Hello Dear friends,
Taking profit that my wife is not at home for the week, I took the opportunity to go ahead with my figures.
I work like turtle, but the goal is to have fun.
Here are the three figures I'm working on. The goumier and the cavaliery offiecr are nearly completed.
For the blackman, I went this morning to my local hobby shops and as they didn't have duro, they advise me to buy andrea sculpt. I must say it's better than traditional milliput. As the clay stuck to my fingers (I was about to going mad), I took some flour and it achieved a nice wool effect on the coat of my figure (maybe not visible on the pics..).
By the way, I bought the new Dragon US MG crew, and they are fantastics ! the heads are not generic, the ammo pouch are just marvellous, I impatient to build them (in 2008 :-) :-) ).
Please feel free to comment, critize, etc..
Cheers !
Julien
the goumier, I've redone his face, trying to giving him a cold look, but maybe not visible here grrrr. He will digging the hole for the MG crew.


The cavaliery (tank=) officer. I initally wanted to paint a légionnaire with his white képi, but I found more distracting to paint a képi in color. Still ahve to work on the strips.





And finally the colonial infantryman made with andrea sculpt (by the way the andrea sculpt smeels like sweets, beware for your children not eating it ! The hole on his right tigh is made on purpose, because his garand butt will goes there. He will lay on the side of the hole.

Really nice, original work. I particularly like the Goumier though - something about that kind of figure which is a fantastic subject!

On the negative, the Cavalry officer, you've got some really nice work done with the uniform, however the head and hands are, IMO, the weakest parts.His head looks too narrow and his left hand looks too big.

That said, youve done some really great work on all three figures - what are your plans for them?

Thanks Jim for your comment.
French ww2 army is full of original subjects..
You are absolutely right on the officer.
My SWMBO pointed me out this also. I don't know how to fix that. For the head I won't touch it since it's a Hornet head and everything I could do will transform it in crap..Let's say he's narrow minded...
But for the hand I thought to paint them like gloves. My SWMBO teached me black make thinner, why not paint them in grey ? I could also try to use my Xacto, but I've already broke two of its fingers..
Another solution could be to buy hornet hand, but I will be ruined.
If anyone have an idea, feel free to share it !

This figure, plus a french paratrooper, will go on a vignette I've started to build, featuring a MG team listen to the officer report somewhere in a cold Alsace forest before the 'boches" attack.

Best,
Julien

Bonjour Julien
You have definitely captured the 'cold' look on the goumier! Considering I looked at the pic before reading your description, it was a conlusion I had already come to
Jim is correct about the left hand, and I really think it should be replaced, considering the quality of the rest of your work. The narrow-looking head is not an issue though, as the kepi is the definitive cause of this and nothing should be touched!! The main cause in my eyes is that the neck is still too long. Considering he appears to be wearing a neck scarf, his chin should be just above it, not too different to the infantryman.
Speaking of which, is his jacket a M1942 overcoat, and if so, is it close enough in appearance to work as French?
Great work mon ami, and the finished scene is eagerly awaited
Cheers
Brad

Hi Bradley !
I'm glad you come to this conclusion without reading me. My goal is achieved then.
Youa re right for the neck, the officer have the longest neck of the 4 figures. But as you said I wont touch him...
For the left hand, I have thinking one way to solve the problem is simulate a wound with a bandage around his hand.
Finally I cannot tell you if iit's a 1942 coat because I don't know, but french in this time (1944) were nearly fully equiped by US army. They all were US equipements, except the goumier.
Best and thanks again for your nice comments.
Julien

Hi Juilan ,

How are you my friend , Been busy I see, Make good use of your free time ... exceilent work the goumier looks just right, realy top job on his overcoat thing...what are they called?

I agree with Brad and think you need to shorten the officers neck abit , it looks abit long , You where right to paint the Kepi red/blue , as far as I know the Kepi Blanc did not come in untill after WWII at that time legionares wore the white covers over traditional Kepis

Best wishes , keep us posted

Jerry

Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your comments ! I'm glad you liked them. The overcoat is a djellabahs, which is the generic name for the civilian version. This particular djelaba worn by goumier was called "burnous".
You are right, I will shorten the neck.

Best my friend,
Julien

Hi Julian,

Great work, these are looking really grand. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

Re the cavalery officers head, his neck looks a bit long which is possibly why his head looks thinish. Just a thought.

It will be really interesting to see this develop further. The goumier is excellent and the infantry man is coming along well too. Very impressive stuff indeed.

10 out of 10

Cheers

Al

Thank you very much Alan for your comments. Getting a 10 out 10 from a professor (I remember you are, aren't you ?), it's first timer for me !
Absolutely right on the neck : the more I look at him, the more I see a girafe..
I need to kick my ass to finish those figures !
Best,
Julien

Julien, I really like the goumier, nice colorful garments.
I think the neck on the officer is a bit too long though, the colonial is shaping up nicely.