ICM WWII German Military Medical Personnel (35620) 1:35

WWII German Military Medical Personnel (35620)

1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd

It’s a sad fact that war causes not just death and privation, but also injuries from cuts and bruises to horrific injury and amputations.  The quicker that a wounded soldier receives medical attention, the better the chance of them surviving, which is today referred to as the ‘Golden Hour’, so an integral part of any fighting force is a medical corps that receive basic medical training, and travel where the soldiers go. They also go into battle with the regular soldiers wearing nothing but a Red Cross arm-band to save them from being targeted for death at the enemy’s hands… hopefully.  The cry of “medic!” is foremost in a soldier’s mind when he or one of his comrades are injured, and the medics don’t hesitate to put themselves into the same situations that caused the soldier’s injury in the first place.  Many medics have become casualties of war themselves due to the frontline nature of their duties, and many a soldier owes their life to these brave and often selfless medical practitioners.

The Kit

This figure set arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and a captive flap on the lower tray.  Inside are three sprues in grey styrene, one containing the figures, and two their accessories and a collection of weapons, which would typically be only have been carried by their patients.  There are four figures in the box, one of them the patient that is lying prone on the ground, while the other three medics crouch over the casualty, busily tending to their needs.  One chap is holding a drip bottle as high as he can in an attempt accelerate its progress, while the gentleman in the forage cap seems to be offering comfort or holding a bandage in place on the casualty’s leg, while the final medic has the patient’s ankle raised while the bandage is applied or adjusted.  The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up.  Because of their forward-leaning crouching poses, some of the boots, hands and forearms are separate from their limbs, and you will need a little wire to replicate the feeder tube from the drip bottle.  The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model.

The accessories include the standard kit that all German troops would start out with, such as canteen, cylindrical gas mask container, stahlhelms, mess kit, bayonet in a scabbard, and an entrenching tool.  Equipment such as binoculars, rifles, MG34 with bipod, MP40 and various ammo and map pouches are also provided in case you wish to add them to your scene.  There is also a set of webbing laid out flat on the ground on the main figure sprue, as if it has been removed before treatment began.

The instruction sheet has a sprue diagram on one side above a colour chart that has colour swatches and ICM colour codes, with an incitement to check out their colour set #3022, which contains many of the colours you’ll need.  On the opposite side are drawings of the figures, which have colour codes called out in letter codes in red boxes, and the individual parts in black along with the letter of their sprue.  You’ll need to apply a little common sense to the location of some parts where the join isn’t visible, but it’s nothing that a few moments of contemplation and test-fitting won’t resolve.

Conclusion

This set will be best used in a diorama or vignette, although they could just as well be painted and placed on your cabinet shelf without going to the trouble of creating a scene.  Great sculpting and poses from ICM, as usual.

Highly recommended.

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

Review sample courtesy of