What we have is a set of 1/35 figures from Trumpeter, designed to be used with their SCUD B kit. I guess you could reasonably use the same figures for many modern Russian armoured vehicles, although they are not dressed as tank crew, so maybe more suitable for artillery vehicles etc.
The set retails at around £26 in the UK, although its a bit less than that on most online retailers who stock it. That may sound steep for a set of figures, but let me list the box contents.
7 uniquely posed figures
AK-74 sprue
2 optional replacement warheads for the SCUD missile
12 vinyl pieces for the SCUD TEL truck (cold weather cladding for the grilles etc.)
plastic hydraulic junction boxes
vinyl tubing for adding hydraulic hoses to the rear of the SCUD TEL
PE fret for adding extra detail to the SCUD missile and TEL
Decals
So its quite a comprehensive set which can add some really nice detail to the SCUD kit.
Lets get into the box.
Nice box art showing the figures and examples of the padding in place.
The back of the box has full colour painting guide and sprue maps.
Colour call outs and decal placement for the optional warheads, as well as pictures of whats included in the kit alongside the figures.
The 7 figures. Nice range of "in action" poses.
Two-sided instruction sheet, clearly depicting where kit parts are replaced by parts from this set.
(Sorry for the bad pics, this was a quick set of pics without taking the sprues out the bags). The parts are nicely molded, touches of burring in places, but nothing to worry about (and quite a common thing to see even on brand new tooling kits from Trumpeter). The figures are quite plain, just a satchel and gun to add to most, so should be easy to build and paint. Some heads are molded with the helmets on, others need the helmet adding.
The optional warheads and hydraulic junction boxes. To use these requires the kit warhead to be removed, as its molded integrally to the missile body. I am not 100% sure what these optional warheads are (I bet the Western Governments would love one to be a chemical weapon!). They are nicely moulded and come with decals and there is PE to add to the main missile body.
The vinyl padding sections. These should fit straight onto the main kit and will add that extra bit of realism to the kit I think. Would also be cool for those who are wanting to perhaps depict their SCUD in a winter setting.
Sprue of AK-74s, very nicely molded and could be used for other kits and figures too, although you do only get the 6.
Decent sized fret of PE is included as well. Relatively thick as seems to be the norm for Trumpeter. I personally like this as its a bit more forgiving to work with than say Eduards PE which can be quite thin, and therefore easy to incorrectly bend.
Vinyl tubing for the creation of hydraulic hoses around the rear of the vehicle. I am not sure yet how these will sit, but hydraulic hoses aren't the most flexible of things anyway so I think these represent that quite well. We will see when it comes time to use them.
The decal sheet. They look nice quality and should be fine to work with.
So that's the Trumpeter Soviet Soldier SCUD Crew set. A bit more than just a set of figures. I quite like the idea of this style of kit. £26 is perhaps not the cheapest for such a thing, but you get a good amount of stuff in the box, and all look to be really nice additions to an already awesome kit. And as I mentioned, this could easily be used for the Trumpeter Smerch as well. Or even the Meng kit if you so wished I am sure.
