Tuesday, March 14

Yes these ARE in 72nd scale! We review Mantis Miniatures new Wehrmacht Tanker Set

Recently we saw a snippet of a set of three new tankers of the WWII Wehrmacht from Mantis Miniatures, we were surprised to see the scale - these were in 72nd! Apart from being incredibly hard to photograph in this scale, there are heaps of other things we thought we could point out in our review...

"Not much to build" Review:
WW2 Wehrmacht Tankers
From Mantis Miniatures
No# 72003
1/72nd scale
Three parts in light grey resin
Price: 14€
Sculpted by Boris Knokhov
Painted by A.Miniszewski & Štěpán Los

The recent take off of the 72nd scale in model making has come about I suppose because manufacturers noticed that there is a gap in the market. The scale is steadily growing in this genre and lots of new kits mean the need for diorama scenes and figures to populate them. Due to the scale, it is difficult to get good figures in something like exactly what you have in mind variety-wise, but Mantis Miniatures have a fair few (mostly German WWII tanker figures) to suit your new tanks in this scale.

This set of three figures comes in a small box that is typical for Mantis' releases. The three figures are all cast in one piece each, with no assembly required (good to see this scale) and made from light grey resin.
Inside the box, the three figures are safe inside a small plastic zip-loc bag, so no chance of losing anything which is good. On looking at the figures (and squinting as they are so small) I was immediately impressed with the detail afforded to the sculpts, the difference in clothing from each figure, and the tiny detail difference of the three from each other. I will point out the detail as we look at each of them in turn.
Light grey resin, as thin as this - needs some contrast to shoot, and then it's still difficult...
...OK this is better - Yes they ARE this tiny (the regular household match is 1/1 scale so you know)
The kits three tankers are all dressed in warm winter clothes on which make them suitable for a winter Europe or eastern front scenario. They can be used in a late war scenario in either an SPG or a Panzer we reckon. They are all full body sculpts which make them great for inside or outside of their vehicles or open-hulled tanks. I do think that they would suit the outside of one of these tanks to show you the scale of the vehicles and bring them to life.

 Let's have a look at the three in turn... For your reference, I will look at them in the order of the picture below from left to right.
The figure on the left
The first figure on the left looks lo me a little like a winter-weight tanker or assault gunner. In the painting of the box art, he wears a black Panzerjacke covered with a padded, thick reversible anorak and pants so you could paint the tunic in grey for him to be an assault gun crewmember.
The figure comes in one piece, and his open jacket is nice here as it folds open, giving the finest amount of depth to this tiny figure. The headgear is the flat overseas M41 cap that has some detail on it - even in this scale. It is hard to see but it looks like the national cockade in the centre of the cap. Notice the wrinkles in the sleeves of the jacket here as he puts his left hand in his jacket pocket.
You can see details here that you might be accustomed to in 35th or even large scales, the buttons on the jacket, the Iron Cross ribbon on his left breast of the tunic, the drawstrings on the anorak and the ewing seams on his trousers - all on display here.

The Centre Figure
The centre figure from the picture on the box art is wearing. His winter reversible Anorak and padded pants cover his tunic and regular pants. These bundle up at the legs andare tucked into tall ankle high boots.
 Again we see lots of detail here, although it appears a little softer because of the plain, fairly featureless appearance of the thick anorak. The tie at the waist and sash cord pinched the jacket at the hip, and the buttons of the jacket are visible here again. the hood on the back of the figure and the wrap of some kind, either for warmth or  bondage I am not sure? - Can be painted either way.
Although the camera found it pretty hard to pick out the details of this figure, the fine facial features, the wrinkles in the thick winter clothing and the weight of the hands in the thick pockets (no need to sculpt hands) are high points of the figure.

 The figure on the right
this figure is the last of the three in this set. Again the detail is there with the thick reversible padded trousers evident with their suspenders to keep them up over this man's jacket, hanging from his shoulders.
The figure is wearing a flat overseas style forage cap, and like the second tanker, he has either a bandage or extra padding, this time under his cap. The thick, ribbed roll-neck jumper is visible under the uniform tunic this man wears. This is depicted in the box art as a german uniform grey, but it could well be a black panzer jacket also - so Panzer and SPG crewman is able to be made from him.
The pants can be painted in a splinter camo or white as they are reversible, the baggy nature of how they gather around the ankles over his boots, the ties of the pants also hang from the derriere of the figure. The tunic of the solder is pinched under the suspenders of his pants, and the tunic lapels are nice and open, giving more depth to the figure.
Here they are together - all three, two or one I think would make a great addition to your 72nd scale tank or AFV. 
These figures had a lot more detail than I could capture on my camera, and more than I have seen or would expect from a 72nd scale figure. I was highly impressed with them and they are a credit to the sculptor. If you like 72nd scale figures - German WWII - then I think you have your target right here.

Adm Norenberg

Thanks to Mantis for sending these to us to review - Both of these new sets are now available from Mantis Miniatures Website

These three figures fit into the three others already released from Mantis Miniatures. All of these six are one piece figures that will be great for all of the new 72nd scale tanks coming out recently.

WW2 German Tankers
72004  
price: 26€
Sculpted by Boris Knokhov
Painted by Man-Jin Kim & A.Miniszewski