1:35 Waffen-SS MG42 Team Set

An MG42 machine gun team, a figure set 1:35

This set from the PANZER ART brand captures the crew of the MG42 general-purpose machine gun. Unlike the individually listed figures of the same theme it is built as a group, so the figures speak to each other in a scene and complete one another in their roles around the weapon. They can be laid out in a single stance as well as in a short move.

How the machine gun crew worked

A machine gun was never worked by a single soldier. Beside the gunner an assistant was needed, who brought the ammunition belts, watched their feeding and helped with changing the red-hot barrel; a further man carried ammunition up from the rear. A move to a new position was made as a group and quickly, because a machine gun nest is given away by sound as well as by smoke. The gunner needed support, so the crew often pressed itself to a terrain edge or to the lip of a trench. The set carries this division of work over into 1:35 scale.

Putting the group together

Stand the figures dry first and check whether they all have the same level of base; with kneeling or lying figures the terrain has to be adjusted, so that nobody hangs in the air. Finish the weapon separately and fit it only once dry. Unify the dusting across all the figures, so that the scene holds together. Glue the small gear on right at the end, so that it does not fall off during handling.

Which builds the set suits

• Dioramas with a firing position and the defense of a line
• Completing larger scenes with infantry and equipment
• Modelers who put groups of figures together into a story
• Collections of infantry weapon themes in 1:35
• Builds in which the division of work between the figures is to show