Hi

this is my first post here.

My 14 years old son is part of the modeling club in his school. He proposed as topic for this year WW1. it has been accepted but since they have ever built only railway dioramas the club manager knows nothing about the figures that could be used.
They want to build a part of battlefield with a a part of a trench and a part of no man's land, and may be a crashed biplane or a flying biplane; german and french forces would be involved. They would go with 1/32 or 1/35 or 1/48 stuff as some of them already play wargames with 1/72 or 28mm minis.
Could you please let me know which brands are worth to look at, knowing that money will be sadly scarce?

Thanks a lot

Pascal

Hi Pascal,

Visit Landships, they have lots of very useful information.

http://www.landships.info/landships/index.html

WD Models do 1/76 scale and would therefore be cost effective. they also have Light Railway stuff which might link to the boys interest in trains.

http://www.wdmodels.com/

If they want bigger then Google 54mm WW1 kits and there are plenty of WW1 aircraft around in 1/32 scale and below.

Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers

Al

Airfix, which should be available just about anywhere, has some decent 1/72 WWl Germans (including surrendering and dead figures). I would say 1/72 scale is about the most versatile scale as more can be gotten into a smaller space. There are many appropriate figure sets, vehicles, armor and artillery, as well as numerous aircraft kits available at affordable prices. Depending on how much space you have available, an entire battle can be re-created in 1/72 scale.

Hi Pascal,
I would agree with Biggles.
I have done some little dios both in 1:48 and 1:35 but if you want to recreate a whole front the size will be just too huge in my opinion. Besides costs will sum up quite exponentially, I think. in 1:72 you could get a better feeling of the front and keep costs under control
let us know how it goes
Ciao
edo

Thanks a lot for your replies.

After more investigations my son decided to go either in 1/72 or pewter minaiatures in 28mm.

This is the cheapest way to go and it offers multiple choices of pauses and could allow to add a tank and planes.

cheers

pascal

Please keep us posted on the size of the planned diorama, and the planning and build. It will be very interesting. Airfix, Revell, Italeri, Hat, and many other companies make WWl figs in various nationalities. Some are better than others, but if you are planning a large scene then the overall composition will be more important than the individual figure.