John: I sat down at my kitchen table last Thursday night and clipped out twenty models from the sprues in theBritish Infantry plastic boxed set. In no time I was building them – first gluing a body to a base, then when all twenty were dry started, pretty much at random giving each a right arm, and then and only them found an interesting left arm to pair up with the right. This approach gave me some challenges and made me think about what the soldier was carrying and how he was carrying it – I want no duplicates in my platoon! When a weapon or piece of kit was finished I found a suitable head and glued it on in a stance that fitted the pose. Even better was the addition of the Tommy’s battle bowler – his famous tin hat – which can be worn many ways (though a Sergeant Major might disagree with this stance). A rakish tilt of the helmet transforms a British soldier. The German coal scuttle helmet can only be worn one way – that’s the Germans for you!
After that it was great fun to add as much kit as I thought correct for the soldiers. Although we give lots of packs/weapons/kit/tools in the boxed sets, most front line troops stripped down to essential kit only so they could move properly and remain concealed. The approach march meant a slow plod most often with way too much carried kit, no wonder they valued the Carriers and half tracks so much!
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