DiD 12th SS Panzer Division NCO "Hayden Crist" Preview

This 1/6 scale 12th SS PANZER DIVISION NCO "Hayden Crist" with 12cm Granatwerfer 42 (literally, "grenade thrower Model 42"; official designation: 12cm GrW 42), a mortar used by Germany during World War II is going to be DiD's Normandy 66th Anniversary Edition and will be available July 2010, according to their website.

For some strange reason, WWII Germans seem to be a very popular subject and must be generating quite a bit of income for these 1/6 manufacturers because everybody's doing it, producing 1/6 scale Germans with some famous guy's mug and everyone's lapping it up.

At first glance, the name of this 12-inch figure "Hayden" suggests that this figure is meant to resemble Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars fame) and from the teaser picture DiD is putting out, there seem to be some resemblance.

However, more pictures of the 1/6 "Hayden" headsculpt seems to reveal less of Hayden Christensen's likeness but the HS still looks nice, especially with the scar on the right side of his face, the way Anakin Skywalker looked in "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" before becoming Darth Vader.

This depicts a 12th Waffen SS "Hitlerjugend" NCO during the early days of the invasion. He mans the monstrous 120 mm Granatewerfer 42 Mortar. The mortar was actually a Russian design that the German Army copied for, at that time, they only had 81 mm mortars and smaller in their arsenal.

The main accessory of this DiD Normandy 66th Anniversary Edition has to be the 1/6 scale 12cm Granatwerfer 42. The GrW 42 was basically the usual three part construction made up of a circular base plate, the tube itself and the supporting bipod. Because of the greater weight of the weapon (280 kilograms or 620 pounds) a two wheeled axle was utilised, enabling the mortar to be towed into action. The axle could then be quickly removed before firing. The maximum range of the GrW 42, firing a 15.6 kg projectile, was approximately 6,050 m with an elevation of between 45 and 85 degrees. It has a maximum traverse of 16 degrees.

DiD 12th SS Panzer Division NCO "Hayden" also will come with a backpack carrier for the three mortar shells for the GrW 42

The mortar shells are removable, of course

Other accessories - pack of "Jacky Strike" cigarettes, looking suspiciously like "Lucky Strike"

SS cigarette lighter

Some 1/6 scale black and white pictures

And a map bag to put the pictures in