1/72 CAESAR - WWII German Army with long coat (Img and Review)

This is the first set that I review from Caesar's pre-painted figures included in the Parade Series. Of course, I repainted them and I hope you will enjoy this review. Last photos present them as they were painted in the factory as well as two pictures with the entire first six sets of the series. 

Because of the an unhappy positioning off the light, the uniform of some figs may appear a little glossy..

Cristian Florescu  

CAESAR 1/72

Parade Series

"WWII German Army with long coat"

"(attack poses)"

Review  

Nowadays, on the market there are present several companies offering pre-painted figures that may be useful for some wargamers or other persons that does not have time enough for completely painting soldiers. In addition, there can be cases when the modeller will just add several details to these troopers, avoiding in this way operations that would take more time. Caesar joined the directory of pre-painted figures manufacturers through releasing a first list of six such sets, grouped in a new series entitled Parade. In the preamble of the series, the company mentions that the soldiers are addressed to wargamers or collectors, so a diorama builder should not be disappointed when seeing the level of painting on the figures. All are fast painted, and definitely some of us will not be satisfied with the featured paint and try to improve the look of the figures, entirely repainting them. This is not such a big issue, it can be done like with an unpainted set while the figures did not lose to much details from factory painting, so it is possible to paint them over what the factory did, passing up the complicate and time requesting action of erasing the factory paint. Cesar is famous for almost entire absence of flash on their unpainted sets related to WWII Germans, but it is not the case here. For the standards of a diorama builder, flash is too much and another important step before starting to repaint is removing the flash from these figures because the painters from the factory did not spend their precious time with such a process.  Another major difference noticed at the Parade series troopers is that they are a little smaller than their not painted comrades from Caesar's common sets related to WWII Germans. Nevertheless, the present figures are 1/72 and their size of bodies, heads, weapons and gear are exactly like Preiser's as well as other manufacturers, so no need for worrying, there are hundreds of perfect companions for these figures. Emplacing the soldiers from Parade Series on the same diorama with Caesar's German Infantry with Winter Gear or German Late War Infantry, it is a little tricky and will require some efforts aiming good positioning in order to avoid a noticeable discrepancy.  However, the wargamers will not be disturbed too much about such an issue, the difference is really small and only putting two figures shoulder to shoulder it becomes evident. 

First sets incorporated in the Parade Series treat different topics on the cloths of the German soldiers, the camouflage smocks, M36 tunics and great coats. Probably, troopers dressed in M36 tunics are the most often in the scale, but soldiers dressed in smocks or great coats are never enough. For camouflage smocks there Parade Series addresses most of its first sets, namely four, all entitled Panzergrenadiers and the number of the set while figures dressed in great coats and M36 tunics received for the moment only one set for each. Taking into account not only that to the set with M36 tunics was given in the title and number 1, but also the Caesar's announcement of set 2, it is assessed that at least set 2 is going to come. Furthermore, on manufacturer's site there could be seen in the last two photos of preview (4 and 5) several painted poses that did not appear in the first sets, and considering their cloths, these can be the future WWII German Army set number 2. The only set not having a number is the one related to greatcoats. Likewise, a really nice thing is that the poses from all sets are unique, not even once repeating and will make more than happy the fans of combat poses, as even the subtitle of each set emphasizes, "Attack Poses". In addition, there exist extra data foreseeing Caesar's intention to produce sets incorporating the unpainted versions of the present figures, but perhaps for marketing reasons, the launch of these sets is delayed.   Almost certainly, based on both the information made available on the internet by Caesar and the traditional sets of 10 poses previously released by this manufacturer, the unpainted sets will compile the poses from two painted sets, for example Panzergrenadiers set 1 and Panzergrenadiers set 2 will become the announced unpainted German Panzergrenadiers set 1. Without doubt, many modellers will avoid paying for 5 figures the same money as for 40 unpainted versions and will rather wait to come out on the market such sets. Still, the Parade Series has his target groups as well as anxious modellers having no patience to hang around while some new interesting and attractive figures are available.

The box used for delivering the figures could also bring its contribution to the price increment, the soldiers come in a nice Plexiglas box allowing the customers to view what they purchase. This box is covered by another cardboard one side opened box, depicting the name of company and set as well as other information. It also features two soldier heads on each side, a German and an American and a background with a street fight involving a Panzer IV accompanied by several soldiers, a good idea for a diorama.  The figures are fixed inside the box with a device and taking them off implies the removal of the front or back pin. Likewise, the Plexiglas box is quite nice and may be used for keeping other items or figures.

Returning to "WWII German Army with long coat" it should be stressed again that this is the only set of the series not possessing a number in the title, and in this regard, its unpainted version could take more, having to wait that at least other five poses to be sculptured. The set contains five figures dressed in great coats and suitable for colder seasons, but in some extent, they may be employed even in warmer periods. All figures come with bases that can be easily removed, the soft plastic allowing a fast surgery. With a little luck, the modeller will have the pleasant surprise to discover that the figures have a good balance and even after removing the bases, stand without any supplementary support. It is not such an important detail due to the fact that those who remove bases, then glue their figures on dioramas or other bases, but balance without bases is an appreciated value, permitting to better perceive how the figures will look in the diorama, giving a helpful-hand to the best positioning. Except their great coats that could be taken as M42, they also wear regular trousers, long marching boots and steel helmets. The gear is quite unitary for these soldiers, all having gas mask containers, bread bags, canteens, and folding combat shovels while only few were endowed with bayonets and mess tins. Weaponry is composed by two Kar98K and three MP40, all the soldiers having accurate ammo pockets related to their fire arms. In addition, a good thing is that the MP40 troopers have ammo pockets on both sides, exactly how KStN stipulated. Nevertheless, not all Germans respected the regulations, and there are some reference images revealing soldiers with only one ammo pouch for MP40.

The poses are quite common for Braille, but still great for figures having attacking tasks and bring with them a lot of action. All soldiers are caught using their weapons, four in standing and one in crouched poses. Both riflemen are aiming as well as at least one MP40 gunner who fires off his weapon from the waist. Another MP40 soldier could either fire or just advance, his pose can be interpretable and for this reason its usefulness is higher. Last pose of the mini-set is a StiHg-r 24 grenade-thrower, excellently detected right in the middle of the act. In the other hand he holds an MP40 and an almost identical pose is encountered in Caesar's unpainted "German Infantry (Late War)" set. However, there are several differences between these two figures such as uniforms, size and facial expression. Certainly, this pose is one of the best of a grenade thrower in the scale, so no wonder why the manufacturer made use of it again. 

The great coats have nice sculptured creases, shoulder boards and other small details, but the buttons are not all depicted. A strong point of the featured great coats is that they allowed to be seen a large part of the trousers, and at the bottom these are not thick. Weapons are also well done, especially the MP40s and match in size similar objects from the scale. The anatomy is good even if some may comment that the palms are a little too big, but nothing disturbing or contradicting a real human body. The facial expressions are well done and there can be seen even the face lines. Moreover, there are no differences in gear, weapons or body parts sizes between the poses and they should be enclosed in the medium range of the 1/72 Germans. For this reason, they match extremely good with their colleagues included in various Preiser sets, Esci "German Soldiers"/Italeri „German Infantry", Revell „German Armoured Infantry" and Airfix  „German Infantry" (only the 1/72 poses in that set).

Flash is present on all figures, but it is not impossible to be removed like it is the excess of plastic encountered at the two MG gunners firing off their weapons. In the contact area between body and weapon there is excess of plastic and it is almost impossible to escape of it without alternating the figure. Of course, there can be found solutions, but these require a lot of time and little modifications to the figure such as removing the arm, cleaning the excess and then gluing it back. Too much effort which is not so necessary due to the fact that this excess is not so annoying and is pretty common at German troopers in similar pose belonging to other manufacturers.  In spite of being pre-painted, the plastic used satisfactory accepts enamel and it is not necessary to remove the factory paint. The paint with which the soldiers were done has a gloss appearance, so many of us will prefer to repaint them, than having some shinny units.

The present set brings with it the atmosphere of the combat through several nice, but not spectacular figures. The pre-painted issue may please some target groups while other potential interested people will be disappointed by this approach and will rather prefer to wait for the set including the unpainted version.  

FACTORY PAINTING