1:72 Russian Assault Troops WWII

Specialists in taking a position

From 1943 the Red Army built up separate assault engineer brigades, that is units intended for a single task: to break through a fortified object. Their men were issued a steel breastplate, a submachine gun of short range, bundled demolition charges, a flamethrower and a stock of hand grenades. They trained in close combat, in getting over obstacles and in advancing through urban buildings from cellar to cellar. On a modeling scene they are recognized at once, because no other infantry of that time wore a metal plate across the chest.

Thin parts and their bending

It is precisely with figures equipped like this that the typical problem of small castings appears. The barrel of a flamethrower, an antenna, a bayonet or an outstretched arm with a grenade have a cross section smaller than a pin at 1:72 scale, so they bend to one side easily during molding, packing or transport.

Straightening with heat, not with force

A bent part must never be bent back cold, because the plastic goes white at that spot and cracks. The safe way leads through hot water: the figure is dipped for a few seconds into water just below boiling point, carefully straightened into the right position with tweezers and immediately transferred into cold water, which fixes the shape. The procedure will stand being repeated several times and is also suitable for tilted bases and wavy groundwork.

A figure that does not stand upright can be dealt with in the same way. A warmed sole can be pressed onto a flat board and left to cool in the right position, so that the result does not rock once it is seated in a scene.