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ORION - Care To Comment on possible British Tank Crews in Soft Plastic?
ORIONS latest tank crew release was the "USA Tank Crew - Summer Dress". This set fits the bill as mentioned in the thread below. It has 2 Tank Commanders who can fit in the turret hatch, two men restocking the tank with shells, 4 dismounted crew firing 'grease guns' and pistols, a member using a huge wrench likely working on the tracks, and a few other poses.
ORION also made 3 sets of Russian Tank Crews and 2 sets of German Panzer Crews. All are outstanding but the USA set my personal favorite. I've got all in multiple colors.
Of course it would be great if Strelets wanted to make Tank Crews, but my thought here is why not ORION continue on doing what it does well already, by making more new Tank Crews!
Historical Note: The U.S. government contracted the Rawlings (Sports Equipment Co.) to produce a modified American Football Helmet for Tank Crews. The modification was to the ear covers to allow for communications equipment (I guess head phones and mic) so the crew could communicate with each other during the noisy (and smoky) battles. The box art shows this clearly. As an additional note, as a kid, my next door neighbor, Jesse Freitas, Sr. was an Artillery Commander at the Battle of Bulge. After returning home, he was one of the original San Francisco 49er Team's Quarterbacks and then our H.S. Football Coach. His youngest son was my age so we did everything together from Kindergarten thru High School until University split us up. Here is a picture of Mr. Freitas wearing a Rawlings helmet. He's number 62. Oh, and he's still alive and 94 this year. You know the which came first, the chicken or the egg? So is Mr. Freitas wearing a football helmet or a tanker's helmet? Give the link a minute to upload (it's just a Google Link:
Re: ORION - Care To Comment on possible British Tank Crews in Soft Plastic?
Can see where you are coming from but they have no interest in Commonwealth subjects. Look at their recent output it is the usual Panzer troops or Soviet with one just the one American. Yes there are the HaT British + American tank riders but Strelets current output is dependable.
Re: ORION - Care To Comment on possible British Tank Crews in Soft Plastic?
Hi RCD, It looks to me like their last set released were the American Tank Crew set, so my hope would be that they continue on with a British Crew. That's why I'm hoping ORION will respond here.
I only do soft plastic (no metals or resin figurines nor half-bodies) so the closest set I can find in a pinch to use as British Crews are the Caesar Commandos. The British Crews wore mostly Berets, and this set has several of those figures which I can use to stand in the hatchs (2), a couple kneeling as tank riders (2), and some shooting and running (3) for knocked out tanks (plus head swops). Link for Commandos:
Re: ORION - Care To Comment on possible British Tank Crews in Soft Plastic?
I would also still hope that Orion might do a second set of US Tank Crew in winter gear for late WW2- which could also be used for the Korean War and if I dream on two sets of USMC Tank/ vehicle crew- one for WW2 and one for the Vietnam war.
The chances of Orion doing anything British/Commonwealth are quite small I suspect !
But lets hope !