Model Armour

US Navy Waves

Women at War

Manufacturer: Masterbox

Scale: 1/35

Material: Styrene

Serial Number: MB3556

Price:  £6.87 Lucky Model.com

Introduction

Masterbox from the Ukraine is another eastern European plastic kit manufacturer that produces injection moulded kits of reasonable quality.   They have risen to prominence over the last couple of years however, as a result of releasing slightly unusual, but really useful figure sets.  They even have a small number of vehicles in their range, which are generally not viewed as favourably.

Contents

The set consists of just one sprue of tan-coloured plastic. On it you'll find all the parts necessary to construct two male and two female figures, plus a parakeet...exact species unknown....and a small monkey!

The parts for the figures are conventional in that we're given a separate upper torso, arms, legs, head and headgear. There is a small amount of flash on some of the parts, and the moulding is a little soft in areas.

The first male figure, that of a naval Lieutenant Officer, is posed wearing dress whites, standing straight with hands clasped in front of him holding something similar to a large diary....this is moulded integrally with his left arm. His cap is unusually, moulded in two parts perhaps in an attempt to offer better detail and it seems to have worked. Although it would take a microscope to paint in his badge, the kit part does offer a reasonable compromise should you not wish to go down the route of trying to find an aftermarket decal, which I imagine would not be easy?

The other male figure, that of an ordinary seaman is sculpted wearing the normal Square rig and black silk, with fatigue cap that replaced the 'Donald Duck' cap, and although shown wearing white on the box art, he can actually be painted as white or navy blue. He's also posed holding either a small capuchin monkey, or a large Parakeet with wings extended. The choice of which to use is left to the modeller, but the Parakeet would look amazing if a great paint job was applied, and unfortunately the monkey lacks any defined detail, being little more than a blob.

Both of the female figures depict as the title says Waves or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. The first figure is shown with right arm raised and hand on hat wearing Summer dress whites. Her left arm has insignia moulded in place, but it's fairly indistinct. The hat she wears also appears slightly odd, and appears to be more a sort of boater than the normal hat you would expect. Each of her legs is moulded integrally with half of her skirt, so expect a fairly obvious join that will need to be hidden.

The other female figure is wearing a sort of battle dress tunic, and I've been unable to find references for this. She wears a sidecap, with large handbag in her left hand with strap over her shoulder. Perhaps somebody out there knows which branch of the service she represents?

Conclusion

As a scene on its own these four figures would be very striking...especially with that Parakeet all painted up! It's difficult to think of another context they could be used in? Notwithstanding that fact, it's a great set, at a low cost that would certainly be worth getting if only to put it in your stash for future use! Recommended!

My thanks to Lucky Model.com for the review sample!