Hi All,

Its review time again and this time its back to humble styrene which is less painful on the wallet. So on to the review:

DML Germania Regiment, France 1940 – Gen 2

Introduction

This set has been around for some time and adds on to DML’s growing list of Generation 2 figure kits. This set along with its Gen 2 brothers has totally changed the marketplace for styrene figures by giving a high level of detail at reasonable prices. Together with the retooling of their older kits, I can see DML giving even some of the resin figure kits out there a run for their money.

The Set
The boxart most of which has been done by the amazing artist, Ron Volstad definitely sets the mood for what’s to come inside. Unlike DML’s older figure sets, the Gen 2 sets come in a 2 piece box rather than the older single two-ended box. As such the assembly of the figure and color codes comes as a separate instruction sheet rather than at the back of the box.



Listed as over 300 pieces on their box DML has definitely set a whole new standard and approach to figure kits. On opening the kit the 300 over pieces become evident as one finds not only several DML’s standard grey sprues but a PE sheet and decals as well. The figures themselves are divided over 2 sprues (as shown in the next 2 photos below) which are already an indication of the pieces involved. However, for those that dislike fiddly diddly, tiny parts, not to worry coz the body parts have been engineered with improving detail and fit in mind rather than for the sake of giving more parts. The addition of separate collars to provide additional detail is one such example. As with most of the DML Gen 2 sets the faces and body parts are split along the mold seam lines to reduce flash. Nevertheless some flash still persists.

The fig sprues have the signboards attached as well.




The figures are kitted out in standard field grey M36 feldbluse or field blouse and straight legged, grey M35 field pants. The M36 whose design began in 1933 eventually had a blue-green badge cloth for its collar while the standard issue pants was a basic uniform wear worn by all unmounted personnel. As a sidenote all officers and senior NCOs were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms using a clothing allowance while all enlisted personnel were issued from Government supply depots.

Despite their non-combat poses, these figures offer numerous possibilities for a small stand alone vignette as well as part of a much larger dio. A complaint of DML in the past has been the fitting of weapons to the hands and in the GEN 2 sets this has been improved upon by giving separate hands and well thought off hollowed out sleeves.

Next come the bulk of the parts which DML being DML many are optional. This is good as one who’s interested in dios like me can never have enough equipment and detailed ones at that. These optional items will be great for populating any diorama. As can be seen in the next 2 pics below, magazine pouches, holsters and even water canteens come both opened and unopened for extra detail not to mention you can even pick out the stitching on the magazine pouches.




Next are the weapon sprues as well as the PE and decals. For the guns there’s both great and not so great news. The great news first, if you thought DML older sets came with very detailed guns, these ones are even better with DML’s new slide-mold technology. These are definitely better than some of the resin ones from some notable brands out there. The other good news is that there are 2 weapons you don’t see everyday in German figure sets, the MP28.II submachinegun and the Czech ZB-26.



Designed by Hugo Schmeisser, the MP28.II was an improved predecessor of the MP18, used by the German police and by SS units. Unlike MP18 it used a box, rather then snail magazine, and included some other smaller enhancements such as fire selector (the MP18 was full auto only). The ZB-26 which is the template for the famous Bren which is still used by some armies today was re-designated the MG-26 by the Germans, no doubt after they took over Czechoslovakia.

The not-so-great news is that they only gave 4 so they are no spares unlike all their other figure kits. Pity as I would love another MP28 or ZB-26. Ah well, one can’t have everything.

The little PE sheet holds all the badges/shoulder boards/belt buckle whilst the decals are for places in France.

Finally the one piece instruction sheet is simple but effective as it offers a decent view of equipment placement as well as color codes.


Comments/Recommendations

As mentioned earlier, in my personal opinion DML has definitely revolutionized the WWII figure industry or at least the styrene portion of it. This set has many pluses going for it. The poses and the thoughtful inclusion of some minor diorama materials (road signs) along with many extra personal equipment provides the modeler with the option of having these figures modeled in a small base or part of a much larger scene as mentioned. DML has definitely improved on their bland faces providing better detail although more facial expressions would have pushed the faces to an even higher level.

A recommended buy and a pretty good bargain for its price especially for the serious WWII figure modelers as well as dio enthusiasts. It also fills a much needed niche between normal detailed styrene figure kits and the generally more detailed resin kits.

All comments Welcome.

thanks CK for the very well written review...

my set is still in the box...

Ck... if u dont mind, would u take some close up picture of the face expression. ?

Thanks Zaidi for the support especially over here in our humble and small figure section. Actually both this and my Fallschirmjager set are still in their box. Hope to do the review for the Fallschirmjager later. Both have become casualities of white metal contamination. :)

Koowilliams I will try to get a closeup pic but don't expect too much expression as I mentioned in the review the details are sharper (i.e. more deep set eyes) but expression is still limited. DML's strength in my opinion in general is still their subject variety, their equipment and weapon detail and their poses as far as figs go.

CK, I have to agree with you there. The dragon figures have improved in leaps and bounds. In fact, I do say that some of the details are better than resin kits. They just need better sculptors to tackle the faces.
Thanks for the review. I am now motivated to do a set!

Do you remember their (Dragon's) initial figure attempts? Their figures then were in a yellowish styrene( especially their modern subjects). I thought those figures were nice actually as no other companies produces them.

sllim

Thanks Loo. Which Gen 2 set are you planning to work on?

I remember the brownish yellow styrene Lim. In fact I still have a few boxes, VC sapper set. Actually the old sets suffered a bit from being over scale relative to their current grey styrene kits. If you compare some of the Gen 2 figs now to the old yellow styrene sets you can see the former is slightly smaller. Nevertheless, old or new for the price and the variety if not detail, DML are still among the top makers of styrene figs.

[Off-topic] How do the Trumpeter figure sets compare with DML's pre-Gen2 kits?

Alpha7,

what do u mean by pre-GEN2 set... if you're talking about the figure set just before the gen-2 in released, then i can say that the quality is superb..that's mean the kit from 2004 and 2005....i got one set the US Marines set....

but if compare to Trumpeter kit, it's like comparing siti nurhaliza and Dato K...

hehehe

Trumpeter has a lot to learn when it comes to figures. They are stiff, poorly detailed and comparable to Academy early figure releases.

eh? Dato K quite hamsem what? :lol:

Thanks Sil and Loo. I've always wondered how they are since Trumpeter offers a lot more 'variety'. LHS seem to only stock german DML figures.

Alpha7 I reckon the stocking of DML German figs in most LHS is probably tied to demand and supply thingy. A bit like why there's more German WWII armor subjects than Allied combined.

I've never worked on any Trumpeter figs as yet but I've seen some of their up close some of their kits. As for variety as you know DML does cover a wide range of modern figs as well including a whole bunch of SF figs. Given my weakness for SF figs the offering by DML are hard to resist.

Off topic ...

IMHO, Trumpeter figures have Chinese faces. Go guess why? This can be corrected with Hornet heads.

I don't know about 'chinese' faces, but from this review on PMMS, they look more like Medusa's victims.

wooo.... short legged freak...

thanks for the review CK, it's the only gen2 set i got.... among the gen2 figs released so far, IYO which is the best?

Aah Jimbo its good to have you around the neighbourhood. I reckon the person with the most Gen 2 kits here would be Zaidi. :)

I've got this set which I reviewed and the Fallschirmjager set. Given my weakness for anything Fallschirmjager I'm impartial to the Fallschirmjager set. However, its features the early pattern smock but who cares. Comes with the equipment canisters as well if I remember correctly. I was almost tempted to get a 2nd. set for conversion purposes.

The Desperate Defense set has 6 figs so I suppose its more bang for the buck. Actually the main variance in the Gen 2 sets is the figures as the equipment throughout are standard and I believe they include these very detailed sprues for their rebox older sets. Very smart marketing move.

The weapon set varies a wee bit but apart from the spiffy MP28 and ZB26 given in this set the weapons vary very little between all the Gen 2 sets.

Koowilliams if you're out there somewhere here is a photo of the face. It's not the best pic but as I was a bit lazy to take a new set I dug this one from the earlier set. As mentioned DML has improved on their faces by giving sharper features in their Gen 2 sets but they could do with a wee bit more expression.

All in all their still a significant improvement and pretty good for styrene. Plus given the way is divided at the side flash is minimized.



The above pic also gives a view of the sharp detail of the folds on the clothes.

have to say its details is sharp and realistic enough... but looks like this gen2 figures expression is still the old FROWN face look... i thought it has something new...
thanks CK for your time to take these closeup shot...