Latest addition: Soviet Paratroops, US Paras Set 2, US Marines, Australian Infantry, US Heavy Weapons Teams, US Howitzer w Crew at the bottom of this post
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Kozak Miniatures was founded by Eugenio Chernov, a Ukrainian sculptor, a couple of years ago. Back then it was called Kozak Mini Art Studios. It operates entirely digitally, meaning that its sculptures are digital blueprints that come to life via 3D printing. It does not have its own retail outlet, but rather licenses its designs to different vendors which take care of the printing and all the other commercial and logistics aspects. I first ran into them at the Speira site and since then I have encountered Kozak's designs at WW23D.com and Toy Soldier Central. They have a Facebook page where they showcase their work and they also have links to a couple other outfits that take care of selling and printing their figures. Kozak is quite prolific and its range is fairly large at this point. Given that I am writing about them, they certainly offer WW2 figures, but they also offer quite a few Napoleonics, French Colonials, Pirates, Native Americans, Samurais, Ninjas, Modern Ukranian, SWAT Teams, and more. Some of them come with artillery pieces, horses, camels, vehicles, rafts, etc. And because they are 3D printed they can be scaled up or down to different sizes and can be printed with different variations of head gear. Many of the figures can be purchased individually, but recently some vendors have started to offer them as sets. I personally prefer this latter option because I find it hard to keep track of what figures I have already purchased if I buy them individually given the rate at which new designs are being offered. Below is a sampling of some of the designs that they offer in the WW2 range, along with where I have purchased them.
Kozak Miniatures British Long Range Desert Group by WW23D
For me, this was the most interesting set at WW23D because I did not have any other figures representing this service branch. As you can tell these guys look rugged from spending a lot of time in the desert in long range patrols. They are dressed accordingly with short trousers, turbans and have not had a shave in a while. The range of weapons represented is good, although with strong preference for submachine guns. The sculpting is OK in the sense that there's not a lot of fine detail, and also the poses are standing a bit too straight for my taste. Nonetheless, given that this is the first set of British desert scouts that I incorporate into my army, I am quite happy with them.
Kozak Miniatures British Long Range Desert Group Jeep by WW23D
Aside from the foot soldiers, this vendor also offers a couple of vehicles to enable them to go on their missions deep behind enemy lines. One of them is this jeep. It is also 3D printed and comes with a driver and a copilot operating a dual machine gun. You also get a couple of guys that you can throw in the back. Note in this picture also that one of them is wearing a beret. That's because this maker also prints these figures with different head gear. I ordered them with turbans, but the owner was nice enough to throw in a few extras and this is one of the additional guys I got.
Kozak Miniatures British Long Range Desert Group Truck by WW23D - Part I
This truck is a bit larger and can fit 4 or 5 guys in the back in addition to the driver and copilot. The copilot is operating a dual machine gun. The man standing in the back is also handling a dual MG, so these guys are well armed with a 360 degree field of fire, and they can also shoot upwards to defend against strafing planes! The vehicle appears to be a Chevy 30CWT 1 1/2 ton truck and it is reasonable well built for a 3D printed vehicle. What I like the most is that it does not have the layering pattern that some 3D printers create.
Kozak Miniatures British Long Range Desert Group Truck by WW23D - Part II
This is the same Chevy truck from a different angle. Note that despite this being an American-made truck, the driver is sitting on the right side of the cabin, as is the case in Britain. Not that it would matter much while driving off road in the North African desert, but I suppose when they were back at base, driving among other fellow country men, it was safer to keep to the familiar norms.
Kozak Miniatures British Commandos by WW23D
Here are a few more guys to complement the Airfix and Matchbox commandos. I have the same commentary about their stance (a bit too straight) as I have about all the figures from this manufacturer, so I am not going to dwell on it, but at least there are three kneeling guys and one of the men -second from left- does seem to have some nice forward momentum. The squad comes with a good mix of light infantry weapons, including a sniper rifle, adequate for their clandestine missions and of course, they are wearing the distinctive commando cap.
Kozak Miniatures British Paratroops by WW23D - Part I
These men look ready to join their comrades in Arnhem. There are nine of them so I decided to split them into two groups for the pictures so that you can see them better. From this first group, my favorite one is the one on the left, kneeling on one leg and leaning forward while firing his sub MG. The one on the right reminds me of the pose from one of the Conte British paras. And the other 3 just seem to be walking on patrol on their way to liberate some Dutch town before the Germans counter attack and turn on the heat on them.
Kozak Miniatures British Paratroops by WW23D - Part II
These guys are a bit more adequate for a battle scene. The two guys in the middle are very similar to each other, except that they have the opposite foot forward and one of them is flexing his back knee a bit. The other difference is the type of sub MG. One of them has a sten gun with the magazine on the side, while the other one doesn't. The guy on the left is a pretty standard pose, and the one on the right reminds me of a pose I have seen in another set, but I can't quite place him. Let me know in the comments if he also rings a bell.
Kozak Miniatures British Paratroops Set 2 by Speira
This is their second set of British Paras. I did not get the first one because they are very similar to the 3D printed guys I already bought from WW23D.com. But even this set does have a couple duplicates relative to the one from WW23D. Given the amount of 3D printed figures I've decided that I will have to be a bit selective in terms of which ones I get. Anyhow, I got set 2 because of its special weapons. The heavy MG and the Piat can always come in handy for an airborne unit which is usually light in heavier weapons. The other 5 guys are OK. I also liked that I could order them wearing helmets instead of berets (you can also order them with those). In terms of detail, I like that you can even see mustaches on a couple of guys. It probably helps that I also ordered them in Big 1/32 scale.
Kozak Miniatures German Afrika Korps by WW23D
The British SAS guys need an opponent, so here we have the German Afrika Korps, although compared to the number of poses that came with the SAS set, these guys are going to face a tough fight. The most distinctive feature of these guys is that they are all wearing googles on their helmets. Their poses are not too exciting, except for the guy on the left, who is displaying a bit more action. Good thing that we have other manufacturers to fill in the ranks and give us more diversity of poses.
Kozak Miniatures German Paratroops by WW23D
I like this set a bit more than the others in terms of the sculpting and the level of action in the poses. Even the guys who are standing -except for the one on the middle- are all leaning in some direction. The pose I like the most in this set is the one on the left, who is advancing while firing his sub MG. These guys will blend well with the Airfix, Mars, and Pegasus German paras. The only thing to criticize is that the 3D printing sometimes crates a few defects, like the edge on one of the helmets is a bit uneven. I suppose we will attribute that to battle damage.
Kozak Miniatures Soviet Scouts by WW23D
This is a service branch not often represented so I was glad to see them as I do need more poses to complement the Bassevich and Plastic Platoon scouts. As you can see, they are wearing their distinctive cammo smock that I will be painting with the amoeba pattern. I also like that they gave us a pose who is sneaking in with a knife on his hand to take out an opponent undetected and preserve the surprise factor of the mission. One thing I didn't like however is a more visible manufacturing flaw on the leg of the man who is kneeling and looking through his binoculars. I may plant a bush in front of it to make it less obvious.
Kozak Miniatures Soviet Naval Infantry by WW23D
What attracted me the most about these Soviet Naval infantry guys is the fact that they are wearing helmets. Most of the other figures I have representing this service branch are wearing sailor caps. I actually prefer that look, but I like that these guys will create some variety in my ranks. Ready for defending Sevastopol or as reinforcements for Stalingrad.
Kozak Miniatures US Paratroops by WW23D
The uniforms on these guys are probably the most detailed across all the sets I got from this vendor. They did a good job with all the pockets, the equipment straps, the bandages on the helmets, etc. The only detail missing is that on the faces, but that is true for all their sets. They will go quite well with the Airfix guys. My only wish is that they hadn't made the two poses on the left so similar to each other. With only six figures in the set, it would be good to try something different.
Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army by TS Central - Part I
Here we have an 18-figure set of B8A guys. In terms of poses, this is really generous. I might be wrong, but I don't recall another set as big as this one since the Conte GIs were released about 20 years back. Anyhow, when it comes to 3D printing, given the volume of figures available, I am realizing that I may not be able to pursue completeness anymore. However I do want to have at least one set of 3D printed figures for each service branch and I still had that gap for the B8A. BTW, I really like that they have packaged all these figures as a set because it is pretty hard to track and buy them individually. In terms of these first 6 guys, not much to comment other than getting two poses of what's essentially the same officer figure just with different head gear seems like a missed opportunity to have crafted some better pose, but with an 18-figure set I guess they can afford that luxury.
Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army by TS Central - Part II
In terms of the actual figures, I find them just OK. As I've pointed out with other Kozak figures, I find the posing of these guys a bit too stiff. I would prefer to see more bending of the knees, hunching of the back, ducking to avoid projectiles and flying debris, or running faster to find cover. These guys lack a sense of urgency, even the ones who are 'running'. Out of the first two pics, I think the Bickers machine gunner is probably my favorite. Perhaps because he is the one who requires the least intensity to appear to be doing his job well. I do have to say that the variety of weapons is welcome. Having said that, it would have been nice to issue a weapon to the grenade man on the left, perhaps slung across his back? Else he's going to need a lot more grenades!
Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army by TS Central - Part III
This is where the set gets better. The kneeling guys and the prone guys are definitely much better than their standing counter parts. One of the prone guys is firing a Bren gun and the other one seems to be firing a Boys anti tank rifle, aka 'elephant gun', which is a nice choice of weapon. The two kneeling guys in the middle look very similar, but they have different webbing/pouches, and one has a scope on his rifle so that he can snipe better at those DAK guys. One interesting bit is that the bases are not designed by Kozak, but rather provided by the vendor. In this case, they issue circular bases, and if you pay attention you will notice that some of them have a larger diameter than others. You get to glue them yourself, so I allocated the larger ones to the kneeling guys.
Kozak Miniatures British Support Troops by Speira - Part I
A good set to have to enhance the Airfix British Support Troops, or to use instead of them if you don't like to mix scales, as I got these in Big 1/32. I particularly like the flamethrower guy with its round fuel tank. I don't know if I have seen this pose before among British troops. An interesting detail about the MG figures is that one you add the base to the ammo handler, his hands no longer line up with the ammo belt (not visible in the picture). And if you place the ammo box on top of the base, then the ammo belt no longer lines up with the MG. I suppose one way to fix this is to add a base to the MG figure.
The rest of the set includes a mortar team with a spotter as well as a prone sniper. In terms of the detail, I like that some of the helmets have webbing and some don't, but I still feel that the uniforms are very 'clean'. They have a few folds, but they still appear too smooth for my taste. One more thing to note about 3D printed figures is that sometimes they design the weapons to be a bit thicker to account for the brittleness of the resin used for printing. You can see that here with the mortar. That would be a heavy one to carry!
Kozak Miniatures Soviet Paratroops by TS Central - Part I
These guys get extra points for being the first Soviet Airborne troops that were released, as far as I know. Plastic Platoon just released theirs and I've already placed my order for them as I write this post on March, 2025. The other good thing about these guys is that all of them (or 5 out of 6?) are in poses that can be used in a battle scenes. These guys are outfitted with jumpsuits, including the padded helmet used for jumping. I am not sure that they would have kept them on after the jump, but when it comes to toy soldiers, I think it gives them more character and it makes them more recognizable as airborne troops. In terms of weaponry, 4 of them have machine guns, and two of them are rifle men. Given that they are all on an airborne mission, I would have left out the rifles and issued them all automatic weapons. I am also not super excited about their upright postures, but that's been the case with all other Kozak sculpts, so I won't spend much time dwelling on that.
Kozak Miniatures Soviet Paratroops by TS Central - Part II
These are the same 6 poses as the ones above, with the only difference being that they are wearing a field cap, instead of the padded jump helmet. This cap used to be sky blue in real life. Other than that, I also took the opportunity to position the kneeling man so that the first picture lets you see the rucksack which all of them are wearing, and the second picture lets you see the front of the man. I got these guys from Toy Soldier Central, and got them in 1/30 size so that they fit better with the upcoming Plastic Platoon figures. All figures come without bases, but you can ask for them and glue them yourself. I chose to leave the kneeling men without bases as that allows me to place them closer to obstacles or on uneven terrain where bases would make them stand at odd angles.
Kozak Miniatures US Paratroops Set 1 by TS Central - Part I
A nice set of 14 US paras to expand my ranks even if 5 of them seem to be repeated from the WW23D set. The scale is pretty much spot on 1/32 so they will complement the previous set and the Airfix guys quite well. In addition to the figures, you also get a couple of steel obstacles (Czech Hedgehogs) and a sandbag position to protect your guys. The detail on the poses is crisp and the uniforms have a good amount of gear. My only wish is that the poses were a bit more dynamic. I still feel that most of the poses are too 'vertical' even though they are firing, allegedly under enemy fire, but they are either standing or walking. I suspect that this is a design choice because the figures are not guaranteed to be printed with a base, so this makes it easier to get them to stand, but I would prefer if they were to impose a base on their figures if that allowed them to be more fluid in their movements. Of the seven guys in this first picture, the kneeling guy is my favorite, precisely because he is not standing. The prone guy is second.
Kozak Miniatures US Paratroops Set 1 by TS Central - Part II
These guys are a bit better. Most of them are marching and their stance seems adequate for it. The guy on the far left who is about to throw a grenade is the exception. He seems too relaxed to be holding something about to blow up in his hand. But at least we have one guy running in this batch. That's progress. As far as the material in which they are printed, I found it pretty good. Better than some of the other more brittle resins. Speaking of breaking, an unfortunate thing that happened is that the sandbags appear to have been broken and glued back together. That left a white line of glue residue. Of course, that is something to do with the vendor and not Kozak and once I paint them it won't be noticeable.
Kozak Miniatures US Paratroops Set 2 by TS Central - Part I
When I saw that there was a second set of Kozak US Paras for sale, I assumed that many of the poses would be duplicates from Set 1, as both sets contain 14 poses. After careful examination I realized that all the figures in set 2 are new poses, so I went ahead and got them. As you can tell in this first pic, this set has a few more men in more dynamic poses. In fact, perhaps my two favorite poses in the set are the second and third guys from the right. They remind me of a scene in Band of Brothers in which Lt Speirs runs through the German-occupied town of Foy in the midst of a battle to relay an order to one of Easy company's platoons - and then runs back! The two other guys firing on the go are also good additions.
Kozak Miniatures US Paratroops Set 2 by TS Central - Part II
Here we have a few less dynamic poses. The two men on the left are almost identical, except for their sub machinegun. I placed them next to each other so that you can compare them. And then you also have the most officer-looking figure, assessing the situation through his binoculars. This set comes with two small sandbag walls. If you already have other sandbag walls, like the ones that came with the FOV figures, or some 21C toys sets, let's just say that these sandbags are not the reason to buy this set.
Here we have 5 other poses in various firing poses. Most interesting to me are the bazooka man, and the machine gunner, although I am having a hard time determining what exact model of MG that is. As far as I know, the only belt-fed MG that the US Paras used was the M1919 Browning MG, but the barrel is lacking the cooling perforations. Perhaps that was a simplification required in order to make them via 3D printing? Another interesting bit about this picture is that for some reason, the second guy from the right is about a head taller than the guy next to him. In the end I actually prefer this as it represents better what happens in real life. In terms of dynamism, the guy on the far right takes the prize. He just needs a log or a small wall to scoot around to fire.
Kozak Miniatures Australian Infantry by TS Central - Part I
This is another generous set in terms of the number of poses. Several of them resemble the figures in the British 8th army set with the main difference being the headgear. Speaking of headgear, I bought these guys as Australian infantry, but later I read something about the brim folding on the left side for New Zealanders, and the right side for Australians (at least in Tasmania and Victoria). If that's true, then these guys could also be from New Zealand if you ignore the fact that their hat is not as pointy as it should be for New Zealanders. In terms of the poses in this picture, I would prefer to see more action in them. These are the guys showing the most movement in the set and only one guy has a foot off the ground. Whether they are attacking or defending, it's going to be hard to overrun the enemy or find cover when you are moving at that pace!
Here's a group of mostly firing poses. Better suited for combat, but again, not very dynamic. But I suppose you can place them behind sandbags or some other protective rampart and they would do just fine. Among this guys, I tend to like the guys with the submachine guns better than the rifle men. Of course, the guy who is advancing would have to abandon his defensive position and venture out into the open. But hey, he could be firing behind a Matilda tank as they advance! BTW, I should also point out that based on their short sleeves and short trousers, I decided that these guys would be deployed to the North African theater of operations.
Kozak Miniatures Australian Infantry by TS Central - Part III
And here you have the kneeling and prone firing poses. The same that we got with the B8A set. As you can tell, two of them on the left are identical, except for the fact that one of them has a scope on his rifle, so we got ourselves a sniper. In terms of the prone men, one of them is firing a Bren gun, while the other one aims his Boys anti-tank rifle at some unsuspecting Panzer III. Speaking of the Boys AT rifle, the armor of later Panzer IIIs and subsequent Panzer IVs proved too thick for this weapon, and you also had to be within 300 yards. Then again, that's nothing compared to how close you had to get with a panzerfaust, but in the open desert I bet that could be easier said than done.
Kozak Miniatures US Marines by TS Central - Part I
This Marine set contains a generous 16 poses. I like that many of them are wearing cammo cover on their helmets and most are wearing their trousers untucked and have rolled up their sleeves as they'd do in the jungle weather of the pacific. In this first picture I included the shooters. I find 4 out of the 5 guys pretty good. Can you guess which one I am less excited about? Yes, the second man from the left. For some odd reason he is standing with his feet parallel to each other and facing the same direction as his rifle. I prefer firing poses that look more like the guy in the middle.
These next 5 guys are the ones standing or advancing quite cautiously. Again, I find 4 out of these 5 guys fairly acceptable. The one who feels a bit odd is the man on the right. He seems about to hug his rifle. Not the most useful pose. The other 4 guys would be very useful when placed around a Japanese bunker, or cave, waiting for anyone to come out while another one of their buddies throws a grenade into it. The guy with the BAR certainly could do some damage.
And in this batch we have what may be the most interesting poses. One of them is the grenade thrower that we were just talking about. And we also have the 2 most dynamic poses in the set rushing forward with intense facial expressions. One guy even has to hold his helmet! We also have a couple other poses that every squad needs: an officer and a radio man. The officer feels a bit stiff. Less of a combat pose and more like the stance that he would have if he were threatening someone. Maybe keeping a prisoner in check? The radio man is a nice solid pose, although I wonder why he is carrying that equipment in the back if he is speaking into a walkie-talkie. And to round off the set we also have a prone shooter. Not much special about him. Just a nice useful combat pose.
Kozak Miniatures US M116 75mm Howitzer and Crew by TS Central
There aren't that many artillery pieces and crews around so when I saw this set I didn't think twice about getting it. The howitzer itself is nicely done and I am impressed that it came as a single piece. I guess that's the kind of magic that you can achieve with 3D printing. In terms of the men, I like all the poses, but I feel that the sitting guy does not go well with the other five. I'd expect the crew to be either hard at work, or relaxing, but not doing both simultaneously. I also found the outfits a bit mismatched. A couple of the guys are shirtless, two of them have rolled up sleeves, and then you have a couple of them wearing pullovers. All this led me to place them in the North African desert where the temperatures do drop at night. Or maybe they could also be in the Italian mountains? In any case, a good addition to the US forces!
Kozak Miniatures US Heavy Weapons Teams by TS Central
Heavy weapons are always a welcome addition to strengthen your infantry units. I know many of us may not think of a sniper team as part of a heavy weapons unit, but if you use it to take out key targets I suppose it could pack a heavy punch! One thing to be aware of with this mortar team is that since you have to add the bases to the men, they won't let them get close enough to the mortar, so you will need to place the mortar on top of the bases as well. This will give it a bit of a higher angle, but not too much. That's also why I left the bases off the machine gun team. They would have kept the two men from being sufficiently close enough to feed the ammo belt into the gun. Luckily, the MG guys can stand fine without it. A good thing about this set is that these guys can probably pass for troopers in any theater of operation since they are wearing the standard US army uniform and have not adjusted their attire to any specific local conditions. I have to point out though that when I first took the picture I mistook the flamethrower for a Marine as I tend to think of them as a weapon mainly used in the Pacific.
the British para officer is very similar to the Mars one; the Bren gunner pose was in the old Airfix 1/72 British infantry
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