Mars – 72142 – German Artillery Crew (Winter Uniform) with 10,5cm LG42/43 & 8cm s.G.W. 34 (WWII)

Description:

Unpainted plastic soldiers in 1/72 scale depicting German WWII troops in winter uniform, managing a 8 cm Granatwerfer 34 mortar, the standard mortar of the German army during the war, and a 10.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 42 a 105mm German recoilless gun usually issued to mountain troops or paratroops, since could be broken down into 4 loads for parachute operations.

We have complained when reviewing Mars – 72141 – U.S. Paratroopers WWII Part.II, Mars – 72140 – U.S. Marines WWII and Mars – 72139 – British Paratroopers WWII about the weird composition of the boxes and the too much repetition of the poses and some weapons, this box is a better example in terms of box composition.

Box contains 36 figures in 9 different poses and they are split in two groups, 4 of the poses manage the 8cm Granatwerfer 34 mortar, you get 4 mortars and 16 figures for this task, and the other group are 5 paratrooper poses in winter uniform managing the 10.5cm Leichtgeschütz 42, again you get 4 guns and a total of 20 figures for this task.

The composition is very similar to kit Mars – 72123 – German Paratroopers (Tropical Uniform) with 10.5cm LG 42 & 8cm s.G.W.34 (WWII), but there is an important difference here, crew for the 8cm Granatwerfer 34 mortar are regular infantry soldiers, not paratroopers, while crew for the 10.5cm Leichtgeschütz 42 are paratroopers, which is a bit of strange mix in the box. 2 Boxes with the two types of crew for an army branch would have been better.

About the guns and mortar, such weapons in soft plastic never looks too good in 1/72 scale, as well as you will need a lot of effort to clean and remove parts from sprue. About the figures, poses are good, appropriate for their task and dynamic, but cast is not so good.

With this is mind you get 4 x 10.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 42 to support Mars – 72121 – German Paratroopers (Winter Uniform) troops, and 4 x 8 cm Granatwerfer 34 to support Mars – 72111 – German elite infantry, winter dress, which is a better distribution than the other three sets reviewed in this Mars release batch.