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Modest Sabotage

The Saboteurs

To accomplish the effect, I discarded the tell-tale wooden doors of the truck, modified the placement of a few key items (such as the fuel tank), and added a commercial-style spare tire rack under the rear of the truck bed. I also added a few touches, such as adding a metal hand grip near the drivers cab, and the addition of a tool box. While not visible in the photos, the dashboard was detailed and painted to highlight the instruments, and the steering wheel and shifting levers were made to look more commercial than the spares Russian military style.

The old fellow bending over the engine is actually a modified Russian driver (plastic), which comes with the kit. By sanding off most of the military uniform (epaulets, side pockets, etc.) and applying a thin sheet of Miliput, I was able to easily convert the figure to that of a local worker. The head was the only dilemma, as it is molded in the common “Flat for a Hat” method, so it can be seated beneath a military helmet. To overcome this, I used more Miliput to give him a rounded head, and then took it one step farther and even painted his balding head in the dreaded “long whip of hair” style used so unsuccessfully by many balding men to cover their bare spot. My wife commented on this immediately!

His partner is the ADV “Mechanic”, a nicely detailed resin figure who is shown handing a crescent wrench to the driver. The wrench is molded to the mechanics hand/arm, and as such has a realistic grip on the tool. ADV has a fine and extensive line of WWII era civilians, and they typically offer wonderful facial detail. As most French men of “fighting age” were either dead, jailed, or under heavy watch, I painted both of these workers to represent older men well beyond typical “fighting age”.