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-
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