Modern US Infantry & Modern US Infantry in Action

Manufacturer: Preiser (72500 & 72519)

I am providing a combined preview of these two sets because of their similarities. Overall, I am happy with them, but I don't think that Preiser put as much effort into these two sets as they have in their German figures. Generally speaking, the detail is quite a bit softer on these sets, and there is a distinct lack of options included. In the German Infantry sets, the figures are multi-pose, with separate torsos, arms, and often also heads. There was also a lot of extra personal equipment included giving the modeler lots of extras for dioramas. None of these features are provided in these US Infantry sets. There is no multi-pose, and no added accessories. Some of the arms are separate, which will give us a little bit of latitude for making unique figures, but not much.

That being said, I will point out that these are the only modern US infantry figures available in styrene. There are also none in resin. There are two sets in soft plastic, one from ESCI (OOP) and one from Revell. Both of those sets have some outstanding poses, and combined with these new figures from Preiser, will give many options for dioramas.

The first set is for non-action dioramas. Included are two identical sprues, with eight figures each, for a total of 16 figures. Again, because there are only a few optional arms, we are limited in uniquely posing them.

The second set is an In Action set, with 12 figures. Although this is not a lot of figures, at least they are all unique poses. Most of the weapons are M16's, but there is also a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) and what I think is a Dragon AT missile launcher.