Mars – 72139 – British Paratroopers WWII

Description:

Unpainted plastic soldiers in 1/72 scale depicting WWII British Paratroopers, suitable for the late war such the famous (or infamous) operation Market Garden in 1944.

The box contains 40 figures in 8 different poses. In just 8 poses you can find a well assorted bunch of different weapons as the 2 inch Mortar Mk 7 (managed by two of the poses), that lasted in the British army till the 80s, one of the poses is firing a M1911 pistol, two poses carry the standard Lee–Enfield rifle, one pose, throwing a grenade, has a Sten and another pose is firing a Bren light machine gun. The last pose is using a flamethrower, probably a Flamethrower, Portable, No 2, which was not a common British Paratroopers weapon, but it’s registered that they attempted to take the Arnhem bridge using one, which reinforce the idea of use these plastic soldiers in the Market Garden operation. We amend ourselves here after figures has been released, this last pose is firing also a Sten sub-machine gun, fitted with a grip in the forward, a later Sten model, which makes this pose more usable.

All together the set misses a weapon commonly used by British Paratroopers since Normandy battle, as was the PIAT, a portable anti tank that for sure was also in Arnhem, and which had an important role in the take of the Pegasus Bridge during the early battle of Normandy, the other main action where a modeler could use the British Paratroopers.

The selection of the poses is not bad, but only eight in a total of 40 figures means you get each figure repeated 5 times, so you get 5 mortars, 5 flame-throwers, 5 Bren light machine gun and 5 men firing just a pistol, which obviously produce a totally disproportioned troop. This a recurrent problem on the late Mars sets, specially those from WWII era. The best you can do is share each set with one or two friends.

*At the time of write this we haven’t seen any example of the real figures, keep in mind that painted figures in the back box are the 1/32 scale big brothers.