1:35 '40 - French Infantry On The March No.1

French Infantry On The March No.1 - a 1:35 figure from Dynamo-Models

The figure is part of the numbered marching range of Dynamo-Models, which refers in its names to the year 1940 and is in 1:35 scale. This is number one. Each number of the range is a separate item, so you put the column together as you like - the more different numbers you place side by side, the less repetitive the result will look. This is a figure item, not a vehicle kit.

Infantry on the march in 1940

Marching infantry is almost the defining image for a diorama from the French campaign. In May and June 1940 movements took place largely on foot, along roads lined with avenues of trees, and the soldiers carried their full field kit with them. The uniform of the period was built on the long greatcoat and the Adrian pattern helmet, which gives the figures a characteristic silhouette even from a distance. In a marching scene it is the silhouette that matters more than fine detail - it decides whether the viewer recognizes the story at first glance.

Tips for painting and building the column

With a column it is the rhythm that counts. Do not line the figures up at regular intervals, but leave unequal gaps between them and slightly different angles - a real march was never even. In color it pays off to keep a single khaki base and to deal with the differences only in the degree of fading and in the amount of dust, so that the group reads as one formation. Even the boots and the lower hem of the greatcoat out with dust pigment matching the color of the base. Leave the faces for last and vary the skin tone gently between the individual numbers of the range.

Who the figure is for

• Builders of marching and roadside scenes from 1940
• Modelers who put a larger column together from several numbers of the range
• Collectors of French figures in 1:35 scale
• Modelers looking for an accessory to 1:35 vehicles and buildings