Just built Broncos M-24 Chaffee French Indochina kit and wanted to have a French tank crew, what would be the best kit to get, i saw one for Dien bien phu on eBay but it was pricey. Is there any kits i could bash together to get French uniforms. Also what would be a good kit for french paratroopers in their lizard camo?
p.s. what paints from Vallejo should i use?
Too bad Bronco didn’t include the figures depicted on the box art. Unfortunately, that is not a popular subject area and there are only a few figures for it. Most are in resin as well.
AC Models does a crew and riders set.
Hobby Fan does a French Tank Crew in Indochina set.
A few more options here, but not really any tank crews: https://www.google.com/search?q=french+indochina+figures+1/35&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi34rWSoI_aAhWK7FMKHX5bB9kQ_AUICygC&biw=1680&bih=905
Looking at the uniforms, you may be able to use some of the MiniArt WWII British Armored Car Crew or British Tank Crew with maybe some head/hat changes.
Great subject bud! Bravo6 makes some great French Indochina REP figures. Just google it. Excellent quality.
I would have thought they would be basically US pattern.
None are tank crewmen though.
Nope, they had pretty much their own unifoms which were a mix of WWII and a newer style, jungle fatigue in some weird camo patterns.
Some examples:
Lizard Patter Paratrooper Uniform
He also asked where he could get French paratroopers. Bravo6 makes some great ones.
I may bite the bullet and get the ac model kit, i looked at some British PARa pants because those seem to be the same style as the french Paras in indochina.
Whoops, missed that part. You are correct, Bravo 6’s Indochina paras are really nice.
Please forgive me for resurrecting a dead zombie thread but I felt it made a little more sense than starting another thread on the same subject.
I’m working on Amusing’s ARL 44 and want a tank commander and a driver. The driver isn’t a problem since only his head is poking out of the hatch. But the commander is more of an issue.
I have the same two sets Gino posted above but found a figure of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery that actually looks more like the commander in the picture below. May he please forgive me and not haunt my [cnsod] for turning him into a Frenchman.
The only good photo I could find is the one below, it does look like Mongomery’s uniform but as it is B&W so I am not sure of the uniform colour. Does anyone have any advice???
That tank looks like a cross between a Char 1bis and a King Tiger…
anyways, I found this 1961 chart from NATO HQ on French dress uniforms
You have a good eye SP, basically that’s exactly what it was. Look up ARL 44- it’s a very strange AFV. And I do love the weird stuff.
Thanks a bundle! So tan/brown it is!!! Looks that way in photo but I wasn’t sure!
Well, he’s a smart guy. And, it had a Maybach V-12.
Yeah, a dark khaki shade like by Gunze or Humbrol would be good. But that is the dress uniform. Field uniforms are Olive Green or camouflage.
That tank is definitely an odd duck. I had seen the kit, but never a photo of the real thing. Quite a leap from that to the AMX-30.
Stik’s comment on the panzer probably wins the internet.
What strikes my eye in the photo is that the tankers are not wearing berets in “french” fashion, with the excess flattened off to the left. But, in the british fashion.
Which suggests you might could use that figure, and hope that Sir Bernard Viscount Alamein’s spirit not take too much offense.
Thanks Captain!!! I didn’t even know that berets went left or right, so it’s new to me.
SP: I think the photo is a dress uniform though, the guy’s wearing his metals*. Would the uniform still be the same other than the different colour?
Sorry all the reference material I have is WWII and Korea. I did find a drawing of a French infantryman in Korea wearing a olive uniform but that’s it.
PS: Medals- sorry I can’t spell worth a [cnsod]
Yes, he’s wearing a dress uniform. Completely different than the olive green field uniforms. Field uniforms are a different cut and material, not just color. French Army field uniforms were similar to US Army uniforms of the same era, but different, especially in the pockets configuration. So it’s gonna be that dark khaki shade of the dress uniform if you’re doing the parade tanks. Apparently that is the Bastille Day Parade in 1951, the only time that those tanks were in the parade.
The custom usually comes from over which eye the blaze goes.
In US and UK fashion, the blaze goes over the (wearer’s) left eye, as does the peak and the blance tapered off to the right.
In (typical) French practice, the blaze is over the right eye.
The Legion (used to at least) starched their berets into a vertical peak, called a coxcomb (peigne d’coq)
The Brown Water Navy in VN adopted black berets somewhat outside regulation. Their fashion was to wear them “french style” over the right eye, if mostly to not resemble US Army use.
For a vive l’difference, Polish troops wore their berets with the blaze centered and the excess drawn straight back.
When US Army introduced universal berets (which may or may not get worn with the new Pinks & Greens, SMA has not yet given Guidance on this), the fashion quickly became to tuck all excess in behind the blax, so there was no flop-over at all.
[cnsod] legs dont know how to wear a flippin’ beret right… [:@]
Thanks guys!!! I’ve getting a whole education from this silly tank.
I’ll try to a mock-up of the commander up in a week or so in the hopes you guys can tell me what I need to alter before I try painting him.
ROTFLMAO!
The “official” SMA guidance on shoes wit hthe new Pinks & Greens is “brown.”
The sky troopers may start a run on brown Cocorans [:)]
The official cover is the Overseas “envelope” unless you have a billed Service cover. Will be interesting to see if they pry the Stetsons off the cav guys.
We will have to see.
