1:35 '40 - French Laffly Crew No.3

1:35 French Laffly Crew No.3 from Dynamo-Models

The third numbered set of the French Laffly Crew sub-range of Dynamo-Models in 1:35 scale. The name marks the range with the year 40, that is the period of the French campaign of 1940. It is a diorama figure accessory to French army vehicles, not a vehicle kit.

The French army of 1940 as a subject

The campaign of 1940 is among the rewarding modeling periods: French vehicles of the time have a form of their own and their crews wore khaki field uniforms complemented by leather items of equipment, which gives the figures a limited but interesting palette. The vehicles of the Laffly marque, a French maker of army tractors and reconnaissance vehicles, were open in construction, so the crew comes into its own in the finished scene. Numbered sets allow a crew to be put together figure by figure exactly according to the intended composition.

Tips for painting and settling into the scene

If you paint the figure yourself, work in thin layers and deal with the differences between cloth, leather and metal through shade and sheen rather than through a marked change of color. Build the face from a base skin tone through the shadows to the highlights and leave it as the last step, when the rest is already finished. Try the figure dry right on the vehicle or in the terrain - with crews what counts is whether the figure physically fits the space available. Dust pigment at the end links the figure with the model and with the base.

Who the set is for

• modelers building French vehicles of 1940 in 1:35
• anyone interested in adding a further figure to a crew under construction
• collectors of the numbered Dynamo-Models figure range
• builders of dioramas from the French campaign