In spite a common and most normal pose, WWII Germans firing off their pistols are extremely rare in the 1/72 scale. Within WWII German Army, pistols were extremely often used not only by officers, but also by various specialised troopers. For instance, MG and Mortar gunners, paratroopers, tankers or medics (but the list is much more extended) were endowed with pistols as personal weapon.
In general in the 1/72 scale some officers are shown with pistols, but the great majority wave them in the air or just hold their weapon, but not firing it off. Exceptions are the Airfix officer from German Infantry set which also was copied by Atlantic in their German Army set. The other exception, is a crouched NCO/specialised trooper available in IMEX WWII German Troopers set. So just several mere examples comparing with the impressive number of 1/72 WWII Germans......
Unfortunately, particulary in hard plastic, good palms and pistols for making conversions are only a few. Nice solutions provide the IMEX and Dragon LAH in Ardennes kits (even if this one is an American one).
Taking into consideration the just mentioned exceptions, I think this is a serious gap in the scale in portraying officers/troopers really aiming and firing off their pistols. For this reason, I try filling in the gap through various conversions.
Here there are two figures firing off their pistols (I used IMEX pistols and holsters). Both figs are extracted from Preiser set on Granatwerfer34 in action, but heavily converted.
I hope you will enjoy and find them useful.
Cristian Florescu
