The French Have Arrived!

Well, at least the new MiniArt set has. Their set (no. 35105) arrived yesterday from Great Models Webstore. The newness of the set is reflected in the workmanship exhibited by the figures.

The figures are molded in two sprues of grey plastic. All parts appear to be well-cast and, while not up to par with resin figures such as Alpine's, detail is excellent. Clothing folds are well-done and all five faces can actually be recognized as being different. Even moustaches are finely molded on a couple of them.

Except for the de Gaulle-like figure, all have the potential for fitting in well in the diorama I am planning for my M8. Time will tell which of the four work best with the partisans already on my workbench.

The Maquis

The Maquis were predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance during World War II. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labor for Germany. In an effort to avoid capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized. Initially fighting only to remain free, these bands eventually became active resistance groups. (Wikipedia)

Master Box Ltd. has produced a set of five figures (MB 3551) depicting four Maquis (three male, one female) and a captured German soldier. I have added the numbers in the box art photo above to show the three that I am contemplating using in a vignette for my M8 Greyhound build. Yes, I've finally decided to model an M8 from the 2nd Free French Armored Division, France, 1944. At this point I plan to use two or three of the Maquis figures shown above along with figures from the forthcoming MiniArt set of French Tankers (35105). If they are not available in time, my fallback position is to use Hornet French tanker heads on U.S. tanker figures from the appropriate time period.