1:35 40’ BEF Infantry On The March No.1

A British infantryman on the march in 1940, number one, 1:35

A figure of a British infantryman from the spring of 1940 captured in stride, 1:35 scale, made by Dynamo-Models. Number one opens the marching line, in which the brand offers several figures turned different ways, so that a whole column can be put together from them.

A marching column as a subject

The most frequent image of a British soldier in France in 1940 is not firing but walking. Columns along dusty roads, halts by a ditch and moves between villages took up most of the campaign. A diorama with a column therefore looks convincing even without a single vehicle; a stretch of road, a fence and a line of trees are enough. For a modeler that is an advantage: a marching scene has a clear direction of movement and a viewer reads it at once.

Advice on a marching column

So that the line does not look like a frozen group of statues, vary the phase of the stride: one figure with the left leg forward, the next with the right. Make the spacing irregular and turn one figure's head to the side. Finish and dust the surface of the road before you seat the figures, so the dust carries on onto their boots. Vary the height of the figures slightly according to the camber of the road as well; a perfectly level line of heads gives away the artificiality of the whole.

Who the figure is for

• For a diorama of a road or a village square in northern France in 1940
• For modelers who build a column gradually from several pieces
• For complementing British hardware in the usual military scale
• For figure painters who prefer a walking figure without a complicated pose
• For scenes where the main action is to be movement rather than an engagement