Strelets Forum

Welcome to the Strelets Forum.
Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets.
If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.

Strelets Forum
This Forum is Locked
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Baratheon
Yes, indeed - very well done. Disappointed to see so many soldiers just lounging around and taking it easy - and with only one soldier bothering to look out. Where do they think they are? lol
"I don't know, you just can't get the recruits these days, have to rely on all these foreigners in the hope that a few of them might at least sign up..." LOL :blush: :palm_tree:

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Excellent again Alan.
The last photo captures it beautifully. The calm before the storm...
Regards, James

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Ah, deja vu, I have no sooner finished the last of the boys at rest than up pops Alan's fine photographic images. It seems the Covid dividend is resulting in a plethora of desert contributions.
I echo Minutemans comments regarding the setting, the staircase in particular looks painstakingly constructed. The well looks familiar I think I have seen that featured before. You are certainly quick off the brush. I think I will have to stop feeling that I have to paint every figure in the box.
Paul

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Thanks once again Gent`s, the fort is the Italeri mdf one, all be it with some added bits . Lock down I am clearing every started but not finished project first, well that was the plan, until Strelets released that last lot!, there are PSC AND 3D kits on the table at the moment, but more figures are working nearer to the top of the pile.

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Life immitates art - well done, Alan!

This is the Contribution I've really been looking forward to. Coincidentally, your photos so well show men from many backgrounds, clustered together in a kind of "lockdown" situation in their small enclosure, maybe not suffering from "la cafard" quite like we actually are this year, never-the-less friends, pets, snacks, music and refreshments - all doing their best under their circumstances. For a 5-year enlistment, new recruits were told, "The Legion is now your family; your home." I think your pictures show this.

When real life gets back to normal, I for one am really going to miss your Contributions. They are much appreciated and a heck of a lot of fun to look at! GC :palm_tree: :earth_africa: :earth_asia: :earth_americas:

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Thanks GC, there are a few more in the pipeline.

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Nice to see while I'm working on mine

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Really nice job on these interesting figures, I wondered where the fort was from, it looks great.

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Hi Graeme
Alan mentioned in one of his replies that the fort was from an Italeri battleset. They have a number of these including a castle, villa, Rorkes drift amongst many others. The actual mdf buildings are manufactured by Sarissa Precision of Derbyshire England.
As you may guess I am a big fan. The finish in the main doesn't require painting, in this I'm referring to my painting which could only be to the detriment of the finished model. In saying this however I did paint the fort as I thought it too plain, (I think I've wandered into Witness Country) anyway Alan must have thought the same as he has modified his.
I cannot help thinking that a few chickens wouldn't have gone amiss with the set.
Paul

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Paul Frechette

I cannot help thinking that a few chickens wouldn't have gone amiss with the set.
Paul
Useful insights on the Sarissa buildings, thanks Paul. I feel I need to explore these superb models a bit further.

So far as chickens (or lack of) are concerned....maybe it is the 'chef' in me (for this another interest/hobby) but I cannot help noticing that the lack of chickens and the large black cauldron are somehow connected. Those FFL chaps 'hanging around' in Alan's diorama are doing so for a good reason; it's coq au vin on the menu, and it's almost time for dinner:grinning: :poultry_leg:

Minuteman

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Fair enough so its **** in pan then.

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

Paul Frechette
Fair enough so its **** in pan then.
Well...depends on the quality of the chef, the amount of seasoning, and the toughness of the (plastic) chicken....:relaxed: :stew:

Re: French Foreign Legion at Rest

I'd like to add to Paul's discussion of the Italeri fort Alan chose for his pictures. I built one also and yes, it's MDF which is a kind of compressed wood and lazer cut - and - actual 1/72 scale. It's heavy which is nice. Lazer cut means it fits together perfectly. It's designed after an actual fort designed and built by the legion for a Christian missionary and his followers protection. It's style with firing slots was widely used in many forts by the legion. Alan picked the the perfect fort for his Contribution. The set's fort is "modular" so you can combine sets to make any size fort. MDF is smooth so Alan did a nice job texturing the fort and even added some nice bricks for the look! Well done.

I've looked for decades to find pictures or references of the Hollywood Fort Zinderneuf and nadda. There is a photo of the 1939 producer who conferred with an actual Legionnaire when designing the movie fort, but I don't think there is an actual real fort of that design. There is a "Zinder Village" in the Sahara though, but I can't find an actual fort of it's design. Mon Legionnaire site has the best links to photos and satellite photos of real forts. Really, all of the forts were different designs, sizes, and purpose built. Some were quite beautiful, but mostly early ones. Most of them were abandoned by the Legion after only a few years because thier expansion throughout Africa was so fast and technology changed so quickly. But yes, the outposts were there throughout the desert as rest stops and supply depots to aid and protect the French expansion.

Bottom line, Alan chose the best fort, did an outstanding job of representing a very interesting point in time of the the FFL history showing what life could be like for the men who were mostly adventurers. And it was a hard experience for them.

If anyone can add to this about the movie Zinderneuf, or correct any comments I've made, feel free. I'd love to learn more about the Legion's forts.

Below is the link to the Italeri site. Be sure to click on the arrows so you fully see all of the thumbnails. You can see all you get in the set.

By the way - Strelets FFL sets are the best, in poses and actual details - Zzz Best! Thanks Strelets and Alan!

https://www.italeri.com/en/product/2741/61/0