Here Comes The Cavalry: WWII Horses in 1/72 Scale – Part 2 Update

Waterloo 025 WWII German Cavalry (Set 1)

I was working on posting Part 3 of this Cavalry series but I couldn’t reconcile myself with the alien face on the officer in Part 2. As PSR pointed out, “there are a few areas of unwanted extra plastic where a separate arm or head would have been a better approach.” This is one of those flaws in a set with otherwise “excellent sculpting.” I tried to paint the top of the left side of the face to make it look like hair but the result was still unsatisfactory so I reworked it with a hobby knife — my first plastic surgery (lame pun intended).

Before:

1/72, Animals, Cavalry, German, Horses, Soldiers, Waterloo, Waterloo 025

After:

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While I was at it, I gave the horse a white blaze and painted the stirrups.

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I’m much happier with it now.

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As I indicated previously, Part 3 will cover German cavalry odds and ends.

Here Comes the Cavalry: WWII Horses in 1/72 Scale – Part 2

Waterloo 025 WWII German Cavalry (Set 1)

As promised, this second installment on WWII cavalry is the Waterloo 025 “WWII German Cavalry (Set 1).” Happily, the title implies the existence of a Set 2, which – not so happily – has yet to be released. Plastic Soldier Review (PSR), the most authoritative 1/72 scale plastic soldier website, described this set as follows:

“The general standard of sculpting is excellent, with great proportions and all the detail you could want – the sculptor has even gone to the trouble of including a watch on the wrist of the man signaling from the saddle.” PSR concludes: “[T]his is a really nice set with excellent sculpting and almost flawless accuracy, so apart from our comments on avoiding excess plastic there is really nothing to dislike about this attractive set of figures.” http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2045

First, here’s a photo of the unpainted figures from PSR. I note that the set came with three other dismounted cavalrymen, which I did not photograph as I intended to focus on those with horses.

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Photo used with permission from Plastic Soldier Review.

This first photo shows all three cavalrymen from a distance. Please keep in mind that the figures are greatly magnified, which reveals all their flaws. To the naked eye, they look far better.

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Yep, those are apple trees. I don’t know whether they can coexist in the same terrain with pine trees but, oh well, there you have it. Note the feedbag hanging from the neck of the officer’s horse. Note also that the soldier with his right hand up is supposed to have a map in his left hand.

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1/72, Animals, Cavalry, German, Horses, Soldiers, Waterloo, Waterloo 025

Note the watch on the figure with his hand up – likely the only watch in 1/72 scale (at least with respect to WWII figures).

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Here’s a close-up photo of the officer.

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I’m unhappy with the left side of the officer’s head and plan to rework it at some point.

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I clipped the bases on these figures but, unlike the Revell figures, it was a monster to get them to stand. I had to use a log to prop up the horse of this soldier.

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I hope you enjoyed the photos. The next cavalry installment will be of German odds and ends.