Vorgehende Grenadiere mit MG. Deutsches Reich 1939-45
(Advancing grenadiers with MG. The German Reich 1939-45)
Art.Nr.72527

Producer:
Preiser

Packing:
Side opening cardboard box

Type of kit:
Multi-piece, multi-option hard plastic figures , 1/72.

Quality:
Anyone familiar with the newer sets from Preiser knows that (apart being hard to get) they are just lovely. This set is no exception.
You get two identical sprues with the torsos and limbs, which sometimes can be interchanged. Heads are separate and you get 20 of them (for 12 figures), allowing for a personal choice of bare heads, helmets, peakless field cap, peaked field cap (old style), and the 1943 model. The latter items are separate and can be found on another sprue, which you get twice. On these sprues you also get a multitude of equipment: pistol holsters, backpacks, map cases, kar98k ammo pouches, Zeltbahns, mess kit, bottles, haversacks, entrenching tools, gas capes, bayonets, gasmasks and flashlights. The last two sprues are for the weaponry, giving a choice of kar98k (with our without bayonets affixed), entrenching tools (out of their scabbard, which were used as close defence weapons), stick grenades, knife, MP40 (with folded and unfolded stock and with pouches), MP44 (Sturmgewehr), MG34 and 42 (with different styles of folded and unfolded bipods) plus ammo boxes and cleaning container, the FG42 (I believe, because I‘ve only seen it with paratroop units), and (amazingly) two Panzerbüchse 39 (the first I've seen in this scale).

Instruction sheet:
Assembly suggestions on the backside and inside of the box. Some figures allow for a choice of torso-limbs combination, although not everything is possibly. The figure with the half band of ammo on his right shoulder can only be assembled with an MG on his right shoulder.
You have more latitude with the personal gear.

Decals:
Nil

General Impression:
Very nice. Personally, I would by this set for the four sprues with the equipment alone, as they are just fabulously good, and reasonably cheap.

Note:
This set does not necessarily have to be used for grenadiers, but can represent any infantry MG group. The uniforms they are wearing all have the pocket pleats, so you are quite safe to use them in a 1939-42 time setting (when the M1942 uniform without these pleats appeared), but these could theoretically be worn until the end of the war, making this set very versatile. Of course, choosing an MG42 or the M1943 field cap can only be used in their respective time-settings.
This set is very similar to Art.Nr.72504. I do not have the latter set, but judging from the pictures I have of it, it is NOT identical to this one.