A somewhat odd post arrived in early April. I picked up on Ebay ten plastic French Navy figures. Clearly cheap copies of the French toy manufacturer STARLUX, I was hoping they would, when suitably painted, provide some additional troops for my French Army 1870-1914. Unfortunately, the figures turned out to be very rough in their moulds, and rather than 50-54mm in scale, more like 45-48mm. (SMALL SCALE WORLD has suggested they were made by Ri or Rado Toys of Hong Kong.)
Somewhat disillusioned, I set about contemplating their future use. My heavily converted Dutch WW2 army figures are also rather small, approx. 50mm. Thinking about it, on file I have some photos of Dutch seamen serving on land with small arms.
A technique I've used before is to disguise a smaller scale by fixing on higher bases, and that can provide another two millimetres.
Here they are, painted and ready for service. Three figures can now man an AA gun, and five more will provide some extra rifle fire. (The two officers will be drafted into my Ugandan army as they are perfect for their Police force.) You can see one of my original Dutch infantry in their grey-green uniform for size comparison.
Original state
No copyright infringement intended. Armed seaman 1930s.
1920s gun crew
1940s
(PS. Interested in recruiting some Starlux French Navy figures, open to favourable swaps, and happy to include those that are damaged!)
ANOTHER PROJECT FOR THE DUTCH
Back on the Dutch theme. I popped into a local charity shop a few days ago and picked up a broken toy for £1. What interested me was the tractor had wide caterpillar treads. So wide, they could be sliced so as to produce potentially enough for two vehicles, there was also a useful eight wheels too.
Here is my attempt at recreating a Dutch c.1939 Carden-Loyd Tankette using plasticard sheets. They apparently had five such vehicles, their only tracked vehicles in WW2. Wasn't sure whether to clearly mark this model as Dutch or not. as I could use it with my British, or even my Japanese. However, research showed that the Dutch adopted a machine gun shield, so Dutch emblems were permitted. And, as a bonus, it was something Orange!
Don't mind admitting, it was a fiddly project!
Wonderful tracks, useful wheels, dumped the rest!
Here are two photos from TANKS ENCYCLOPEDIA. COM, a wonderful resource for students of the subject. Visit them to see so much more, well recommended!
MGB
I don't mind height differences as much as head sizes. At 5'4", when we fell in for drill, "tallest on the right...etc, Christien and I just headed to the left, no jockeying for position. But if you threw all the hats on a table, they all looked the same size.
ReplyDeleteI love the tankette! (am I allowed to call it cute?)
Cheers Ross, even in reenactment I had to organise my membership into height, contemplated forming a small detachment of grenadiers, two being well over six foot, lol. You will understand if I decline to call it cute, will stick (as I often did) to fiddly, very fiddly!
DeleteMichael
You are the master of plasticard armour Michael! I love the Dutch tankette, another wonderful piece of modeling on your part! You have a true gift in seeing what can be created out of assorted bits and bobs that look like tat to most of us. Very well done! Great tip for basing smaller figures too, they look the part and will be most useful!
ReplyDeleteMost kind, Brad. Being frugal (I'm 1/4 Scots) has forced me to look at other methods. And a coat of varnish hides a great deal!
DeleteMichael
Brilliant looking tankette - you where lucky spotting the potential in the toy .
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony, one of the key issues in making some tanks is the tracks, other vehicles are so covered as something simpler can be devised to imply such. The Carden-Loyd tracts are very visible. The broken tractor for £1 was a lucky find.
DeleteMichael