Italeri 1/72 Pegasus Bridge 1944 Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

On the evening of 5 June 1944, a force of British commandos were inserted into German-held Normany to secure a draw bridge over the Caen canal in support of the D-Day invasion that would start the following morning. Called the Pegasus Bridge, this bridge connected Benouville and Ranville, halfway inland from the Normandy coast and Caen. This was one of several bridges that were secured to allow allied forces to break out of their beachheads and deal with German forces deployed between them and Paris.

In honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Italeri has produced an innovative diorama in a box that will appeal to modelers and wargamers alike. When you pick up this box, you'll immediately note the weight of the contents inside, and on opening the box, you'll see that this is a kit of kits. There are several kits inside that have been previously released individually, but they help create the scene of that night battle between British and German forces that night of the 5th of June. What is especially noteworthy is also the source of the box's weight - the Pegasus bridge. Rather than being injection-molded plastic however, the bridge kit is comprised of laser-cut plywood. I believe this is the first wood and styrene kit released by Italeri and especially where the wood kit (bridge) is the main focus of this kit.

The Pegasus bridge consists of a number of wood parts presented on six laser-cut sheets of thin plywood. It uses a tab-and-grove process for assembly and is laid out to be an easy build using wood glue or cyano. Once you get the wood model assembled, finished, and painted, nobody will notice that this was done from wood.

In addition to the bridge, this kit of kits also includes:

• 1 x 1/72 Opel Blitz
• 1 x 1/72 Kuebelwagen
• 1 x 1/72 Anti-tank gun
• 1 x 1/72 Quad 20mm Flak gun
• 1 x 1/72 Battlefield accessories set
• 1 x 1/72 German soldiers figure set
• 1 x 1/72 British soldiers figure set

These styrene kits are molded in gray, white, and tan styrene, including the figures (not vinyl). The instructions also provide tips for scratchbuilding a bunker, gun emplacement pit, and road signs.

Wargamers will appreciate the ease of assembly and how quickly the kit can be prepared for battle. The scale modeler can also appreciate the ease of assembly while also enjoying the opportunities to bring this diorama to life using basic skills and adding additional details, including a diorama base, to recreate that night before D-Day.

Thanks to MRC for the review sample.