Advantages: Nicely done, good animation, excellent details

Disadvantages: multipiece bodies always somewhat problematic to clean up upon assembly

Rating: Recommended

Recommendation: For German fans

DML has continued with its line of 1/16 (120mm) figures, even though they are being outsold by their line of 1/6 scale "GI Joe" style warriors. This is the latest in the series, an MG 42 gunner from the Battle of the Bulge.  For those not familiar with it, Kampfgruppe Hansen was one of the sections of the German army which became famous through the fact that they had combat photographers with them. After the ambush of a US column, they went through the burning vehicles and rummaged around for food and cigarettes. There are many well-known photos which came from this documentation of their raid, and many people associate the initial German successes with these photographs.

The MG 42 gunner is dressed for the occasion, and comes with his weapon, ammunition belt, and a captured Browning High Power 9mm pistol. Both the inside bottom of the box and the cover have Ron Volstad's great artwork which shows how to paint him up, with a foul weather protective smock over his normal camouflaged uniform smock. He also comes posed with a "liberated" cigarette in his left hand, but the modeler must add the "butt" from stretched sprue. The hands and one thumb, as well as the cuffs of the camo smock, are separate parts.

Overall, this is a nice figure, but I wish DML would provide more than a "one note samba" of steady German subjects and provide something different, like a "Digger" or Indian in the desert, or US tanker.