Thanks very much to Masterbox (MB) and Dragon USA for providing IPMS USA this review kit and to the IPMS Review corps leadership for sending this item my direction!

OK, I’m not a figure guru. I tend to just build aircraft, but every once in a while, I get the urge to try my hand. Some day I may improve, sez I…

This set is intended as a small vignette to show two allied Armor operators passing out Snickers ® candy bars to local kids, under the ever watchful eye of their mother. Hence the name of the kit… Depending on your experience if you have deployed overseas, this is either fanciful (Most of the time we were told to avoid any dealings with Middle Eastern families) or reality, depending on where you were sent.

With that in mind, I take this build at face value; kids are kids worldwide, and the opportunity for free candy is never turned down… read on.

This kit contains two armor operator figures (they look British to me, based on the kit and weapons), four children (one in the arms of Mom, who is wearing a full burka), and a nondescript dog. The overall build is easy; all parts fit where they are supposed to, and no filler was used as liquid cement did the job.

The pictures tell the story; one military member passing out a candy bar to the young ones… and the other looking up, probably for snipers because that’s what happens in combat. Let down your guard and pay for it…

The figures were sculpted by an expert; facial expressions are very obvious, particularly the young man who is older, probably embarrassed to be there taking candy, but yet interested enough to be there. Mom is watching over the crowd… and the dog skulks along waiting for crumbs. One part that is missing in my build; the case of candy bars being held by the individual doling the candy out; That disappeared into the carpet. And I’m NOT scratchbuilding a case of candy bars in this scale!

I actually had a good time with this; the overall paint job took two separate sessions… I assembled the figures, primered with Tamiya White figure primer, and then sprayed everyone overall desert sand. The first attempt at painting was awful; I removed an evenings’ worth of work with a denatured alcohol bath, and started again…(Vallejo acrylics with some Modelmaster acryl skin tones). My preferred method involves base skin painting, some wash for detail, then the rest of the figure with drybrush detailing using the basic clothing colors. Some detail work, another dark wash to accent, drybrush the lighter skin and clothing tones, and then done. The results are in the pictures…

The result: 10 of 10 for MB’s work, and 5 for my poor handiwork. NOT the fault of the kit, by no stretch of the imagination. The Masterbox sets are worthy additions, and I highly recommend them for those looking for something different on the shelf or Diorama purposes. Speaking of that, the next Masterbox set provided by IPMS for my work, to my surprise, has a different theme… stay tuned.

Thanks once again to MB for this great set!