have thought that this way of dressing is so in fashion?

Anyway the pictures that Alex used to guide him in his research when sculpting them 

Here they all are unpainted

You can see more of the kits in Stalingrad’s range at their website where you will also find their distributors around the world at www.stalingrad.diorama.ru