Fanteria Francese della Prima Guerra Mondiale, 1915–1918

Recensione dei Figurini Airfix / HaT Industrie in Scala 1:72

Fanteria francese wearing the blu orizzonte uniform con brown leather equipaggiamento introduced in 1915. Most officers continued to wear the distinctive pre-war kepi, made from red cloth con a dark blue band, instead of the less conspicuous blu orizzonte kepi. Gli elmetti Adrian were painted blu orizzonte, con the flaming grenade badge of the fanteria o the bugle horn badge of the cacciatori a piedi at the front. Le truppe coloniale francesi wore khaki uniforms of the same cut, con a fouled anchor badge on the khaki coloured elmetto Adrian. The legione straniera francese adopted the khaki uniform in agosto of 1915, they wore flaming grenade badges on the elmetto.

L’uniforme ed equipaggiamento in stile francese remained virtually unchanged until la seconda guerra mondiale, except that the collar was reduced in size. It is entirely feasible to paint these troops as fanteria francese of the 1940 campaign, without actually converting the soldatini.

Contenuto

48 soldatini in 20 Poses – 22.5 mm pari a 162 cm di altezza

• Officer con Pistol (2)
• Portabandiera
• Trombettiere
• Observer, prone, con Telescope
• Signalman con Carrier Pigeon
• Wounded (3)
• Dead (2)
• Supply Carrier (2)
• Sapper (2)
• Granatiere (2)
• Rifleman on Bicycle (2)
• 29 Riflemen in 9 Poses

Valutazione

Excellent choice of subject. These troops may be used to represent truppe francesi delle due guerre mondiale, e the helmeted heads will be needed for a number of interesting conversions.

Amazing variety of poses, exceeding the industry standard of 15 poses per box by 30%. A real treasure chest of poses for dioramas e wargames, except that mitragliatrici, e trench mortars are missing.

Nicely sculpted soldatini. The poses look natural, ed anatomically correct. Interesting facial features, the soldatini are very much in period character. La scatola claims that these are soldatini in scala 1:72, although Airfix sold them as soldatini in scala 1:76 originally. The rifles seem to be too long compared to figure height, even if the re-classification from 1:76 to 1:72 scale shortens le armi a little.

Crisp detail in the uniforms, armi, ed equipaggiamento. The soldatini are easier, e faster to paint than Revell’s fanteria francese, e they look much better. The most striking difference between the due brands is the superior sculpting of the elmetto Adrian e the facial features of the old Airfix soldiers. One wonders why Revell did not commission a sculptor capable of matching the superb Airfix style. As it is, these HäT re-releases of the Airfix fanteria francese are the better choice. An excellent track record for a box of soldatini as old as these are. La scatola says Made in Francia, virtually insuring better quality castings than Airfix re-makes produced elsewhere.

Good casting quality. Mould lines are easy to remove, e there is little flash. Cast in an almost blu orizzonte plastic which lends itself to pittura veloce.

No support armi. It is surprising, that so many poses were included in the set, but the mitragliatrice Hotchkiss, e the fusil mitrailleur Chauchat mitragliatrice leggera are missing. Both of these armi, e their gunners, may be scrounged from Revell’s fanteria francese. If both brands are mixed in the same unit, it is well worth the trouble to upgrade the Revell soldatini by adding better heads ed elmetti from the Airfix set.

Incorrect painting instructions. The back of the box shows un fante in a medium blue uniform, but the blu orizzonte is actually much closer to the light blue plastic the soldatini are cast in. Puttees should be blu orizzonte, not black, e leather equipaggiamento would be a natural brown instead of the khaki green shown on the box. The picture of a painted soldier is not very useful when Humbrol, Tamiya, o Pactra colour reference numbers are omitted.

Déploiement Historique

• Uniforme blu orizzonte
  • Fanteria francese, 1915-1918
  • Legione straniera francese, 1915
• Khaki Uniform
  • Zuavi e Turcos (Tirailleurs Algèriens), 1915-1918
  • Tirailleurs Sénégalais, 1915-1918
  • Legione straniera francese, agosto 1915-1918
  • Czech Volunteers of the legione straniera francese, 1915-1918
  • 369th - 372nd fanteria U.S. ("Black Watch"), Verdun 1918
  • Fanteria francese, 1940 (Vichy francese e North African units until 1942)
  • Fanteria belga, 1940

Conversione

• Volunteers polacchi nel servizio francese, 1915-1918. Uniforme francese nel blu orizzonte con a distinctive cap polacco made from blu orizzonte cloth.
• Fusiliers Marin, 1914. Naval beret instead of the elmetto d’acciaio. Berets may be scrounged from ESCI fanteria francese della seconda guerra mondiale.
• Tirailleurs Sénégalais con Fez, 1915-1918.
• Fanteria belga, 1915-1918. Uniforme khaki inglese, but con stand-up collars. Elmetto Adrian francese.
• Fanteria francese e colonial troops, Tunisia e Italia 1943. Uniforme inglese, ed elmetti Adrian francesi.
• Soldati francesi del #10 (Inter Allied) Commando, 1940-1945. Uniforme inglese, insignia francese e some elmetti Adrian.
• Firefighters francesi continued to wear a cromed version of the elmetto d’acciaio after the war.

HaT Industrie deserves much praise for re-releasing the old Airfix fanteria francese. The soldatini may be painted to represent fanteria francese della prima e seconda guerra mondiale, e they are desperately needed. The choice of light blue plastic is better than the original Airfix grey, e the material is of the same high quality we have come to expect from the manufacturers francesi. The troops are compatibile con Revell fanteria of the same period, they add many attractive poses. This set is a classic, a must-have for giocatori wargame e dioramisti. Anyone interested in the period is well advised to reserve a supply of these soldatini while they are available again.

HaT Industrie Soldatini

Bibliografia

• Mollo, John: Uniforms of World-War I, Plates 54-57
• Allevi, Piersergio: Soldatini, p. 31, 191

Domande più frequenti

Per ulteriori informazioni, per favore contatta la redazione di Rivista Military Miniatures nel Miniatures Forum.

Soldatini della Prima Guerra Mondiale

– Pubblicato: 1996 – Aggiornato: 16.07.2007
© 1996-2011 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Germania. Tutti diritti reservati.