Revell/ICM 1/35 WWI French Infantry 1914

[Neil Merryweather]

I’m still waiting for the painting mojo to kick in so I can start on Adolph Galland for the Battle of Britain GB, so in the meantime I have made a start on The Four Poilus from this set.


Again these are based on this excellent book (For reference only)




Which is a fantastic help, because the instructions (presumably by Revell) are not………..



I’m glad I left them till last because they are WAY more complicated than the other two sets. They all have coat tails made up of multiple parts




Which is going to require some filling.

And there are some nasty mould lines to remove over the gaiter laces- unavoidable but more difficult than usual.


Anyway, that’s as far as I've got.

Cheers and thanks for looking

Neil

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Oh come on, slow down Neil! How many projects is it that you've got on the go now? Seriously though, your enthusiasm is infectious - off to the bench....

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Oh come on, slow down Neil! How many projects is it that you've got on the go now? Seriously though, your enthusiasm is infectious - off to the bench....

Ha ha- not that many ,really.
I'm still recovering mentally from the Scots Greys so that's in 'consideration mode' while I think about the base,. I'm also thinking about the next stage on the Imperial Guard Grenadier-don't worry, he is still on the bench, not on the shelf! Dolpho is next on the slate, but I need a clear head for that, so this is a nice 'OOB' build to keep the juices flowing.
Sometimes I just need to be cleaning mould lines and not thinking about anything, or thinking about how I'm going to do the next stages. I've dumped the idea of one model at a time, but I am limiting myself to minor projects until the Scots Greys Charge is finished.

Anyway, you're a fine one to tell another person to slow down! You must be THE most productive member of this forum!

 

[Steve Jones]

Seat front and centre please Neil. Great to see more of your figure work

 

[Neil Merryweather]

As with the other two sets we have tiny separate rifle bolts as before, but we also have these;

And I’ve already lost one to the carpet monster. These are rolled strap ends for the pack, as per the aforementioned rubbishy instructions…


…………which I haven’t mentioned in previous builds but they are really quite poor.

Now luckily our strap rolls are part no 1 as per illustration 37, but look at the mess tin on top of the pack, number 14.
Not PART 14 on sprue W, Oh no, it’s PICTURE no 14 but part W17.

And if I hadn’t got the Europa Militaria book to go by I would struggle with positioning all the equipment.
It’s not a major issue and I can cope with this kind of code-breaking, in fact I almost enjoy it, but really they could have tried a bit harder.
Moans aside, I still think these are excellent figures and this set is fantastic value.

I hollowed out the folds in the coat tails a bit

and piled on the filler

thanks for looking
Neil

 

[Deleted member 6559]

That's nuts Neil. It's almost as if they feel that they have to provide the same amount of build value as with their armour kits. You're coping well so far though - keep going!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

That's nuts Neil. It's almost as if they feel that they have to provide the same amount of build value as with their armour kits. You're coping well so far though - keep going!

well they have excelled themselves with the Frenchies!

 

[SimonT]

View attachment 394747

he looks to be having a bit of a Marilyn moment

is there some more pieces to add on top of those or is that it?

if that is it then (not your fault) but they don't do a very good job of representing the turn backs - if you compare to the reference book the real ones sit much closer to the body and don't look so daft

I'd be inclined to replace them entirely

the instructions are a joke - current Revell instructions for re-boxings are usually way better than this

I now have this box based on all the good things I've read on here but haven't ventured into actually building any of them as yet

 

[Neil Merryweather]

DAMN you Mr T , you are so right!
A test fit of the right arm showed I might have a problem with the skirt being in the way of the rifle, so I think I will just have to bite the bullet.
I was determined to do these OOB and not fiddle, but I agree that is a bit ridiculous. With luck maybe the other 2 figures won't be so bad-it's not an issue with the officer.

As I say, apart from the silly instructions(and now this) I don't think you will be disappointed when you get around to them.
thanks(a bunch )

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi Neil. I think the flying turn-backs are meant to imply movement, ie lifting as he runs, so I think they're fine.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neil. I think the flying turn-backs are meant to imply movement, ie lifting as he runs, so I think they're fine.

Thank you Peter, I know what you mean, but the more I study it the more I realise it really is wrong. It might behave like that if he was jumping off a wall, but not just running.
I will probably just get rid of the top part that forces the skirts outwards and resculpt it, bringing the actual skirts closer to the body
thanks for the thought, though

 

[papa 695]

They don’t look like that on the box art Neil, so I think you’re better off re- sculpting them. ( but saying that I myself wouldn’t have the skill, so would have to leave them as ).

 

[Neil Merryweather]

They don’t look like that on the box art Neil, so I think you’re better off re- sculpting them. ( but saying that I myself wouldn’t have the skill, so would have to leave them as ).

none of them look like the box art, Ian! it's a real mish-mash .
If I had believed the box art I wouldn't have bothered with this set- (except for the bargain price)
The original ICM box art is actually quite good.

I think Revell must have used interns for the box art and instructions!

 

[Steve Jones]

Your certainly beating this one into submission. Great to see.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Wow! I last posted on this one in August last year!
I have been busy on it in between my other projects, and I needed a break from French Waterloo infantry, so I decided to revisit these er, French Infantry…..
Reading back over the thread I was rather saddened to read input from Simon T.

I am now at the painting stage so I thought an update might be interesting, but I didn’t realise I had left it so long.
Here are all the bits mounted, primed and partly started


And here is his head, pretty much done



I usually leave the face until last, but I’m getting a bit more confident and I‘ve done it first this time. It does help if it goes well.
I’ve always marveled at the way Peter Day completes each section before moving on the next, rather than painting all of one colour at the same time, which is what I have always done. But I have found that if I do the boots too early I always end up rubbing the paint off, so with this one I shall try Peter’s method of working from the top down and finishing each element completely, in the hope that I will have less retouching to do.

I’m in a painting mode at the moment so let’s hope we don’t have to wait another eight months for him to be finished- although there are three others of the set on the stocks in various stages .

Cheers

Neil

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
I missed the start last year. The set of figures look good. A nice start and a new way of working. You're right about Simon, his posts and his influence will be with us for a long time. Sad indeed.
Jim

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Neil, nice work so far. I had a bit of a catch up on this as I’d forgotten where you were......the body pose looks a little ZZ top without the rifle and head

 

[papa 695]

Nice work Neil. Glad to see you back at these.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Looking good Neil, nice work so far. I had a bit of a catch up on this as I’d forgotten where you were......the body pose looks a little ZZ top without the rifle and head

cheers Tim- that's an allusion that eludes me, I'm afraid

Nice work Neil. Glad to see you back at these.

Thanks Ian- I'm enjoying it so far,- the sculpting is so much finer and crisper than the Airfix I'm working with on the Waterloo guys. How standards improved over 40+ years, eh?

 

[Steve Brodie]

looking very good