Product Review: DiD Helmut Thorvald SS Sniper (Pics)

[Pvt. Ryan HOH]

DiD Helmut Thorvald SS Sniper

I didn’t really see a review for this guy so I thought id put a big in depth (ill probably cut it off and make it short towards the end cause I have add, and a Carmel macchiato)

Where to Start…. Hmm well let’s start at the Price tag. Online I have seen Herr Throvald for anywhere from $47 (Good stuff to go) to $60 (Echobase). However the price with shipping on average is around $55, and some places have free shipping offers.

In my opinion all DID figures are worth the $55 ish you pay. Not all of them have floated my boat though. I’m not into Pioneers and the like but if I had purchased them I’d still be happy I bet.

Anyways Back to Helmut. Here are some general pros and cons that I will detail further later on…

Pros:
Burlap Wrapping on Sniper Rifle
Diorama Base (durability of it is a con)
1/1th Sniper Patch

Cons:
Light Gear
Bendy Hands

-First for the Pros

The Sniper rifle is cool, but it was also packaged with Slavko, so it’s nothing new I need to talk about. The burlap wrapping is cool though. Most of the time, in 1/6th, the collector has to do this him self. However this time we get this done. This is a plus side as not everyone has the expertise, or the ability to get the materials to do such a feat.

The Diorama Base is another cool feature. Not a lot of people have the talent to make dios. Some don’t have the time. And a lot of dio’s can be expensive if you choose to buy one. This trench dio is cool as it can serve multiple purposes if need to. WW I, or WWII, and maybe even some Vietnam stuff too. My only complaint is that the adhesive doesn’t hold the back completely stable. And the fake log keeps falling and making an annoying noise. Glue would fix this and I will probably go that route as I don’t need the log to be separate... Also, this so far is one of the best dios included with a 1/6th figure. While other figs had ok dios, Mike Conolly and Helmut Thorvald are the only two to have really cool/fairly big dios…

The 1/1th sniper patch is a neat added feature. I think that DID should do this with all of their figures. Kind of like the Info cards GiJoe did on some of their stuff and in their RAH line. The patch is kind of useless, but its cool, maybe ill sew it onto something some day…..


-Now The Cons:

One of the main draw backs here is the Light gear. Now I know the figure is a sniper and all, so the gear would probably get in the way. But a bread bag and a canteen would have been nice. Also, a pair of gaiters, like in Hans Ebner had would be nice. Gaiters are just an easier way to keep the pant legs in the boots… and they look good. I guess you have to make some sacrifices for the DIO base though, and still be able to keep the price down….

The other thing DID has yet to get right is their hands. The back of the box says these are improved. As far as I can tell you get more out of the thumb now, but that doesn’t really help. The figure was able to hold the rifle a bit better this time around, but if I tried to repose him it would soon fall out. I simply fixed this by swapping some DML hands onto the BBI wrists, that did the trick. They also stopped including the Kung Fu grip hands as well, which is a plus. No one seemed to like these, and that keeps the price down too I guess.

-The Figure in General

Overall I like this figure, I’ve always been into WW II snipers. Some of the clothing he has is interesting as well. You get an interesting reversible M44 jacket. The spring pattern is ok, but just doesn’t float my boat. It also has some odd hooks/loops that I can’t figure out. The fall oak type pattern is cool though and its brown color goes better with the dio.

You also get a Face mask in the same brown patter. I didn’t like this too much. However if you missed the Limited DML guy, and you want the face mask, you can get one here. I think it looks cool hanging from the belt or something. I added a DML sniper veil in the same pattern and liked it better; however the head sculpt is so cool I took it off as I’d rather see the head.

The Leibermuster pants aren’t anything knew in 1/6th, however they are slightly less “neonified” than the DML version, but they still need to be weathered.

The Helmet has a cool paint job, and wire mesh. You also get some grass for the helmet. This is a pain in the ..... to put on. But once you get it on it looks cool. I just did one strand around the whole helmet, and then I started crisscrossing it. There’s probably a more methodical way to do it. You could remove the wire mesh and do it, then put the mesh back on, but I didn’t want to risk breaking the parts that attached it to the helmet. You will need a pair of scissors to cut the grass stuff too as the pieces are long. I only used about 1/3rd of the material supplied, so there’s enough for 1-2 more figures which is cool…

The Gear is nothing too special. Belt, y-harness, k98 pouches, and some grenades. All the gear is top notch, but it’s nothing new. The k98 pouches in my opinion are the best ones out there; accurate, function, and they don’t seem to be too fragile that they break if you open them once. The Y harness is nice too, as is the belt. The tab that goes into the buckle seems to be improved. I remember the one on Hans Ebner was really weak and bent/snapped in no time.

The Binoculars and Boots are also available in other sets. And aren’t too special either. The “field made” camo cover for the binos is cool, but it was a little hard to put on.

Well, it seems I didn’t end the thing as quickly as I though, 3 pages in size 12 arial in word, so that’s pretty long.

Anyways Helmut Thorvald is a great Figure in my opinion. I give him a 4 out of 5. If you’re looking for a good late war sniper to finish out your Berlin squad he will do fine.

[Pvt. Ryan HOH]

Picture 2

[Pvt. Ryan HOH]

Teaming up with my nachtjager... Need to weather Thorvald...

[Pvt. Ryan HOH]

Different angle.

These pictures were taken before i messed with the sniper veils, and changed the hands over to DML ones...

[Cwatson]

yes, you may begin a photo-review-revival!!!

thanks for the pics and review, good to know what you are getting into in advance, lol

the pics are nice.
for the figure, every thing is nice except the yellow hands