This was the first 1/16th scale release by New World Miniatures and is sculpted by John Rosengrant, known previously for his work with Warriors and S&T, amongst others. It comes packaged a little differently than I am accustomed to. The package is a clear clamshell design with a full color card attached to the inner lid that serves as a painting and assembly guide. No cardboard box here. Parts were securely wrapped in bubble wrap. Be careful removing them, the parts for the helmet strap are very petit and easily missed.

The parts

I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of things upon removing the parts. First, the body of the figure is molded as one piece, right down to the “boondocker” boots, with just the arms and head being separate. This eliminates any issues with getting a good fit between upper and lower body, or the boots to the legs.





A possible down side to one piece moldings of this kind are loss of detail in the tight areas, and the possibility that any molding seems or mold mismatch will affect the whole figure and not just one particular part. As you can see from the photos, there are no problems with either in this case. Detail is all we have come to expect from a Rosengrant sculpted figure. The folds in the clothing are a thing of beauty, and mold seems, where they are found, are nothing out of the ordinary for a 1/16 scale figure.

The head wouldn’t be mistaken for one from any other sculptor, it’s a true Rosengrant. As you can see, the head and neck are molded as a single piece along with the collar of the HBT (Herring Bone Twill) uniform. This allows nice definition of the collar, much better than if it was cast as part of the overall uniform, and prevents any large gaps where the neck attaches to the body.


I tacked the parts together to check fit, and it's good. Truthfully I did it in such a rush, I can't remember if the pour stubs had already been removed for me by NWM, or if I removed them. Either way, there were no issues with them. The arms are keyed, so there’s no guesswork involved there, they fit very nicely. The collar has a wedge shaped bottom that fits into the opening in the torso. Fit here is good, the collar matching up perfectly with the molded detail on the torso. Attachment of the barrel to the stock of the shotgun is a butt joint, so careful removal of the casting block and sanding of the mating surface to get a flat attachment area is required for best fit. Even though shown in the picture of the finished figure, no sling is included for the shotgun.

Edit:A sling is meant to be included in the kit. Chris from New World Miniatures is sending a replacement for the one missing from mine









Seperate personal equipment is limited to 2 canteens and a well done M1911 , 45 caliber pistol in its holster. The shotgun ammunition pouch, attached first aid pouch, and pistol ammo pouches are molded as part of the figure, and are well done. Molding them as part of the figure assures that they have the proper “sit” on the belt and aren’t riding on top of the folds of the uniform.





When removing the pour stub from the barrel assembly, be careful. First, the end of the barrel has a fitting for attaching the M1917 bayonet. One of the pour channels attaches directly to it. It’s small and easily mistaken for part of the pour stub, and I am lucky to have looked twice before I removed it by mistake. The center pour channel attaches to the pump action grip, and requires a bit of finesse to remove without damaging the ribbed pattern. There is a mold seem down the middle of the pump handle that’s a bit of a pain to clean up, due to it running through the middle of the ribbed detail of the handle. Careful X-acto work and sanding will be required to get it cleaned up.



Personal observations.
This guy looks tired! I’m sure John wanted to portray a guy that’s just worn out by combat, and he has succeeded. From the sloped shoulders and hunched back, to the exhausted look on his face, this guy just screams exhaustion.

Scale fidelity
This guy is listed as 1/16th scale. Believe it. Even in the 1/16th scale range of figures, he is on the lean side, and that’s pretty accurate for a WWII Marine in combat. His head is little smaller than most of my other figures that are listed as 1/16, but he doesn’t look out of place with them. An S&T 1/16th scale head and helmet from their Chosin Reservoir Marines kit is just a little larger than this guys. It’s not that he’s short, he’s not, but he’s svelte.

I wish other manufactures would take note of the M1 steel pot helmet in this kit. This is how it’s supposed to look. A large dome with a subtle, recurved side profile (not flat!), with a small bill/visor.





It seems too many manufacturers out there can’t tell the difference between a helmet liner and the helmet. US M1 helmet shells were 1 size, with size adjusted to the wearer using the helmet liner. Because of this, seeing what appears to be a huge helmet on a small head is not wrong, but it is when a tiny, misshapen mushroom cap is supposed to be an M1 steel pot.

The shotgun he carries is a Winchester model 1897, used by the US prior to and throughout WWI, the inter-war years, and into WWII.


I first thought it to be a Model 12, which superseded the 1897, but closer inspection and comparison to photos of the real thing clarified it a bit. Not the most common trench gun used by Marines in WWII (that would be the model 12) but not out of place either.



Interesting note. Unlike later shotguns, the 1897 could be fired by holding the trigger down and pumping the handle to chamber another shell and fire it all in one action. This was known as slam firing. Very effective! So much so that in WWI the Germans (first to have initiated poison gas warfare)formally demanded that its use in the trenches against their troops be stopped. Their argument was basically that it was overkill and unnecessarily brutal. The US said, uh, no.

Final word
Overall an excellent figure that’s a must have for anyone who likes USMC figures, or WWII figures in general. It’s easily assembled with minimal cleanup required (a big plus for me). Sculpting is first rate, as is molding quality. Its right there with the best Warriors or S&T ever produced in this scale.
Having a WWII US Marine sporting a trench gun is a nice change from the more common Thompsons and Garands. I can only hope New World sees fit to release a few more Marines. A good flamethrower operator would be nice, as would a Navy Corpsman. I highly recommend this one to anyone. It would be a good choice for someone’s first try at a larger sale resin figure, and will provide a nice canvas for the more accomplished figure painter.

Additional photos (courtesy of New World Miniatures)



Figure courtesy of my over worked credit card.

Looks a great kit Jason.
Thanks for the review,
Carl.

Hi Chris,
Yep, there wasn't one in mine. Since thats kind of the norm for a lot of figs, I didn't really consider that it might be MIA.
Cheers
Jason

Thanks
I am happy to report I haven't found any air bubbles in my copy at all, even in some areas where you might expect to find a few. I'm betting they changed the molding on the shotgun to avoid air bubbles. Running that much resin from the arm all the way down to the tip of the barrel, in one piece, probably produced more than a few defective pieces that had to be tossed. This way they can get resin pours all along the length of the barrel. With those tiny fittings on the end for the bayonet, and all the perforation on the barrel, it probably solved some casting issues.
Cheers
Jason

Thanks Chris,
I do think the overall appearance of exhaustion is what sets him apart a bit from other figures of the same genre. Not only do I think he's physically tired, but I can really picture him staring at a dead body, either of one of his buddies or that of an enemy soldier, and wondering "when will this be over?", being totally mentally exhausted as well.
Cheers
Jason