The quality of the sculpting is world class and the figure poses are imaginative and very useful in a WW1 diorama but I have some real concerns about the facial details of some of the figures. Based solely on the photos some of them look like middle aged Vikings and Norse warriors rather than young airmen of WW1.
And what's with the flamboyant handlebar mustaches? Have a look at WW1 airmen clips on YouTube or photos in most of the reference books. The airmen of WW1 were very young and mustaches, when worn, were thin pencil-thin affairs. The enormous Biggles handlebar mustaches on these figures seem more at home with a Hollywood movie than the reality of life in 1914-18.
Kudos to the people producing these figures because there's a real demand for 1/32 figures to dress dioramas. These show us what can be done.
Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia
Dave, I always appreciate your laudable attempts to dig out areas to critique but there are only 4 of the 11 figures shown wearing moustaches. As to whether they are accurate or not, could I suggest that your references are a little light in the hirsute visage department? The young WWI warriors of all nationalities had a penchant for facial hair growth - and as I remember my own adolescence/early manhood, if you
could grow a beard or a moustache, then you did. That was in the nineteen sixties, of course and since then there has been a marked drift towards androgyny in young male fashion (blame David Bowie, if you must blame anyone), but if one travels
back in history from then, moustaches of all types proliferate in increasing numbers and variety. One of the attributes much sought after by youthful moustache growers and wearers is/was the ageing effect - no wonder you think they look older than they are - that was the whole point! Pipe-smoking had a similar effect and was cultivated for much the same reasons.
I am always struck by the variability of apparent age of aircrew in period photos; some were so baby-faced as to appear scarcely into their teens, yet others - say seasoned squadron or flight commanders of 20 to 23 years of age - could pass for forty-year olds. I think the figures show this variation very well; the Hannover pilot looks no more than sixteen! Don't forget either, that there were many older gents among the aircrew of all nations (and by that I mean late twenties/early thirties).
I had the good fortune to meet Steve Warrilow and David Allen at the RAF Museum model show last month and to inspect the entire figure range on MDC's stand (I also have two of the superb figures, gained in exchange for two decal sets). The figures are quite the most wonderful creations and although mine are so far unpainted, it's only a matter of time...... and rest assured - a scratch-built meerschaum pipe will appear between the lips of at least one of them!