Construction Review: KFS Miniatures 35th scale Reichspost Briefträger und der Hund

The eternal battle between Postman and humble Canine continues with KFS Miniatures new resin figure set called "Reichspost Briefträger und der Hund" or Reichspost Worker & Dog in 1/35th scale. We have the kit, and thought you might want to see the figures built up and in a mock up of a likely situation to see the kit, it's fit and how the end product looks...

Reichspost Worker & Dog
"Reichspost Briefträger und der Hund"
From KFS Miniatures
1/35th scale
Sculpted by: Kamil Feliks Sztarbała
Cast in light grey resin
Price: $25.00 plus P&P
Product Link on the KFS Miniatures Website

A recently released kit arrived in our post, one that we thought we would build up to show you. This is a double figure set from KFS Miniatures in grey resin 1/35th scale. When I say "Figure" I mean one figure of a man, one of a large dog, and one of the fence that divides them.

With some joy I found the original picture that inspired this sculpt!!

Hang on - What was the Deutsche Reichspost?
After the hyperinflation period in 1920's German, the existing Deutsche Reichspost (DRP) agency was spun off in 1924 and operated as a state-owned enterprise. All mail, telegraph and telephone systems and some radio stations in Nazi Germany are controlled by a state-protected organization called the Deutsche Reichspost. After Hitler came to Power in 1933 the Empire Department of Posts and Telecommunications (Reichspostministerium) established the Postschutz, which was responsible all postal networks and postal equipment throughout the Third Reich to ensure the proper functioning of mail, telegrams and telephones.

A German postman in the wrecked surroundings of in 1946

Over time the Nazi leadership designed and improved the organisation's badges and uniforms, with blue jackets and pants or shirts of the same colour. Whether the shirt was worn or not was up to the individual. The postmen wore an armband with the national German Eagle emblem, Nazi characters and "Deutsche Reichspost" text on the left arm of the uniform. 

This Postman and his own dog as proof that these two races can just "get along"

In the Second World War the Reichspost authority spread out to the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, such as the Reichsgau Wartheland, the Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen, and the Polish General Government. In 1941 postal codes were introduced. The Feldpost military mail organisation of the Wehrmacht not only served Army, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine service members, but also SS-Verfügungstruppen, Waffen-SS and Reichsarbeitsdienst members in the field, becoming the general postal authority of the occupied territories. 

A second world war era uniform in the trademark blue but missing the armband

Deliveries were more and more affected by the advance of Allied troops from January 1945 on. The Reichspost finally ceased to function with the German Instrument of Surrender on May 8. The last Reichspostminister Julius Dorpmüller, a member of the Flensburg Government, was arrested two weeks later, and governmental authority was officially taken over by the Allied Control Council with the Berlin Declaration of June 5.

Nothing changes! a slightly more modern German Postman and his Canine "friend"

The Kit:
The kit "Reichspost briefträger und der hund" represents a Postal worker of the Deutsche Reichspost Litterally the German Post-service from 1933-1945 at the end of WWII. The postman is being "hunted" by a very large Great Dane who is perched upon the fence looking for his favourite prey. The postman of course - with instincts of a cat is wary of this "Guard Dog" and he is sen peeking around the corner at the large canine leaning on the fence.

The kit comes in a zip-loc bag with the painted up artwork on a card attached to it. Inside, the unbuilt and unpainted kit is cast in six resin parts. These have a little extra material on them that must be removed, but nothing that would damage the parts in their removal which is key for these resin kits. The casting blocks are attached at smart locations and easy to remove.

"Il Postino"
You can see there is some extra material on the post man and around the joints of the dog in places to remove, but not too big of a job. He is cast in two parts which is quite an achievement for the good detail that you can see. The folds on his postbag, the shirt and tie under his jacket and pants which fold and flap in all the right places.

The rear of the figure, with the many folds of the jacket and the pants showing off how he is twisting and leaning down against the wall to avoid ol' K9.

The socket and joint fixing was something that didn't really register as a working joint with me. As the arm resin stub needs to be removed I just cleaned both the torso and the arm shoulder joint flat then glued them together.

On the trousers the extra resin was removed and a little re-scribing of the stripes down the trousers were added. The inside trouser needs a seeing-to (ohh my) also...

Canis lupus familiaris:

The Great Dane is a large German domestic dog known for its giant size and is currently the world record holder for the worlds tallest dog.

As described by the American Kennel Club:

"The Great Dane combines, in its regal appearance, dignity, strength, and elegance with great size and a powerful, well-formed, smoothly muscled body. It is one of the giant working breeds, but is unique in that its general conformation must be so well balanced that it never appears clumsy, and shall move with a long reach and powerful drive. The Great Dane is a short-haired breed with a strong, galloping figure."

A Great Dane on a very tall fence having a peek!

The large dog is said to be a great Dane - and he pretty much fits the look of this breed. The long legs, pointed and thin ears and body are all pretty typical. He is also a male dog because I can see his little bone there too!

You can see here the sculpt and a real Great Dane looking over a 6 foot fence int he same pose.

The cleanup needs to be done carefully. The resin had the only bubble I found n the tail of the dog which of course simply fell off when I was trimming it down in the cleanup phase.

The Fence:

This picket fence is an impressive three piece part that joins on to any wall, and is surrounded by the fence posts on either side. Notice not only the wooden texture, but the fence hardware of hinges and the bolt lock - the only things saving the postman's ass in this diorama set.

The reverse side of the fence showing the other side - I put this closer to the Great Dane as I could not see the fence hardware details on this side.

And Viola!

Twenty minutes tops see these figures cleaned up, the fence put together on a spare, undercoated base that I had lying around and the dog and postman placed in the correct places...

Here they are from a few angles so you can see more of them made up.

So there they are - I liked putting this set together very much - especially once I found the picture that inspired it. The figure of the postman is nicely sculpted if only a little bit long int he face. I do like his body language a lot. The dog and fence are great - and you need to get the dog's feet on the top of the fence to make him sit straight. Once up there - he looks great.

Nice work from KFS again, and a nice dio set that isn't strictly military which is a nice change.

Adam Norenberg

Thanks to Kamil at KFS Miniatures for sending us this kit. It is available directly from the KFS Miniatures site

As a postscript, here are our duo all put together and painted up to bring the scene to life as seen on the KFS website...