Plastic Soldier Company 1/72 Germans overview

With my US Infantry and Armour completed it's time to get back into my comfort zone and do some Germans. It was a toss up between doing some SS or Heer, but as between having a nice selection of Plastic Soldier Company stuff to hand, and wanting to do something more generic first a Heer Infantry platoon seemed to be the ideal start point.






I've assembled this force with the Battlegroup rules in mind, though it's layout is virtually identical to my late war Heer army for Bolt Action too, all be it in a different scale. This is a 300 point Battlegroup force, put together using the Infantry division list in Battlegroup Overlord.








To build the force I have used the Late War German Infantry and Heavy Weapon sets from Plastic Soldier company, as well as a single StuG and a Zvezda Pak 40. Much as I like the American sets, I found the German Infantry to be much better sculpts, with crisper details and more expressive faces, and the heavy weapons are more to consistently sized.





The Late War German infantry set contains 54 hard plastic figures on 3 sprues, and consists of 6 NCO/Command type figures, including a radio operator. There are also 36 Rifle men, with a couple having the option to be equipped with either MP40's or K98's. Finally there are 6 2 man LMG teams, consisting of 3 redeploying teams, and 3 prone firing teams. To round out the set there are a few spare heads, some wearing M43 caps, some wearing helmets both with and without covers, and finally a head with a bandage.

I've used these on my command squad to help them stand out and add a little distinctiveness to the squad. Poses are great, being a mix of moving and firing, with a few kneeling figures but no prone apart from the LMG teams. The Figures wear the standard late war uniform of M43 tunics and a range of field gear. Most wear helmets with a mix of plain pots and and helmet covers being present.

The German Heavy weapon set is a fantastically useful set, I've barely begun to touch the contents of mine, however it contains  45 plastic figures who crew 3 tripod mounted MG42's, 3 82mm Mortars, 3 120mm Mortars, 6 Panzerfausts, and 6 Panzershrek teams.





 



The Mortars and MG's are designed to have 3 man crews and the set comes with a range of poses to support this. I've modelled my MG42 with a loader team as well using a few spare figures from both the PSC sets.  These are again very nice figures, with nice looking weapons.

I've not built any of the heavy mortars yet, or the moving Panzershrek team however you can see the 'Fausts, MG42, firing 'Shrek crew and the 82mm Mortar in my force. at around £12 this set is so useful to have in the spares box as an extremely economical way to add a bit of heavier fire support to your platoons.

If you've followed my work you'll probably be aware that the StuG III is one of my very favourite armoured vehicles, so whilst putting this force together having at least one had to be done, so I tagged a single reinforcement one onto my order (This has now been joined by another 3...).

 I've long wanted to do a StuG with some missing sections of track guards, so as the track detail is rather nice I trimmed the right fender off. Technically I should have done this after test fitting the parts, but luckily the way the kit is designed this wasn't an issue...




Plastic Soldier Company's StuG III is an extremely simple kit, however it comes with a nice range of options allowing both mid and late production variants, with both box and saukopf mantlets, and a 105mm Howtizer too for building a StuG 42.

 Schurzen is provided with a very clever one piece rail system. This is a little thick for the scale, but is sturdy and still look good in place. The set vehicle is rounded out with a commander figure and a run of spare tracks, no decals are included. PSC's StuG III comes either singly at £6.99 or as a 3 vehicle set for £14.95.









Rounding out the force I have used Zvezda's 1/72 Art of Tactic PAK40, and an Academy models 1/72 Kubelwagen. The Kubel is a very simple kit, and can be obtained as part of a set alongside a Willy's Jeep, Kettenkrad and some stowage items for around £5-£8 on eBay.

The Zvezda PAK40 is designed as a wargames kit but is very detailed, and didn't come with instructions, so was a bit of a fight to assemble, and there are some odd moulding decisions with the crew, with hindsight I'd replace them with a metal set. Plastic Soldier Company have just brought out a very nice looking set of a PAK with RSO tractor though which could also be an option. The saving grace of the Zvezda PAK is that I think it cost around £3.50 including postage.

Paints used were Vallejo's Russian uniform as a base for the field grey, with increasing amounts of Vallejo deck tan mixed in, with a final highlight of pure deck tan, then a wash with a mix of army painter green and soft tone inks with a further final highlight of deck tan.

The StuG was painted with Vallejo Middlestone with some airbrushed highlights of Pale Sand, and a disruptive pattern of German Camo Dark Green and Black red lightly airbrushed over, with weathering achieved using a range of AK and MIG pigments and washes.

As ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service, and you can check out the Plastic Soldier Company range at their website.