Unboxing the Germans (Part 2)

Returning to the Panzergrenadier Company Deal which contains 3 boxs of 5 SdKfz251 for a total of 15 halftracks and one box of 130 German infantry

SdKfz 251 Ausf D Halftrack

 The box is fine, although there are no pictures of the actual models on front or back
 

I've assembled four of these so far, but the other two I converted a bit.

The models come together quickly and easily, with some fiddly bits like the machine guns

There are no options for the alternately armed forms of this vehicle, four of the options come in a separate 'conversion' box that I'll have to pick up at some point.
 

 With sensible glueing the models can come apart to make it easier to paint the interior, and to keep the fragile machine guns safe during storage.

The vehicle on the right has four sprues worth of passenger riflemen. There are four passengers (not counting the machine gunner and driver models) on each sprue, but  the guys with MP40s don't  fit together as tightly as the knee to knee riflemen.

German Infantry

 This time there's a photo of one of the models on the back, and it even seems to be the right scale.

 As with the Soviet box there are 10 Riflemen and 8 Submachine gunners on each sprue, but some of them are officers and two have optional weapons

K98 riflemen

R1 is two part with separate rifle and arm, he is also in a slighty different pose from; 

R2 & R3 duplicates with different hats

R4 & R5 are Exactly the same & R6 is a hat change duplicate, but it's a standard shooting pose.

R7 Standard kneeler

R8 Advancing and shooting guy

R9 two part advancing guy

R10 two part squating guy, same pose as the Soviet R2

 MP40 Submachine gunners

S1 looks to be an officer

S2 & S3 Hat change Officers. 
Look here PSC, I don't mind some duplicates in the Rank and File, but Characters Get Looked At!

S4 & S5 Disco duplicates, same as the awful Soviet grenadiers

S6 Two part, same as the Soviet S3 & S4

S7 & S8 Two part, these can have either a rifle or submachine gun

Slightly more poses here than the Soviets, which is good, the majority are re-dressed and improved soviet poses.

 

Comms guy is an odd three-part model (left side, right side, radio backpack) and looks rather good

Medic is wearing an obvious red cross tabard.
One medic for ever 26 men will look a bit repetitive, I'm sure there are other ways I can use him

G1 & G2 are twin Machine gunners

L1 & L2 are their twin Loader, cool models none the less, but I'd prefer a duplicate of;

G3 & L3 in their cool firing pose

It is nice to have a third squad MG per sprue, especially as you'll need a lot for the well equipped German forces.

No other heavy weapons, the anti-tank stuff is all in a separate box, which is another purchase I'll have to make as I expand.

Conclusions

Overall a nice set, less duplicated than the Soviets, but still a few bum poses.

The half tracks are easy to assemble, with crisp detail and a ton of stowage options.

I plan to use the spare halftrack machine guns to up arm my infantry, and the stowage backpacks will add even more variety to the infantry.

~ Bob