German Air Force Ground Crew

Zvezda, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Sword's 1/72 scale scale Gannet AEW.3 is available online from Squadron.com

This set is linked to war game series marketed by Zvezda called Art of Tactic, which covers wars from different historical periods. It includes detailed rules, game boards, accessories and different scenarios etc. The WW2 game uses mixed scales consisting of 1/72 scale figures, 1/100 scale AFVs soft-skin vehicles and artillery, and 1:200 scale aircraft. More information on this can be found at www.art-of-tactic.com

As a non-wargamer I am not qualified to comment on the game’s merits, but I can assess this set’s clear potential as a diorama accessory.

Contents

The set comes in a commendably small end-opening box with attractive box art on one side and details of contents and images of the assembled items on the rear.

Inside are as two sprues in a sealed plastic bag and a small sheet of instructions in Russian and English. The instructions include brief notes on the Art of Tactic Game. The instructions are easy to follow and clearly show how the parts clip together. Speed of assembly and no glue required will no doubt appeal to youngsters. There is no painting guide, although the box-art may help in this regard, as will on-line or other reference material .

The components are very nicely produced, and seem far more suited to diorama use than war-games. After all, I assume that most recreational war-games focus on combat rather than logistical assets, and even if glued together, this set might prove a bit fragile for frequent handling.

The set consists of a base, five figures, a bomb trolley/jack, SC250 bomb, 200 litre drum, a tool-box, and two jerry-cans (one attached to an arm). The figures each consist of four parts; less for multi-pose purposes and more for tooling reasons to aid extraction form the mould I think. Sprue-gets are quite fine, and moulding is crisp with no flash evident. The figures appear convincingly mastered, as do the bomb trolley and other items.

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The figures conveniently include a spigot on each foot that can serve to aid fixing in place within a diorama, assuming that the war-game's base would be discarded by display modellers.

Whilst perhaps lacking a little of the finesse achieved by some resin figures, this injection moulded set is nonetheless sufficiently refined to give good service in a 1/72 scale aircraft diorama; the bomb trolley having particular potential to add interest. Given their small size, the figures could also be adapted with paint alone to serve as soldiers alongside German army vehicles as well. I note that Zvezda also offers Soviet Air Force and RAF ground crew sets, which at the price asked are also probably well worth checking out.

This is an inexpensive set with a lot of diorama-potential outside of the wargames market it is seems intended for.

The overall quality is very good for injected styrene figures, as it is for the equipment items also included. I am sure Zvezda recognise the dual potential of this and their other ground crew sets; I suspect that more will end up garnishing scale dioramas than fighting it out on war-games boards.

Definitely recommended.

Thanks to Zvezda for the review sample.

Review Text & Blue Background Images Copyright © 2015 by Mark Davies
Page Created 16 September, 2015
Last updated 16 September, 2015

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