Product Specifications.

6344, 28th Infantry Division Poland 1939. 1/35th-scale injection-molded styrene plastic with multi-media parts. Contains: 58 injection-molded styrene parts, two etched brass parts, with painting and assembly guide on the box top.

Introduction.

While DML continues to produce superior "Gen2" figure sets in styrene plastic with multi-media parts, they are also (apparently) still committed to producing figure sets in the more traditional way. From my point of view, this is a bit frustrating, since while this particular set is still well-produced, had it been done to Gen2 standards, it would have been a stunner. This is simply because it includes the only styrene rendition of a Polish soldier from the 1939 campaign that I have ever seen.

The Figures.

The figures represent three German Heer (Army) troops and a captured Polish infantryman from the September 1939 campaign. They constitute a small vignette where the three Germans are in casual poses, while the Pole, who is their prisoner, stands typically defiant with his arms folded across his chest.

All three Germans are equipped as riflemen and to that end, they are armed with the Kar98k rifle and equipped with standard field equipment including gas mask container and gas cape in carrier; bread-bag, water bottle and mess kit; entrenching tool, bayonet and rifle magazine pouches. All three wear steel helmets, one of which is topped with a two-part etched brass strap for the inclusion of foliage camouflage. As uniformed, these casually-posed figures can represent anything from pre-war soldiers, through about 1942.

The Pole is uniformed rather plainly in the M1936 design, with M1934 low boots and short ankle puttees. He wears the unique soft "Rogatywka" field cap with its distinctive square-cut crown. As he is a prisoner, he wears no other equipment. Converters may care to note that much of what the Polish infantryman wore in 1939 was of a similar enough configuration to what the Germans wore, for most of the equipment (including the Mauser rifle) to be fitted to him, with very little modification.

Molding is fairly sharp with good details throughout, especially when one considers that these figures are produced in the "traditional" manner.

Instructions.

These are printed on the box-top and are more than adequate. Instead of the usual "thumb-nail" drawings, they consist of a smaller representation of the box art, complimented by photos of each un-painted completed figure. Colors are keyed to Gunze and Model Master paints.

My references show that the Pole's boots were commonly black (as well as "rough side out" russet as depicted in the instructions), so some variation is available. In addition, most photographs show that the Poles wore collar tab distinctions, which could be rather colorful and complex. The art-work and the instructions do not depict this; the grey background for his white Piast Eagle cap-badge is correctly depicted.

Conclusion.

While not what I might have expected, this is nevertheless a fine set of fairly useful figures. Certainly, they are all well-produced and having a Polish soldier from the 1939 campaign is worth the price of admission alone.

Recommended.

- Frank V. De Sisto