What you see here is Airfix's 54mm World War 2 American Infantry. This is not one one of my all-time favorite sets, though. The quality of the figures is fantastic, but the detail is low unless you paint them (which I am horrible at). Despite this, this set is an excellent army builder set. Buy 2 or 3 and you have a platoon, more or less.
Now, the poses are more or less the norm. You have 5 men in both rows that seem to be running forward towards cover. Each one holds an M1 Garand which was the first semiautomatic rifle put into military service. This rifle was a big factor in the US winning against the Japanese in the pacific theater of operations.
Anyway, we also have about 3 men standing and hip-firing (something pretty unusual among trained troops) an M3 Grease Gun. This submachine gun was cheaper to produce than the infamous Tommy gun as it used melded sheet metal. The round was small but became a favorite in the later years of the war (it came out around 1943 or 1944), especially when we were conducting operations in the European Theater.
Another pose I found interesting yet generic was the 2 men standing and firing M1 Carbines. These also came out later in the war and even had a folding stock version for paratroopers. This was a later version of the M1 Garand self-loading (semi-auto) rifle but with a less powerful punch and a clip. It could hold, I believe, 15 rounds which was a lot better than the M1's 8. Another plus was that it did not make a sound when it ran out of bullets. The M1 made a metallic "clang" noise that could alert the enemy that the firer was out of rounds. Then you had to load an en bloc clip (picture below). The M1 Carbine was never the official service rifle as it was eventually replaced by the similar yet superior M14. It was first a light rifle to be carried by mortar teams, gunners assistants, paratroopers, tank crews, and other troops who were restricted by weight from other equipment or had to be fast and highly mobile (though newer recruits were eventually given the new weapon towards the end of the wars).
Source: jpg-expertwitness.blogspot.com
There are a few other poses in the set. There is the sergeant (at least I am guessing he is a sergeant) holding a pistol billowing his troops forward. There is a kneeling bazooka man ( I always wondered why sets never gave him his loading assistant) and two machine gunners lying prone aiming and firing their M1919 Browning machine guns.
The price of this set is $12.11.
This a pretty good set with high quality. Great army builder and definitely recommended. I'd give it a 9/10.
Sources used for article:
- http://www.wikipedia.org/
- jpg-expertwitness.blogspot.com
- toysoldierdepot.com
- airfix.com
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