about the kit

During World War II war dogs were used in combat as scouts, couriers and infantry dogs, especially where the dogs were ideally suited to the dense tropical vegetation of the Pacific islands. Each dog went through a rigorous course of obedience for a period of six weeks. After basic training, the dogs were divided into groups for specialized training: scout, messenger or infantry. Scout dogs were sent first with the handler to detect mines or enemy troops. Messenger dogs would follow their handler's trail and carry correspondence or supplies. Infantry dogs alerted the troops of the enemy's presence.
The dogs used signals to alert the soldiers of Japanese presence as they were trained not to bark. The dogs could detect a human scent up to one-half mile away. During the war, the Japanese ambushed none of the War Dog platoons. Each of the seven War Dog platoons fought in various locations in the Pacific during WWII, including Guam, Okinawa, and Guadalcanal.
Twenty-five dogs died during service in the Pacific during the war. In August 1945, the war Dog Platoons were disbanded. Many of the dogs were retrained for civilian life and sent back to their families, while several remained with their handlers. The first War Dog Memorial, a life-size bronze of war dog statue was unveiled on the U. S. Naval Base on Guam during the 50th anniversary of the liberation of that island.
EM-35033 American Marines WW2 Pacific Ocean includes two Marines in typical Pacific uniforms walking with a war dog.

box

The kit comes well packed in standard Evolution Miniatures 70x100x35 mm hard cardboard box . The front part of the box shows a photo of the figure painted by Maxim Veretelnikov which can serve as a basic painting guide. Inside the box, the parts are represented with the casting blocks. Two body parts, dog and small parts are seperately inserted in small plastic zip-lock bags to avoid unexpected damages during transfer.

parts

The figures are nicely sculpted by Sergey Traviansky and cast in grey color resin in crisp details. The parts can be easily removed from the casting blocks with no damage. There is not much need for a serious cleanwork.

MARINE #1 – DOG HANDLER
Posed to carry his light machine gun on his right shoulder and handle a dog, it comes in 8 parts. The figure is cast a full body figure without arms and some of the personal gear are cast on the figure. Facial details and hair are well defined. He has a HBT utility cap with a short visor and pleates around the crown. The visor is upfolded on the figure and boxart shows a stencil BAD JOE written on the upfolded visor. He wears two-piece sage-green (a lighter green color than OD) HBTuniform - Herringbone Twill combat jacket with a left side breast pocket and two lower pockets. The pockets had no flaps or closures. On the breast pocket ; USMC insignia: an Eagle, Globe and Anchor, with the legend USMC above it is stenciled in black. The upper buttons are open making the dogtag on his neck visible. He carries a canvas utility belt and Y-suspenders over his jacket. Folds of the jacket, pocket details and suspenders are well defined. A 5-cell Thompson magazine pouch and a first-aid pouch are cast on the figure. He wears HBT trousers with two front diagonal pockets and two rear patch sytle hip pockets. His trousers has a rip on the left thigh making his leg and pocket visible. As for the footgear; he has leather ankle boots with no leggings.

Right arm : Posed to carry a M1928A1 Thompson. Details of the machine gun are well represented.,

Left arm : Posed to hold the dog collar. Folds of upfolded sleeves and blood vessels on the forearm are well defined on both arms.

U.S.M.C canteen It has a canvas cover with crossed flaps - 2 pieces

Mk2 grenade

Katana : He carries a captured Japanese Army Officer sword in its Saya (Scabbard) attached to his belt on the right side.

M1 Steel helmet with cloth camouflage cover. It was brown and beige on one side, and green on the other, being theoretically reversible for operations on beach or in jungle but never been used in that way. Torn effect on the cover is well defined.
DOG : A war dog, hard for me to identify the type and breed, is given as a single piece in the kit. A first-aid kit pouch is added to the collar on the left side.
MARINE #2
Posed to walk next to the dog handler, it comes in 7 parts. Cast as a single piece without arms; facial details, hair and dogtag are well represented. He wears the standard tropical garment of Marine Corps - HBT uniform of jacket, trousers and low boots. There was a small resin ball on the right skirt of jacket on my review sample probably as a casting mistake which has to be cleaned. Cloth folds, pocket details, towel inserted to right front pocket of trousers, torn effects on the left knee and left rear pocket are well defined. He carries an utility belt with M1 Garand ammo pouches on both sides and first-aid kit on the left. Y-suspenders are lowered on the figure. To simulate this; the lower canvas parts of the suspenders close to the utility belt and metal attachments are cast on the figure as the other canvas parts should be scratched from metal foil. Please see the assembled/painted figure photos on the right for details.

Right arm : Posed to hold the rifle strap; it shows nice cloth folds. Strap of the rifle should be scratch-built using the metal foil supplied in the kit.

Left arm : Posed to carry the helmet holding the chinstrap. Chinstrap will be done using the metal foil. It shows nice folds on the upfolded sleeves and blood vessels are well defined.

M1 Garand : It is a gas operated, semiautomatic rifle, clip-fed only magazine of 8 rounds. The rifle in the kit is given with bayonet. Details of the rifle and bayonet are well represented.

M1 Steel helmet in canvas camouflage cover with HBT utility cap inside.

Water bottle in canvas cover

Scabbard of bayonet

Metal foil ; a small sheet of metal foil is given to make the gun straps, chinstrap, dog collar and Y-suspenders.

references

The following books can be useful when painting this kit ;
- Osprey Publishing- Elite059 - The US Marine Corps 1941-1945 by Gordon T-Rottman & Mike Chappell
- Greenhill Books - The Marines In World War II - From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Christopher J.Anderson
- Europa Militaria No.2 - World War II Infantry in Color Photographs by Laurent Mirouze

conclusion

Another unique piece from Evolution miniatures with the nice sculpt of Sergey Traviansky and high quality cast in crisp details. Two Marines and a dog is a nice team to paint for World War II Pacific Theatre painters.

Very Highly Recommended