This is the first of many kit reveiws I hope to write, to help fellow modelers know what they've got to build and what to stay far away from. Many reviews are available online, but most are just "in-box reviews" meaning the reviewer just looked at the parts, and didn't build the model. These are all "full-build reveiws" which means I've built the whole kit, panted and detailed it. Look for new reviews every week!

Review #1:     DML/Dragon 6278 1/35 Last Battle GEN2 Figure set


Subject: Four 1/35 German Infantry figures, in late- war uniforms.

MSRP: $15.00 USD

Pros: EXCELLENT detail, new 2-piece torsos and heads, 2 posing options for each figure, seperate hands and boots, open/closed options on all pouches, weapons with open/closed bolt and with/without clip, panzerfaust with open/closed/used options, some empty ammo pouches, photoetched epaulettes, belt buckles, gun slings, and medals, and even a Cartograph decal sheet for the panzerfaust stencils!

Cons: All that takes a long time to put together, instructions are hard to read and too busy, uninspiring posing.

I saw this kit on my hobby shop's shelves, and it looked so nice, I said "oh, what the heck" and added it to the ever-growing pile in my closet. It's turned out to be one of the most fun kits I've ever built.

Construction started with the kneeling soldier. He has so much potential, but the pose fell short. With a little work, he can be converted into an eye-catching grende-throwing pose. I swiped one of the yelling faces from another of the figures in this set, transfered the MP-44 to the other hand, straightened the left arm, and added an excellent grenade from the newly-tooled German equipment sprue that came with this set. The result is a much better pose that is more appropriate for a "Last Stand" set - it conveys the idea of a desperate defense to the last cartridge.

The soldier that was pointing and yelling was fine out of the box, but I added a bayoneted rifle with no clip to the third figure, since that too makes look like a desperate, hand-to-hand fight, with no ammo. The figure carrying the Panzerfaust was also excellent built out of the box.

I placed my figures on a 4" square base, with a street and fallen wall, with one figure facing each corner. This tells a story that is immediately obvious: they are surrounded. Built with the above modifications, this set could built into a show-stopping vignette with lots of interesting poses and emotional faces. This kit gets 9 out of 10, the only dissapointment being the bad instructions and somewhat stiff poses. With the small parts involved, I'd recommend it only for intermediate and advanced modelers. Even then, this set is a must-have!

If you need help, please feel free to contact me via my messages.

Happy modeling!