Academy 1/35
German Supplies & Crew Set

The un-sung heroes of most any army are the guys that took care of getting food, ammo, clothes and other equipment to the front lines. It is rare you see a kit of anything other than the front line troops or tank-crewmen offered in kit form

This recent kit, by Academy, is welcome. It offers 4 figures who are posed pumping fuel and loading ammo.

The kit comes in an end-opening type box. The box art shows one figure manning a hand-cranked fuel pump that is inserted into the side of a 50 gallon drum. A second figure is on the end of the hose refueling with the nozzle end. The third figure is shown on top of what appears to be a Tiger tank (not included in the kit) receiving a round of ammo from another figure on the ground who has a jerry can in one hand, in addition to hoisting the round to the third figure with his other hand. There is also an empty ammo case shown and another jerry can in this box art.

The rear of the box is the assembly instructions, partly as photos of the 4 figures assembled and painted in full color and partly as black and white line drawings. Colors are called out by their names and not as the numbers only of some hobby paint brand. I like it this way and think it is something that other figure kit manufactures should emulate. At least I don’t have conversion lists telling me what those damn numbers mean.

What’s in the box?:

There are 3 parts trees and a length of black vinyl tubing packaged into one cello bag inside the kit. A single sheet gives general warnings in Chinese and English.

The largest of the 3 trees holds 3 jerry cans, one 50 gallon fuel drum, 2 small metal fuel cans, a back pack, the hand-cranked fuel pump, 6 wooden ammo cases (of 2 different sizes) and ammo rounds of three types: 75mm for Panthers, 75mm for Pz.Kpfw. IV’s type H/J and 88mm for Tigers. You get 6 rounds of each.

The second and third, slightly smaller trees, hold the parts of the 4 figures. They are divided into separate heads, caps, torsos, arms and legs. Two of them have cammo jackets on that are laced up the front. These have 3 strange looking horizontal pads on each shoulder. I am very curious as to what the heck these might be??? Padding, built into the jacket to take the weight of something hefted on the shoulders? If anyone knows, let me know. The other 2 figures are wearing double vested field jackets that are shown in field gray. All the figures are wearing their trousers bloused into low top shoes, Two figures are wearing peaked baseball type caps and two have side caps on. The detail on the clothing is very well defined. I particularly like the way the folds in the clothes is done. Very convincing! All three parts trees are molded in a light tan color of plastic.

A few years ago, I purchased an Ironside brand kit of a 1/35 th scale German WWII boxcar. I intend to have it being off-loaded by these guys and have a tank or an Opel Blitz truck being loaded by them. It will make a neat diorama and something you don’t often see.