Advance Through the Woods

1
June 24, 2022
A mini diorama of 1918 French infantry advancing through woodland, supported by a Renault FT tank.
Using this bit of archive film at the Imperial War Museum for inspiration :
iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023023
2
June 24, 2022
Fitted together not too bad, considering the age of the kit tooling. I had to spend a bit of time filing a bit of shape into the gun barrel though, the kit piece was pretty much just a rounded block with no definition, also drilled a tiny hole to hollow the barrel a bit.
3
June 24, 2022
Rubber tracks
4
June 24, 2022
Stolen the pick from the other tank, I have some WW1 photos of FT's with a pick on the back.
They also often had a stash box attached to the side, but there is not one in the kit so I am making one from styrene strips.
5
June 24, 2022
Stash box fitted, and I added the hooks and tow chain from my spares bits and pieces.
6
June 24, 2022
Shovel also stolen from the other tank in the kit. Had to shape it a bit to make it fit there but it looks like those in my book / pictures.
7
June 24, 2022
Rope hook added, with coiled up thread for rope. A drop of thin cyano run into the thread is keeping it from unravelling.
8
June 25, 2022
Planning out the diorama base.
9
June 25, 2022
Piece of hardboard with a layer of fibre underlay board glued on it, so I can shape the ground a bit. It will still be fairly flat but have a few bumps here and there.
10
June 25, 2022
Shaped a few bumps into the ground and a coat of PVA glue is now soaking in, just to firm up the surface a bit.
11
June 30, 2022
Dried tea leaves now glued on with PVA for a roughened surface.
12
June 30, 2022
Coat of brown acrylic all over the ground.

Comments

10 24 June 2022, 17:31

Simon Nagorsnik
Interesting progress- want to see more!

24 June 2022, 17:39

Simon Nagorsnik
Also the first pic promises a lot!

24 June 2022, 17:41

Andy WW1
Hi Simon - I do not often work in the smaller scales, but having a go for the Group Build 🙂
Watch this Imperial War Museum video, the tank is at about 4mins 25secs in :
iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023023
So the project is a mini diorama of 1918 French infantry advancing through woodland, supported by the Renault FT tank.

24 June 2022, 17:45

Simon Nagorsnik
Thanks for the link mate!

24 June 2022, 18:06

Ralf Topeters
That's interresting. I'm in. 👍

24 June 2022, 18:55

Łukasz Gliński
Always glad to see a Matchbox build 👍

24 June 2022, 21:38

Ralf Topeters
Yes Lukasz. Matchbox rules!!! 😉 😄

25 June 2022, 15:12

Andy WW1
A bit more on the base board, textured with tea leaves 🙂

30 June 2022, 08:33

Roy McKay
Looks great so far. Thanks for joining in!

22 July 2022, 16:17

Jan Peters
That's looking good for such an old kit👍🏻

24 July 2022, 13:36

Neil Patrick
The footage you shared Andy is great. What struck me was how slow the vehicle moved, but how fast the turret could traverse. Looks like your model is going to be great, but I don't envy you having to do all that foliage!

25 September 2022, 10:16

Album info

A mini diorama of 1918 French infantry advancing through woodland, supported by a Renault FT tank.
Using this bit of archive film at the Imperial War Museum for inspiration :
iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023023
The FT emerges from the woods at about 4min 25sec into the film, and an infantryman goes by in the trees beyond. It's probably from a newsreel or training exercise, but I like the sense of reality about it.

Although the tank kit is aimed at early WW2 use, I'll be making for a WW1 representation for it with the infantry still in their 'horizon blue' uniforms which I imagine were less than ideal in any conditions other than cresting a hill or trench...
I will save the other tank from the kit for another project.

Advance Through the Woods

12 images

1:76

In progress

1:76 Char B1 bis + Renault FT 17 (Revell 03278)

1:76 WWI French Infantry (Airfix A00728V)

Group Build

Matchbox 50th anniversary group build

1. April 2022 until 31. December 2023

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