U.S. Riflemen WWII
Modeling the U.S. Army in WWII


Verlinden Productions
747

These figures have been around for some time, and are not quite as crisply molded as later Verlinden figures. The rifleman, his chest draped with an ammo bandoleer, has his M1 Garand drawn up to his shoulder, ready to fire. The BAR gunner is taking a step forward, his shoulders slightly turned off center, as if he's looking at something in particular. He wears a scarf around his neck.

Because of the poses, it helps if you have a third or fourth hand to aid in assembling these guys. The figures are divided into heads, torso, legs, which go together effortlessly. It's attaching the arms and hands that gets sticky.

The assembly of the rifleman is the easier of the two. His hands are molded onto his rifle. The arms match up with the sides of the torso pretty well. I glued the left, outstretched arm in place, which enabled me to hold the right arm in place and get the hands positioned in the cuffs.

The BAR gunner is more problematic. His hands are also molded onto his weapon. Since he holds the gun close to his chest, you need to make sure you position the arms outward far enough to clear the chest, while maintaining the proper angle so that the ends of the hands meet the sleeve cuffs. To do this, I had to trim back the joint of the left arm, where it meets the "shoulder blade" of the torso. Both figures need a bit of contour putty for the arm joints.

Both soldiers wear fantasy jackets---they are longer than the tan M1941 jacket, so they appear to be the olive drab M1943 jackets. However, they do not have the breast or front hip pockets as found on the M1943 jackets. To further confuse things, the BAR gunner's tapered button cuffs are those found on the M1943, while the cuffs on the rifleman have no buttons or tabs! Moreover, they do not have buttons up the center as both the M1941 and M1943 do. Given the length of the coat, and that the absence of the front pockets is fairly concealed by webbing, I painted them the OD color normally associated with the M1943 jacket.

The pants are featureless and can painted a greenish rust color for the wool trousers (I use one part ModelMasters Field Drab to two parts Leather) or olive drab for the herring bone tweed pants. Both figures wear canvas leggings.

This kit has the two heads that are found in #711 and #1437. Both wear the M1 helmet, one plain and one with netting. Like nearly all of the early Verlinden heads, these are rather characterless noggins with rather vacant looks. Replacement heads from Warriors or Yanks would be an improvement (Hornet or Ultracast heads are too small). The figures are on the tall side, scaling out to about 6'3" with helmets on.

Accessories include two ammo/grenade pouches, six grenades, two canteens, and a pair of shovels.

While the poor research on the jackets is unfortunate, the figures are quite serviceable, particularly because there are so few GIs posed in a firing position.

-tss-

 

Modeling the U.S. Army in WWII © 2002—2007 Timothy S. Streeter