ESCI – 208 – World War II British Paratroopers

Description:

Another 1983 excellent set released by ESCI, when there was little option except the old and quite ugly Airfix depiction of the same subject.

This box keep the usual 15 poses and 50 figures that ESCI made as standard, in this case, a figure with parachute has been avoided (as was included in ESCI – 209 – World War II U.S. Paratroopers 82A “Screaming Eagles”) but still we found here a pose of a Paratrooper ready to onboard into aircraft, which can be of interest for some. ESCI subtitled this set as “Battle of Arnhem” and certainly figures are appropriate for that operation.

Detail, sculpture and cast, are top class as usually ESCI did, while the selection of poses is not very imaginative either dynamic, but correct in most of the cases. There is a small error with the PIAT, also done in the British Infantry set (ESCI – 200 – World War II British Soldiers), as the PIAT is presented over a bipod, while it should be a single leg. There is no loader in this set, and in difference to the infantry set, where the munition box was present, here is totally omitted. With a bit of surgery, using a box from the Infantry set, it can be attached to another of the prone poses to create a proper PIAT team, similar as done Italeri British Infantry [UPDATED] but using the Paratroopers and probably you can do a better job on painting than i did.

Same set was later issued under Italeri brand as Italeri – 6034 – World War II British Paratroopers and the set pairs quite well with the Revell Revell – 02509 – World War II British Paratroopers set from the 90s, while more recent issues by Mars (see Mars – 72139 – British Paratroopers WWII) are too small in size compared to these figures. The excellent Waterloo 1815 – 036 – British Paratroopers with Pack Howitzer is also a great complement to both ESCI and Revell, for those looking into Arnhem action.