Revell – 02502 – World War II German Infantry (Deutsche Infanterie WWII)

Description:

World War II German Infantry

Unpainted and unassembled plastic soldiers in 1/72 scale depicting German Infantry during WWII, specially designed for the late war, late 1944 and 1945.

Box contains 48 figures in 12 different poses, including some support weapons.

A brief description of the sprues content:

First sprue:

• First row, first sprue, 4 figures with the German StG 44 assault rifle, available since late 1943 but not in effective numbers never. Same row contains 3 figures with a flamethrower which seems to be a Flammenwerfer 35 decently modeled and it’s an interesting figure thought some flat, but not scaring.
• Second row, first sprue, 5 figures kneeling and firing what seems to be a Karabiner 98k in a decent pose.
• Third row, first sprue, introduces one of the awkward poses of the kit, too flat, a man running in a weird pose, carrying what could be a Gewehr 43 or Gewehr 41 but the magazine is badly moulded and would be better to trim it.
• Fourth row, first sprue, four men marching with a Panzerfaust on the left shoulder which could have been a great pose but have been totally flattened for moulding purposes and looks awkward. Next to them, another interesting poses, two prone men firing a Panzerschreck in an excellent pose. Lastly one more figure of the same figure from second row.

Second sprue:

• First row, second sprue, one not bad not good men throwing a grenade and with a MP 40, five figures.
• Second row, second sprue, one of the most iconic figures in this set, and officer kneeling and signaling, two figures, and close to them, four figures launching a M24 grenade in a bundle charge configuration with up to seven grenades, six around a full grenade.
• Third row, second sprue, a sort of sniper in a non sniper pose, totally exposed, five figures and close to them the bases for the MG 42 machine gun in the next row.
• Fourth row, second sprue, two teams firing an MG 42 from the shoulder in an excellent pose, the men firing is kneeling, and the other men seats so the MG 42 rest in his shoulder. A must have from this set. Lastly, next to them two more figures of the pose in the first row, first sprue, with an StG 44.

Our opinion:

This original Revell kit was released in 1995, at that time, there was no other option for a late war German infantry in the market, this set introduced weapons not seen before and improved some existing poses such the flamethrower or the MG 42. It was 11 years before Italeri release of their German Elite Infantry (which is also full of lights and shadows, lot of shadows) and 9-10 years before Caesar Miniatures appeared in the market and much more years till they started to produce late war German infantry sets. This kit was an innovation and some of their poses are still valuable almost 30 years after its release. Sadly as every single Revell figure set is largely out of production years ago. If you still haven’t one copy, you should try to get one before they are totally gone and prices raise more.