1/35 WWII French figures question..........

Well, Heller made some years ago. They've been out of production for a while. Perhaps a letter to Heller could inspire a re-issue along with their French motorcycle.

There may be some in resin that I'm not familiar with. hth

Weeeell... At the risk of some very Francophobe jokes, which I'll resist, you could use any US Army NW Europe figures and likewise for British/Commonwealth troops to represent the Free French forces. I'm sure Hornet make heads with the Adrian helmet as well. And didn't Italeri make a set of "Resistance" fighters?

I recall the old Heller set, very basic and not up to today's standards. Perhaps this could be a niche for Dragon to fill - if they can produce kits of Cossacks and Croat SS mountain troops, how about some more Allied figure sets?

Chris

The first investment you make (and this applies to *any* area/period/genre of 1/35th scale figures) is getting some of Hornet's head sets:

No one can capture ethnicities/races in such a small scale like Roger Saunders. His work is incredible! And, yes, there are some Adrian-helmet-clad heads there.

I think most of the major figure manufacturers make/made a French figure or two. It is just a matter of doing an extensive search. For example, Warriors (c/o VLS) has/had a multi-figure vignette, featuring French infantry and a Maginot Line pillbox.

Scale Link made a *ton* of WWI-era figures, with a lot of French. Perhaps these could be used as a "building block" for converting to WWII-era.

Also, check into Miniatures Andrea, as well as Pegaso.

** Nemrod has this rather nice two-figure set:

** From Andrea:

(WWI - but useful)

** From "Des Kit" (This is just the tip of the iceberg; as they make a *lot* of WWII French subjects, figures *and* vehicles.)

?item=16187&hot=0&search=1?item=16209&hot=0&search=1?item=16213&hot=0&search=1?item=6336&hot=0&search=1(I kind of like this last one...)

** From Fusilier:

(again, nominally WWI...but...)

** From Hecker and Goros: (very nice)

** From Metal Models:

I fact, just go to

-- and do a "Search" (upper left-hand corner of the page), and use "french" as your one and only search term. You will get 100's of responses; and you can just pick through the ones that are from the appropriate time frame.

What, you mean like they must have poseable arms so you can raise them above their heads?

(kim)

Well, everything depends on the time which UPNORTHGUY wishes to show. Until about 1941 the French troops had their own uniform. For this period, set Heller is far from being bad but it is necessary to be able to find it.

For Vichy soldiers, these bastards of collaborators, I do not know kit.

For Free French, effectively the base is an American uniform, but often with a French " bachis " ( sailor's hat), or a cap of French pilot, etc....

These two comments do not belong on this group. I hope that these are only two failed attempts at humour and not malicious. You are basically insulting a fellow modeler (and one who has been making a great contribution to this group). He also provided a very interesting and useful response to the original question. How about a little common courtesy? Cheers, Doc

No! I said I was resisting any jokes! I don't want to p**s off any guys like Chris!

Chris

Don't worry Chris and Doc. I well know Chris since the time we corresponded, and this guy is a good guy. No malicious in his message... Not like Kim the bastard! ;o)