Just to confirm, Tamiya product #32552, WW2 US Infantry at Rest, contains parts to assemble something that looks astonsihingly like a 1/48 Jeep. As with many Tamiya kits, in both 1/48 and 1/35, in recent years, there’s no reference to the vehicle’s actual name, or any badging that might be perceived as a registered trade mark, to avoid having to pay licence fees.
I bought one of these in my LHS a few weeks ago, for £GB11.99 (say $US 17.00). I’ve been trying to avoid jumping on the 1/48 military bandwagon, but having built a couple of their 1/48 military vehicle kits for review, have begun to realise that many of them are rather good, and while I won’t be buying much 1/48 armour anytime soon, the softskins and figures are worth having. As well as the jeep, the set incudes a driver, six further GIs in non-combat poses, figures of Generals Patton and Eisenhower, and, of course, the ubiquitous jerry can, oil drum and bags sprue. If you do any work at all in 1/48 which includes US WW2 subjects, I’d say that this is an essential addition to your spares box, if not your stash.
Cheers,
Chris.
Thanks for the info on the “Follow ME” Jeep, Rick… Planned on doing one of those the hard way if there was a Tamiya kit (want the US Staff Car as well)… Didn’t know about the Hasegawa one…
Regarding the US Infantry at Rest set, Chris… When you reviewed it, did you scale the figures out? The other Infantry set, the figures scaled out to 5 feet tall and were smaller all around (heads, arm lengths, torsos)than any other 1/48 scale figures Tamiya and others included in their aircraft kits, the 1/48th Monogram US Paratroopers from the C-47 kit being my unoficial “yardstick”…
I wanted the Infantry figures for 1/48th aircraft dioramas (same reason I bought the dueces and Kubelwagen) since it’s way cheaper to get those figures and convert them into USAAF groundies than to buy resin AM “mechanic” sets… Needless to say, they’re useless for anything outside grouping them together with other Tamiya armor, since they don’t look big enough next to any 1/48th aircraft (even Tamiya) either… I wrote Tamiya USA about it and received a standard, “Thanks for tellin’ us, we’'ll tell Japan” reponse…
Hans, I actually paid for this set out of my own money! Wanted the jeep, and needed the bags. Haven’t measured the figures yet - I do hope Ike and Ole Blood’n’Guts aren’t the same height!
Update: I’ve measured up two of the GIs, Ike and Patton. Not good news. The two GIs scale out at 4’10" and 5’2" respectively, Ike at 4’10" and Patton at 4’11". At least the figures are in proportion, and should fit into vehicles without problems. Just have to keep them away from fighres in other 1/48 figures, I guess! Later on today, I’ll measure the figures which come with the Tamiya Fieseler Storch, and see if the news there is any better.
Back in the late 1960s/ early 1970s, when Tamiya first brought out 1/35 figures, they were noticeably short, too. It was said that this was because they had used a typical Japanese, as opposed to European or North American, young adult male as their starting point. I wonder if they’ve done the same here?
Cheers,
Chris.
Yeah, I was afraid of that… A 4-foot 11 Patton? Ike was no giant, but I betcha Ol’ B&G is rollin’ in his grave… Especially since it’s a Japanese company…
I was pretty disappointed when I got the other figures home and had everything prepped for an evenng of figure-bashing for my B-17 diorama and then upon opening the kit, “WTF?” was quickly followed by an “Ahh, sh*t”…
I ain’t sure Tamiya is THAT stupid though… I’d almost hope that it was a deliberate attempt, a marketing ploy to “force” modelers into not mixing their stuff with the modeler’s own stuff to increase sales…
I believe Tamiya used their own figures, cleaned up, as the basis for their 1/48 scale figures. If you start with a prototype that’s a little too small, then when you reduce the scale, you’ll get something similarly smaller.
Hans, you may want to look for ICM and Eduards line ups. They have been coming out with lines of injection plastic ground crew figures for various air forces in their 1/48 product lines. I have the ICM VVS and RAF sets and they look pretty good. Neither group is very pricey, and they are less than resin. They usually have those nice little accessories too.
As Rob says, most,if not all, of Tamiya’s 1/48 figures are copies of their 1/35 figures, scaled down. The British Infantry set, for example, includes the French farmer that came with the Churchill, and also includes a couple of cider bottles, but not his cart. Not noticed that, apart from the early figures noted above, that the 1/35 figures were too short. Must go and measure a few. Mind you, the 1/35 Ike and Patton were some of these ‘shorties’, so that might explain it.
The ICM figures are basically good. I have their VVS and RAF sets, and they have some nice touches ,such as a workbench with vice and tools in the VVS set, and a WAAF and a red setter in the RAF one. They make the occasional goof, though. This guy:
comes from the ICM RAF figure set. Problem is that the original set has him wearing his flying helmet, all closed up, with oxygen mask on, and moulded directly onto his torso. Luckily the set comes with several alternative heads, easy to swap after a little surgery.
Cheers,
Chris.