1:32 British Dispatch Rider Afternoon Tea

A cup of tea between two runs

The British motorcycle dispatch rider was one of the least conspicuous and at the same time most reliable links in communications on the Western Front. Before field telephones and radio stations spread, orders, reports and maps traveled in the case of a man on a motorcycle, who had to force his way along a broken road, through mud and sometimes through fire as well. This figure catches him in the rare moment when the machine is standing and he is holding a mug of hot tea.

The subject and the period

The model is a member of the Royal Engineers Signal Service, which trained and directed the dispatch riders. The leather jacket, the goggles pushed up on the forehead, the high boots and the case over the shoulder match the years 1916 to 1918. The pose is relaxed, with one leg slightly bent and a hand resting on the hip, so the figure comes into its own even without a motorcycle: by a field kitchen, by the wall of a country cottage or in a knot of soldiers in front of a hangar.

Working with the casting

The parts are of modeling resin and come unpainted. First the casting blocks have to be cut off, the parting lines cleaned up and the surface washed properly in warm water with detergent: mold release agent from the mold clings to resin and the paint could crack on it. A thin spray of primer works well, bringing out the folds of the cloth, and only after it the toning of the face and the equipment.

The 1:32 scale means a figure height of about fifty-four millimeters. It therefore goes with large models of First World War aircraft and with dioramas of field airfields, where dispatch riders really did ride.