ESCI German Infantry
This is one of their best sets in my opinion. As you can see, once they are painted they look fairly decent. The officer is a bit rare in the sense that he is wearing a helmet. Most officers are usually depicted wearing a cap, but in combat they would certainly wear helmets.
ESCI Soviet Infantry
These guys are on the smaller side of 1/35. Next to some of the larger TSSD figures they look very small, but when you need extra poses, you can't be very picky. The officer on the right might be a woman, but it's hard to tell for sure. The third figure from the right also looks like a woman.
ESCI US Paratroops
These are some hard to find guys. I actually had to order them from a hobby shop in Greece. For being 1/35 they are actually really close in size to the 1/32 guys. The poses are a bit too straight in my opinion, but the level of detail is nice. The commander reminds me of the one in the Airfix set.
ESCI British Paratroops - Part I
Here is another unique set from ESCI. Also pretty hard to find. So much that I wasn't even aware that it existed until one of our readers pointed it out to me. The figures are actually pretty decent and in my opinion, better posed than the other ESCI sets. They are using a good range of small arms and even their helmets show a bit of variety, some having a cammo net and some without.
ESCI British Paratroops - Part II
I particularly like the man charging forward with the Bren gun. One of the more dynamic ESCI poses that I have come across. I don't care that much for the guy standing guard. The guy on the right is one of those funny poses... he seems to be turning at the same time that he is running forward, but yet he is a bit too straight for that amount of movement taking place all at the same time. Anyhow, a good addition to the British paras. Maybe they can help hold Arnhem one more day...
ESCI Soviet Spetznaz - Part I
The Spetznaz are Soviet Special Forces, however they are post WWII figures. I find their uniforms however close enough to the Soviet Naval Infantry that I have decided to use them as such to complement the Pegasus figures. The weaponry is a bit modern, so I'll have to overlook that. In terms of the poses I like the men who are crouching better than the ones who are standing.
ESCI Soviet Spetznaz - Part II
Some of these guys are wearing a different head gear. Not sure if those will blend in with the Naval Infantry. Their weapons however would fit quite well in the WWII period. Again, I have my reservations about the poses of the guys who are running. I would like them better if their upper bodies were leaning more a bit forward.
Hing Fat (ESCI Clones) Japanese Infantry - Part I
These guys came with the 'Big Bucket of Fun' from Hing Fat. It took a bit of research to figure out that they were clones of the original ESCI figures. They are about 50mm tall.
Hing Fat (ESCI Clones) Japanese Infantry - Part II
Some of these poses are not my favorites, like the guy standing in the middle. He would really look out of place in a battlefield. ESCI produced 15 figures, at least that's what I counted on their 1/72 set, but Hing Fat only cloned 9 of them.
Click here to see more German Infantry
Click here to see more Soviet Infantry
Click here to see more Japanese Infantry
Click here to see more US Paratroops
If i remember rightly, the woman in the Esci set was a radio operator.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see these still available, i was unaware they came in 1/35 too.
And what about ESCI British Paratroopers? They are quite nice, let us say on the same level as the US guys.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that they existed. I am going to have to look them up. thanks for pointeng them out!
DeleteGood luck with it, this set seems to be quite rare. ESCI 1/35 sets were available here in the Czech Republic in 90s. I even have two versions of US Paratroopers - diferent boxes, different colours... And two boxes of German Infantry, just to have more them to fight with :-)
DeleteI have a set of British Paratroopers I am willing to part with Box included.
ReplyDeleteI just managed to buy a set this weekend, but I might still be interested. Can you shoot me an email to pts1to32@gmail.com with the details?
ReplyDeleteYou may have another set of PARAS : NATO PARATROOPERS ??!! poss elsewhere an ESCI/ERTL SET INCLUDED WERE A NICE BELGIAN PARA TOTEING GPMG/FN MAG 7.62mm and a UK PARA CARRYING AN IW 4.85MM (AN EARLIER TRIAL WPN ...BULLPUP ) these were available in 20mm also UNFORTUNATELY all individual nation poses SO!you are unable to get even a F/TM FROM IT!!!
ReplyDeleteHi, I like the ESCI- Figures a lot, just for their crisp sculping. I just want to inform, that there are two more of "modern Infantry" ESCI Sets available. Like the others they are copies of their brothers from the proliferic 1/72 series One of them is called NATO- Troops, while the other one depicts their counter part, Warsaw Pact- Troops. Both are boxed with 14 figures each and 7 poses. Nowadays they are hard to find, at least here on the other side of the ocean- glad I bought them long time ago. They are with 1/35 scale a bit on the smaller side, but not too much. Especially the Warsaw Pact Troops could serve as WW2 Late war Infantry easily. One can just cut down the magazine of the AK 74 ´, or use it at a captured german STG-44. Some of them are wearing winter clothing. As they are intended to present Romanian and Bulgarian troops, they look alright also for WW2 axis, if they are painted.
ReplyDeleteCheers and all the best for your excellent blog- love it!!!
Thanks a lot for the tip. I try to stay within the bounds of WWII as that is already a challenge to cover, but it's good to know that these two other Cold War sets could be used to fill gaps in the WWII Axis troops. thank you also for the kind words. I am glad you've found the blog interesting!
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