1:35 British Dispatch Rider Pushing His Motorcycle

When it was no longer possible to ride

Mud stopped the vehicles behind the front more reliably than enemy fire. After heavy rain a rutted road turned into a porridge in which the drive belt slipped without gripping and an unsupported rear wheel lost its purchase. The rider had no choice but to get off and cover the rest of the route on foot, leaning into the handlebars with the whole weight of his body. British units laid brushwood mats and plank roadways against it, but there was only enough of those for the main routes.

A scene with a direction

The casting works with a forward lean, taut arms and legs set apart. A static scene thereby gains something rare, namely legible movement: the viewer can tell where the figure is heading before he has looked at the surroundings. In a diorama with ruts, puddles and broken planking it stands out particularly, because it explains by itself why this particular ground is an obstacle. It will also manage the role of a single figure on a small base, where it carries the whole theme alone.

What to watch out for

Resin holds a crisper rendering of the uniform and the boots than injection-molded plastic, but the price for that is brittleness. Free thin parts by cutting, therefore, never by breaking. The approach that works is to cut the sprue nub off with a saw, level the area and rid the surface of grease, otherwise the paint will flake off in time.

Cyanoacrylate glue is enough for bonding; on a larger mating face a slower-setting epoxy is better, as it allows the lean of the body to be fine-tuned. The machine the soldier leans into is not supplied and you choose it to suit the scene.