YANKS Miniatures
9708

With Warriors’ re-issue of the defunct KMC 75mm gun set for the M3 halftrack, this trio might see a resurgence in popularity, but you’re going to have to scour your hobby store’s shelves or take your chances on Ebay.

These gents are posed blasting away from the gun compartment of a camo colored M3.  They’re clearly Marines, not my particular specialty, but they could be easily adapted with a bit of putty here and there to be suitable for service in the ETO – but not with a M3 75mm halftrack, which didn’t see much, if any, US action in Europe, having been turned over to the British.  Rather you could modify them for an M1 57mm anti-tank gun, a 105mm or 155mm howitzer.

The commander is leaning against the back wall of the compartment with binocs in hand.  He wears the Marine shirt with the single breast pocket and pair of hip pockets.  The gunner has a t-shirt on, one hand ready to pull the lanyard and the other up to his ear.  The loader is down on one knee, fingers plugging both ears, his pocketless shirt open baring his chest.  His helmet has a camo cover (which, if you’re using this figure in the ETO, you could include for the brief time the 2nd Armored Division wore camo fatigues, or set it aside for some white paint and an Ardennes setting).

The sculpting (unattributed) and casting is typical of YANKS Miniatures figures, not great but quite good.  There’s a bit of clean up involved but nothing extraordinary.  The figures appear to be in the 6’ range, the helmets a tad larger than Tamiya but smaller than DML.  The faces have some character to them.

If you can find this set, grab it.  It wouldn’t take much work to give it some versatility beyond its intended use.

-tss-