Warriors Scale Models
35642

First of all, for the uninitiated—which apparently includes whomever came up with the name for this series of figures—there was no "M7A1" Priest. The follow-on to the continuously evolving M7 Priest (built on the M3 Lee chassis and roughly marked as "early," "intermediate," and "late" versions) was the M7B1, which was built on the M4A3 Sherman lower and upper hull.

Fortunately, the figures do not suffer from such an error. The unidentified sculptor has created a pair of redlegs who are dressed for a very chilly fire support mission. The fellow on the horn to the fire direction center is probably the first scale figure to sport the "jacket, field, pile, OD," which was a poplin shell lined with a brown faux fur (aka, "pile"). It had knit cuffs and six plastic buttons, and was supposed to be worn beneath the M1943 field jacket. But this guy seems to march to his own sartorial drummer, and it makes for a unique look, with the outer jacket pulled tightly over his chest and the M1943 peeking out underneath. He also wears gloves and buckled arctic overshoes. Although he holds the handset to his head, you have to supply your own field telephone (I'd go with the EE-8 from Verlinden or Custom Dioramics). It would be nice to see him doing something more dynamic than listening, and I might end up swapping the head with one that is talking, but that's a minor quibble.

The loader is dressed more conventionally in the winter combat jacket and the head-warming winter combat "helmet" under his M1 steel pot. He also is shod in the arctic overshoes, and his gloved hands hold a 105mm round.

This is a nicely sculpted and cleanly cast pair that will look just right in either an Academy or Italeri Priest set in the dead of the European winter of 1944-45.

-tss-