As the 20th century progressed armies became increasingly similar in terms of uniform, but this trend occurred much earlier in the Navies of the world, so that by 1914 the seamen of virtually all the major powers were hard to tell apart from any distance. This has the effect of making any naval figures from the last century usable for many navies, so although these figures represent the relatively small Austro-Hungarian submarine service, they have a much broader potential. Having made a set of officers, this is the first set of KUK crewmen from Nikolai.

As with the officers the atmosphere here is one of relaxation, as the poses suggest neither battle nor other work. The scan does not really do these figures justice as it makes some of them look rather strange. This is because the fourth and fifth figures are actually leaning back, as if against a wall, while the first figure is leaning to his side. As always the poses are very nicely done, with the fifth figure just managing to win the title of our favourite as he nonchalantly chats and smokes a cigarette.

The men wear a variety of working clothes, apart from one that has the full 'square rig'. Many styles of clothing were seen on crewmen as submarines tended to be less rigid about regulation dress than surface vessels, and all those here seem fine.

These resin figures are beautifully sculpted, with fine proportions and natural-looking clothing. Flash, if it can be called that, is a tiny spur where the resin entered the mould - it takes longer to mention it than it does to trim it off, and there are no other blemishes of any kind. All these figures are one-piece, so no separate arms etc., but none come with bases. We added our own bases for the pictured figures in order to ease painting, but all will need them anyway as they do not stand by themselves.

Another superb set from Nikolai, and one that should grace any naval diorama of the First World War.