Thursday, March 9

Build review – Erich Hartmann & German Officer in 1/32nd scale from Qing Yi Miniatures.

With the pilots of the Luftwaffe being a recurring goldmine for aircraft model companies, the accessories to go with them are in just as high a demand, but seem a little lacking in numbers in comparison. Neucraft models two new German pilots from sculptor Qing Yi might just help fill the void. There are two figures in 32nd scale, made from resin,  let's take a look our (not much to build) review…

Double (not much to build) review from Qing Yi Miniatures via Neucraft Models:
WWII Luftwaffe Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann
Product No# QY32009
$15.90
1/32 (54mm) scale resin figure kit
resin figure

WWII Luftwaffe Officer
Product No# QY32008
$15.90
1/32 (54mm) scale
resin figure kit
Neucraft Models have been releasing resin kits from a brand called Qing Yi for quite a while now. We have looked at quite a few here on TMN, and for the most part found them interesting and in a pretty good quality. The lack of quality figures in 1/32nd scale led us to want to look at these two new resin figures sold by Neucraft, those of a WWII Luftwaffe Officer and a youthful looking figure of one of the most famous Luftwaffe aces of WWII - Erich Hartmann.
We will look at both of these figures separately, but first, a little about what is common to both of these figures. Both of them come in very sturdy metal boxes. Inside the kit an extra layer of protection sees them surrounded in bubble wrap to make sure they are safe in transit.

Both of these figures come in a grey-green resin material. No casting blocks are attached, and very conveniently the figures are already built up! Hence the title of this guide as a "not much to build guide." 

 Both of these figures are nicely sculpted by a very talented man model maker Qin YI (hence the name of his brand.) we have looked at many of his sculpts, and his originals especially are very nicely detailed, both of these are of his usual high quality. The resin is nicely cast with no extra material needed to be removed.  You may want to wash any release agent off them or not before you undercoat, but these come ready to go out of the "tin". 

Let's take a look at both with some references to go along with them...

WWII Luftwaffe Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann
Product No# QY32009
$15.90
1/32 (54mm) scale resin figure kit
resin figure
Product Link
This is a 1/32 scale (54mm)  made fro one part in a green-grey resin. The figure depicts the famous WWII Luftwaffe Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann. this is a well-known figure to a lot of figure makers, historians and modellers, so the onus is on the sculptor, Qing Yi - to get him right. He was a well-photographed man while in service especially, so there are plenty of reference shots in all different poses to work with.
Nicknamed "Bubi" by his German comrades and "The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He claimed and was credited with shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345 Soviet and 7 American aircraft, all while serving with the Luftwaffe in WWII. Hartmann survived the war to command JG 71 and lived right up until 1983.
The "Blonde Knight" as he was also called, is captured here in a pose not that dissimilar to a picture we have here...A summer flying uniform, crumpled officer's visor cap with silver ribbon detail and cockade on the centre of the cap. Leather flying jacket in a lighter summer weight issue and long cotton uniform trousers. Notice now his hands in his pockets in two of the pictures we have shown here.
The figure sculpt has a similar body language to the picture above. With Hartman's wrinkled officer's peaked cap bent on the top in the way the "old hares" used to identify themselves, you can see the German eagle on the cap as well as the large cockade and silver braid of the Luftwaffe on the cap.

The leather flying jacket is a pretty good recreation of the one in the picture above. The features of the jacket are recreated, the two lower pockets, two flat zipped breast pockets with an inside pocket (of course you cannot see it here) with sharp looking waist adjustment buckles.
 The pants of the figure sit nicely and gather in folds at the ankles just before the shoes of the figure. The jacket is seen with the thicker wrinkles especially around the arms and shoulder joints. It does look like his heels are a bit high here huh? Lifts maybe? surely not...
 Whether the figure looks exactly like Eric Hartman - well I don't think he does that much. However you could paint his hair blonde, and viola! in this scale you have yourself a Hartmann. He could be any pilot you choose him to be, so knowing that I don't need to model Hartmann's aircraft I don't mind that he is not photo-realistic.
 If you DO want a right on capture of the man in 1/32 scale then MAIM Models makes the most photo realistic Erich Hartmann I have seen in this scale. I still like what Qing Yi has done with this figure and he will do for my Luftwaffe dio.


WWII Luftwaffe Officer
Product No# QY32008
$15.90
1/32 (54mm) scale
resin figure kit
Product Link
This next figure could well be a companion in the same scene as the "Hartmann" figure we have just looked at. This is a 1/32 scale (54mm) WWII Luftwaffe officer resin figure from Qing Yi Miniatures. as with the companion figure, again this is a one piece figure that is supplied in the same metal box in This is an unpainted resin. 

 There are plenty of flying officers in resin in 32nd scale, well, more than simple staff officers that we see here in this sculpt. Here are a few regular staff officers as reference that were used we think in the sculpt of this figure.
The resin sculpt looks especially the figure on the far right here - he has all of the same medals as our Officer.
He has many of the features the Hartmann figure has, you can see him pretty clearly here front on, Officer's cap, a little less crumpled to signify his role as we think an officer "flying a desk" as a staff officer. I say he may well be a staff officer because he is depicted not in a flying outfit, although he could well be a pilot in a regular unifrom.
The other feature of this officer is his decorated officer's tunic. This tunic is pretty realistically sculpted, with lots of small wrinkles not only the pockets and the seams on them, the collars, the buttons of the tunic, and all of the seams of the thick material. Sculpted in a way that will enhance the paint job and look natural, I think he has done a very nice job here.
The Pistol in the holster around the officer's belt. This cuts the flow of the jacket in two and sits nicely on his hip. the hands you will notice of this figure are clasped behind the officer's back in a way that gives him a manner of looking on to a scene or listening in on a conversation. His Breeches complete the senior officer look, with the material on them sagging and creasing where they taper and fit into his high leather boots.
All in all a pretty "vanilla" sculpt, but a much needed general officer of the Luftwaffe very well executed by the sculptor Qing Yi.

 After looking at both of these I gotta say I like them both and can imagine them being used in an upcoming diorama. Both are summer weight figures in regular clothing, and I could imagine them both next to a Fw-190 or Bf 109 in the near future.
Adam Norenberg

Thanks to Neucraft for sending these two figures for us to make and review.

Neucraft offers a flat rate shipping of USD$6 for any number of kits.
To US, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Israel, Norway, we ship via ePacket. Average delivery time 11 to 14 days. A tracking number is available.

To other countries, they ship via China Post registered air mail. Average delivery time 21 to 30 days. A tracking number is available.