DID Steiner

[Falckner]

Hi
Got my two DID Steiner figures a couple
days ago.

This nude figure was a real surprise to me
very slim and looking very accurate to a
WW II person in my opinion I want more
off this kind also in different height would
be fine.

Headsculpt well we all know our Steiner,
very good! Only a minor problem too paint
the hair grey.

Haven´t been looking so much at the equipment
will come back with my opinion on that

Couldn´t resist to try out one off them in a other
uniform took a Dragon Ernst Kruger outfit or the most
off it and here he is !

 

[geppetto2]

Got a Stiener on Sat. as well (Thanks Mordred) and he is quite nice. The sculpt is really well done and the figure is nice and tight. I am still on the fence about this body type but it is a step up for DID. The gear is top notch as well tho I still can't get into the DID German canteen but I do have an ample supply of replacements. The back ground on the cover flap has a T34/85 and it does resemble a still from the movie which is cool. I really like this fig.

Jeff (Geppetto)

 

[viaad]

What do you guys think of the tank badges? Are they nicely done? The DID awards have been so-so in the past and even worse once in hand. Can you post some pics when you get a chance.

Nice uniform change! He looks good as a stug commander!

 

[Loke666]

I got mine yesterday. Here is what I think:

- HS - fantastic - DID is really steps ahead on HS's now - for some strange reason the hair is dark instead of grey - but a quick drybrush can fix that.

- Helmet - great!! - made from plast/resin?? - in a very thin material - doesn't weight much and is far better loking than most.

- Submachine gun - looks great - wood and metal - with a very nice finish. I tried tentatively to operate the bolt and removed the mag - but it was very tight - so I decided to wait for some one else to break his. It only comes with one mag so the pouch is left empty!!

- field gear - usual DID quality - could be a little sharper - but allright

- medals - I prefer DMLs plastic medals over the white metal ones DID offer - too blurry in the design and too hard to make them sit well on the uniform with that pin in the back

- boots - an newer model - I'm a bit undecided - liked the old DID version better.

- trousers - OK - not much news there

- M43 hat - one of the best I have seen so far - rumours that its too large is not true IMO

- Parka and winter trousers - the usual f***-up - LW splinter - instead of the right Heer splinter - its like DLM made this mistake 8 years or so back and now its repeated over and over...?
Used white side out its ok.

- turttle neck sweater - a fine and better material than the DML version - but WHY? - Steiner doesn't wear a tuttle neck in the movie - he wears a normal Heer issue sweater with a shirt underneat - here is no shirt - just one more damned turttle neck!

- shoulderboards - a shiny vinyl like material - come on DID!! - this is a step back to very old days - mine will have to go!

- tunic - at first it looks great - BUT - its made with lining - wich looks good - but makes it bulky. The tresse doesn't stop with the colour - but is glueded to the fabric all the way inside the jacket wich will make it very hard to pose the figure with the colar open - as in the movie. The tunic has two press buttons at waist level - but none higher up on the chest - wich again makes posing the colar open difficult. The 2 ribbons are the woven type used by both DID and DML and doesn't go under the button as they should - so they need to be replaced with CVI stuff. The button are very shiny for a late war jacket?
All in all the tunic is a piece of crap!

- body - a slimmed newer version - with very good articulation. I still think the neck can't be moved enough - but that is apparently imposible for manufactores to solve? The hands are almost Hottoys like and seem a bit fragile - but time will tell. It comes with 3 pair of hands - shooting hands, relaxed hands and ones with wollen gloves - very nice!

Other points - this is meant to be a certain fictional person from a movie - but why isn't it then made as in the movie?
In the movie Steiner wears a hard shell holster for his Luger - the the flap cut off - the figure comes with a soft shell holster - that won't look godd with the flap cut off.
The there is the sweater/shirt problem?
Steiner has some grey leather gloves in the movie - not the other stuff.
He wears the colar open all the time - but the tunic is not made or meant to be worn that way.
In the movie the tunic has a small cord for a wistle in the chest pocket - not so here.
The parka in the movie looks like the grey-green version (debateable) - why do a very sharp LW splinter?

Most of this stuff can be fixed - and if you consider a boxed figure as a plastic model you will have fun correcting - then you will have some wonderfull hours here. But if you expect to pull it out of the box and be good to go - this is too far from the point.

All in all - I think there are too many issues for a figure at that pricepoint.
The HS stands out and is the best Steiner I have ever seen - but the figures differs too much from the movie to be really good - and there are too many dogs in the box to be a real success.

I may be overly critical - but it bugs me that for every step forward - we also get another step backwards - like the vinyl should boards.
At a picepoint of 100 USD - I wants more than a mixed bag of good and bad stuff.

henrik

 

[Pangaea95]

Henrik, I believe when they assaulted the bridge Steiner was wearing the turtle neck, may be wrong on that, but pretty sure he wore the M36 tunic through out the movie. he also was wearing the splinter version of the coat, was just so dirty was hard to make out pattern lol DiD has always been kinda odd with what they put in the box for accessories, not always the most accurate to a subject, but usually all usable items.

Great looking figure Falckner, really dig the head sculpt and new DiD body, and your bash really shows it off nicely!!!

 

[johkaz]

Hi,

It is difficult to see if he has the Splinter jacket or not from these pictures.
But on the arm it looks like the jacket has the 'raindrops' camo pattern.

On the left shoulder it looks like a camo pattern under the dirt.

But from the back this looks like the jacket is just Green.

This is when he meets the officers.

Gary

 

[johnro6659]

Back then they used a lot of post war German items. I have seen the movie and have pictures. The jacket does have some sort of camo pattern under the dirt and grime but it's not all that legible and they probably did it on purpose because it was not a period piece. We have seen it many times in movies they have used post war German items and passed them off as W.W.II in the movies. The bigger the budget the better the uni either they were modified post war German or they bought repros if the budget was really big.

Hid did wear a sweater under the tunic but it was just a black crew neck. I like the turtle neck better myself. The tunic in the movie is not the same but DiD never says this is from the Cross of Iron or it's a James Coburn figure even though we know who it looks like.

This is one pic I have that is a good close up.

 

[Falckner]

Hi
Before going back to my BKA Panzer IV
I will do a picture review off the gear
that comes with Steiner. And IMO

Medal
Close Combat more Bronze than Gold to me but still useable
Iron Cross ,Inf Assault, Wounded badge have a crazy pin assembly and not so crisp in details take away the pin and they are useable to me

Kuban sheild not so crisp in detail useable "Happy for every one I can get
my hands on"
Tank destruction badges have too short fabric will have to change that
Collar patch and breast eagle are not useable to me

Jacket
Bad light sorry for that but what is worse is that DID have sew
a way too thick inner lining and some crazy looking stitches
that really piss me off . To all manufactors out there WHY IN HELL is it so
important to make a inner lining nobody can see anyway but spoil the whole thing with 1/6 scale ACTION FIGURES they are suppose to be able
to change position off their arms and legs and you can´t do that with a
Michelin Figure. "Thats those bulky figures often found as decoration on
trucks in Europe make a google on it and you see what I mean.

Conclusion Jacket is a mess shoulder straps are some funny shiny false
leather things agree on that this is not what we expect in 2013.

Map Case
Good but sorry to say they should have lay some more time on this and
make separately pensil holders.

Bayonet and extra hands
Good

Ppsh-41
Very good even though not any one could have the bolt operated to safety position it can be open and for those with hawk eyes yes its
a little bullet that can be pulled off the magazine couldn´t see no
spring action there. And a spare magazine should have been there for
a figure in 100 + bucks figure thats for sure.

Luger and Holster
Very good even though soft shell

Helmet
Very good feels like metal at first but is resin a clever sulution
for a light helmet and still have the metal feeling. Only question
for our manufactors is will it be standard or ?????

Bread bag
Very good
Made in very thin fabric and have a thin filling and I think
that this will make the waterbottle sit a bit more realistic and
sink in to the bread bag a bit better.

Water bottle
Nothing fancy standard DID stuff

Belt and harness etc
Good leather copies Binocular looks ok
Metall buckle and hook ok
Spare Magazine bag ok But EMPTY!!!

Grenades
Compare with a Dragon some more details could have been there
but ok

Gloves with hands in them
made in some shiny fabric not sure off what.
Good made and usable even though not as in the movie

Winter uniform
The best made I have had when it comes too thickness and make
I´m no splinter expert and never will be so I leave that to them

Usable for sure

The rest
Fieldcap very good, thurtleneck very good the best so far thin and
accurate,trousers ok, boots new type looks ok easy to have off and
on no problem there.

So thats it for Steiner now I´m off to do the ultimate one

 

[Loke666]

First - John - I disagree about this figure not being "that Steiner" - when the box says "Steiner" and it havs a James Coburn head - well then its that Steiner and not another Steiner.

After posting last I have removed the lining from the jacket and found shoulder pads underneat it!! (Steiner goes Miamy Vice) They are easily removed - but one wonder why DID deliberatly put such s*** in a german tunic??
What worse - you can't roll up the sleves - as the innner side of the tunic cloth has some white fluffy surface!

What I misses most in this offering is a regular sweater and a shirt.

Also there are a lot of smaller issues - that by themselves was woth mentioning - but thay ads up:
- helmet strap buckle is in the wrong side
- bajonet is shiny as hell - the real ones was ofte coloured black/dark brown
- boots have a strange little lip over the heel

lots of small stuff - but all in all - it takes away joy and takes a lot of time to dorrect this figure. Had the price been 35$ I wouldn't mind - but at 100 $ I expect a lot more.

Henrik

 

[pzrwest]

The liner in the helmet should be closer to the skirt and cover the indents. The 3 studs are actually split pins on the inside to hold the liner in position. As for the strap buckle it all depends on whether the man was right or left handed... right handed the buckle is on the left and on the right for left handed people. Yes the blade should be black like the rest of the metal parts of the bayonet. It would have a silver edge running along the cutting edge of the blade from being sharpened. The Kuban shield should be a goldish color. As for the pins on the assault badge and Iron cross is correct for those badges. The close combat badge should be gold for him and have a horizontal pin on the back similar to the Iron Cross. The canteen is nice but the strap should be black and the stud at the bottom should be on the bottom not part way up the canteen. Nice they used a buckle instead of the stud on most canteens.

 

[Loke666]

Harold - I think most of us are aware the real medals had a pin on the backside and wasn't glued to the uniform - so in that respect they are done right - BUT the issue is that DIDs medals are made in white metal and are not very crisp compared to the plastic one by DML - also the pin on the back makes it very hard some make them sit well on the uniform.
Sometimes even if something is done correct it doesn't look good scalewise.
The idea that all ammopouches should be made to open is another examble - even if they open correctly - if doing so makes them oversized - its not really a good idea.
Again - real tunic had lining - but as it can't been seen on a figure - it doesn't do any good - just makes the tunic more bulky and makes it sit bad and makes posing harder.
Real soldiers had underwear, shirts and even a sweater under the tunic - but if we do that - the figures will kook like the mentioned Michelin man.

You are right about - the left/right issue on helmet buckles - but Steiner is right handed - so it is wrong.

Henrik

 

[Falckner]

Also my point off view and what all manufactors
should do some really good thinking through.

Not all the stuff they produce and try to replicate
close to 1/1 scale is useable/look/feel real when they come
down to 1/6 scale. So insted off lay all that effort on
those details lay it on some real good equipment to the
figures like "all magazine " etc. All that work on a inner
lining even if it could be done so figure dosen´t get
the "Micheline" look is a wast with Time and Our hard
earned money.

Another point I can´t really understand is that DID in
their first figure Fritz Müller the panzer guy they had
better looking medals and the Kubanshield also much
more detail´d the Tank destruction badge´s where
lightyears better.

Why not keep up that quality ???