1:35 Francouzské batohy WWI.

The French pack and everything that hung on it

Infantry equipment from the years of the Great War was not just a pack. A rolled blanket, a canvas tent, a mess tin, spare footwear and a shovel were tied to the pack, so the resulting bundle took on an irregular shape that differed with every soldier. It is precisely this mismatch that makes the equipment a rewarding element of a scene: a little heap of packs set down by a trench wall tells of a unit at rest more convincingly than a figure does.

How a casting imitates cloth

Textile is the hardest material of all for a model, because it follows its own weight and at a small scale it ought to be hundredths of a millimeter thick. Cast resin copes with that better than injection-molded plastic for two reasons. The mold is not limited by the direction of ejection, so a fold can tuck under and create a real undercut that never arises on a pressed part. And the surface of the casting stays matte after washing, so the fabric does not start reflecting light like a varnished surface. Anyone who wants to carry the cloth through should lay the paint in thin coats and let the shadow work at the bottom of the fold, because the sharp transitions created by a dry brush will turn canvas into sheet metal.

Leatherwork and straps

Leather straps differ from canvas in sheen, not in shape. It is enough to go over them with semi-gloss varnish once dry and the difference between the strap and the pack will appear without reaching for a different shade.

Use

Twenty-eight parts cover a sizeable group of figures or fill the corner of a diorama. The castings can be leaned against a crate, hung on a peg in the wall of a trench and stacked on the bed of a wagon.