This series includes a one French, one British, and two versions of the same US crew bailing out of their tanks. I don’t know about you guys but I love this sort of thing and I’ve often wondered why we don’t get more of these types of figures from manufacturers.
The yet to be released German version will feature a couple of guys simply walking away from their broken down tank 
I agree; it certainly exemplifies that soldiers manned, worked, lived and died in the machines we model. Sometimes, not that I’m moralising, I just feel perhaps a reminder of that is apposite.
As a fan of populating my models in any case, I think these are welcome. Grim? Yeah, sure, but will also ring the changes on the display tables nicely.
Horses for courses obviously.
The modellingnews made a mistake in one of the photos: they used the same twice (look at the part numbers).
This is the other one:
It’s interesting, I interpreted these as brave crewmen rescuing their wounded brothers out of a tank.
I think it was Steve Zaloga that wrote in one of his books that despite the accepted myths about Allied tankers were not entirely inaccurate. If I recall correctly and I can’t remember which publication it was, Steve wrote that the statistics actually showed that being a tanker was one of the safer frontline jobs an Allied soldier could have. I wish I could remember which one of his books he wrote that in because there were a lot of statistics and data that backed up his assertions.
I’ve modeled a few destroyed tanks and these figures are ideal for creating a vignette or diorama where a tank just got hit and the crew are in the process of bailing out of the vehicle.
Because “bailing out” was more the exception than the rule. The movie Fury got one thing right: replacements
Modelers gravitate to the exception rather than the rule. My Bf-109/Fw-190 will be displayed on a wood plank revetment simply because others have grown to accept it as fact. Kinda like the “Verlinden Way” with vehicles modeled with shreads of camo netting and person arms left every which way
Because they go with knocked out tanks, and most people don’t model knocked out tanks.
KL
It’s almost become rules:
Heavy AFVs must always be displayed on a half collapsed bridge.
All military vehicles must include a random rag, cloth, or tarp draped over an edge, regardless of the combat impairment, risk of loss, or mere nonsense the situation would entail in real life.
KL
Hah! And not forgetting the dissembled British Army webbing, in position akin to the Verlinden magnetic water bottles; and no kit is complete without the brightly coloured civilian 200l fuel drum lashed to the vehicle.
And somewhere along the line the Inspector General of the Panzer Truppe must have ordered that all tank gun barrels remain in their factory colour of dark grey.
I’m actually with you on this one Kurt. The trouble is, whist the odd aberration does/did exist, for some reason it then becomes doctrinaire; remember the red and white “sighting poles” frequently seen on Jagdtigers - when in fact they were obviously the cleaning rods for the main armament? The Tank Museum at Bovington - who should have known better - helped perpetuate that rubbish with a couple of broomsticks painted as such.
I try to be as realistic as possible but do take liberties from time to time. That’s why references are so important, at least to me. I also base it on my personal experiences- if I can remember.
If I can remember” - Gawd - ain’t that the truth these days?!
I don’t know if you ever dabbled in model railroading, but there’s a similar phenomenon there. Photographs - and train set rolling stock - are rife with helium cars, billboard reefers, pickle cars, chlorine cars, multi-colored tankers, and so forth. In reality, the vast, vast majority of rolling stock was either oxide red (box cars, flat cars, and gondolas) or black (hopper and tank cars). The divergence comes from trackside photographers focusing on the unusual over the mundane and toy companies looking for the showy.
KL
I’ve always wondered why modellers chose to do that with the bit of tarp, rag bit of camo etc.
Youtube influencers
Meanwhile, modern AFV modellers are begging for any figures that can go with their vehicles.
You mean the same Tank Museum that painted that Jagdtiger in light blue-grey with some dark yellow blotches over it?
(source)
Speaking for myself:—
… because the clamp for the machine gun broke off when the model was nearly finished, and I think I couldn’t find it anymore so I made up a solid plastic replacement shape and hid it under a rag 
That’s the one!
Mind you, I recall the pale green Luchs, and the bronze green Jagdpanther (outside).
This gives me an idea for a vignette – a [insert tank here] with the crew scrambling to get into the tank because of an artillery round landing nearby, or an unexpected burst of gunfire close by, or someone spotting an aircraft, with whatever they were holding dropped to fall where it will in the hurry to get back inside the armor as fast as possible. A cup from the canteen tipped over spilling coffee down the front plate, a greasy rag dropped on a fender, a wrench tossed behind a storage box hoping it will stay there because it would take too much time to properly clamp it in place, things like that. Bits and bobs dropped where they may because surviving to stow them properly later trumps taking the time to put them away now.
This seems to be a phenomenon that is being perpetuated by some of the more popular YouTubers like ColdemonsPl and Nightshift. Stowage that doesn’t logically track but looks aesthetic disregarding the hazards it would pose in an operational environment. How many tarps does a Sherman crew really need to be carrying? I also blame Black Dog and their random stowage arrangements they put out.
Great looking Sherman!
