I am done building my 1/35 Dragon T26E3 Pershing (and about to start the painting) and am trying to decide upon a suitable TC figure for the hatch, I have narrowed it down to three options, but would like some opinions on the three from the tread heads here. No I am not gonna go out and buy any others, as my new kit budget is $0 nowadays and I have to live off the stash for the foreseeable near future.
These are the three figures, from L to R Dragon, Belgo, and Tamiya taken from the venerable M4A3 kit
I placed each in the open TC hatch
Dragon
Belgo
Tamiya
let’s hear it guys, which of these do you favor/prefer?
Oh I will be painting them all at once (as you can see the Dragon one was started some time ago). You can never have enough TC figures. I just wanted some input from the forum here. Which one do you like Gamera?
Ah ok! I have to split my vote for the Dragon and Belgo figures. Not sure which I like better, but I like them both more than the Tamiya figure though.
Why not put all of them on the tank? Reminds me of that thread “what do we learn about WWII looking at the models” - one point was “every tank only had a crew of one” [:D] Good luck with those figures, have a nice day
LOL! I originally was thinking of doing all the hatches open with a figure in each hatch. But then I decided I wanted it in a semi buttoned up state with only the TC exposed. I may build my Tamiya Pershing with all the hatches open and the tank “mostly crewed”. After all, the gunner never gets his own hatch except on a Panzer MK III and Mk IV.
So as it stands now, the Dragon TC figure seems to be garnering the most support. Not quite unanimous but certainly most favored.
I think the Dragon figure’s your best bet for having only one figure displayed and the rest buttoned up. Tamiya guy’s pose would have to be altered to look right and the Belgo figure just seems too small for some reason. I’m sure there were under-sized tankers in WW2 but he doesn’t quite look right for 1/35 to my eyes.
Thanks for all the input guys. It would seem that the Dragon figure is the runaway favorite here. The Belgo guy is indeed quite lanky/wiry, but then again he is not overaged and overweight like re enactors ;-). He would probably look good on on of my Italeri 76mm M4A1 or A3 builds. Both of those appear scaled a bit smaller in 1/35 to my eye. And both figures stand head and shoulders taller than the Tamiya tanker.
well here is the Belgo figure primed and posed next to a Tamiya Pershing/Winter M4A3s TC figure bust. Those two are very close in build and scaling out…
I agree with the others that the Dragon TC looks the best, but the only thing that bothers me is his headgear. It looks like he is wearing a steel pot, rather than the conventional tanker’ s headgear the other figures have on.
