Roco WW2 personalities - Tail end Charlies

 The last three figures from the Roco WW2 Personalities set are a  bit of an odd bunch.

We have Rommel, Herman Goering and then Herman Goering. Two Goerings? really? I'd much rather have some more actual Generals, Patton or Bradley would have  been great. Anyway, this is what we have.

Rommel is fair enough. I already have a Rommel from QRF who is painted in temperate uniform, so I did this figure in Rommels Panzer Armee Afrika guise (the figure has very obvious sand goggles moulded on his hat).

At some point he acquired a tan jacket in the desert and was photographed extensively in it, which certainly isn't a regulation German issue one. It  might be Italian or privately purchased I guess.

Anyway I did him in a sandy jacket, olive green trousers with a red Generals stripe and jackboots. I did his cap grey as in photos it looks darker and also had a go at doing the sand goggles but they don't stand out very well. He is moulded with a huge pair binoculars hanging down at his waist, which actually proved quite hard to paint as they are virtually moulded into his body, but I got there in the end.

I realised later that I'd forgotten to paint his hands too! They are clasped in a very Rommellian stance behind his back. I added various Field Marshals distinctions in red and gold as well. 

He is a very useful figure and will be turning up a lot.

The first of the Goering figures is clearly modelled in the white Reichsmarshals uniform he favoured (and let stood trial at Nuremberg in). It isn't actually white but a very light grey with white piping.

A fascinating modellers rabbit hole is the unforms of very senior members of the Third Reich military and political establishment, which I had to delve into to a degree. So this is a genuine attempt at a Luftwaffe Reichsmarshals uniform - white/light grey jacket and trousers, black Sam Browne belt, and white dress cap with a black peak and gey band.

There are various bits of gold dabbed on for shoulder boards, collar tabs etc. 

This one really is the most useless figure of the lot, but it was in the box so I've painted it. I really can't imagine ever using it.

If I don't need one Goering figure, I certainly don't need two. However this figure is in a slightly more practical Field Marshal uniform and might do very well as 'Smiling' Albert Kesselring. He wasn't quite as portly as Goering but he was a bit stout.

This second figure I did as a Luftwaffe Field Marshal, which is mainly a dark blue uniform. The Dragon 1/6th scale model of Kesselring has him in a white/grey dress cap (like the previous Goering figure) but in photos he more commonly wore his Luftwaffe blues. I did think about mixing up some Luftwaffe feldblau, a sort of blue/grey shade, but the senior Generals uniform was distinctly blue.

So, 'Kesselring' got a dark blue hat jacket and trousers, white shirt and black tie plus white stripes down the trousers which was apparently a Luftwaffe thing. Standard Luftwaffe brown belt with a gold buckle and then varius collar tabs, shoulder flashes, chest eagle etc in gold.

The figure is brandishing a Field Marshals baton, which irl was blue, red and gold. I haven't quite got the colour balance right so I need to go over that one again.

This figure might be useful in some circumstances? Perhaps he could be Kurt Student at Arnhem. Who knows.

Anyway, they are all done now so that is another batch of stuff painted. As I said in earlier post, I much prefer painting batches of identical or similar uniforms to a random collection, I keep missing bits when they are all different.