Russian Anti-Tank Dog

Kit # TM010

The Soviet Army in WW2 is known to have trained dogs to crawl under tanks, hoping that they'd do the same in combat situations with an explosive strapped to their backs.
Apocryphical reports teach us that they did as advertised, with the minor inconvenience that they crawled under the same Soviet tanks that had been used for training.

This set represents such a dog (with explosives), apparently a German Shepherd (no pun intended), with two Soviet soldiers.

Sculpting is very nice, with convincing poses. Very minor amounts of flash are present, but no other blemishes. The only thing the modeler will need to ad is a leash for the dog.
The crouching figure holds a circular object in his left hand, which I haven't been able to identify. It looks like a frisbee, which I am sure Soviet troops wouldn't have been playing with close to the front-line, so I guess it must represent something else.

This set will open up some nice diorama possibilities and is recommended for its originality.

Picture from manufacturer.

Review sample kindly provided by TAS Models.

Bert Donker comments:
Although a nice looking set it must be said the 2 soldiers are direct copies of Italeri's Russian soldiers in winter gear (Ed. Note: set 6069). My guess is that the circular device in the hands of the left-hand soldier is not so much a frisbee for the dog but a spare magazine for the machinegunner in the original set.

Article Last Updated: 19 November 2012