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WWI Belgian Infantry (35680) 1:35


Mike

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WWI Belgian Infantry (35680)

1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd

 

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At the beginning of WWI, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, and when they refused, they invaded anyway, commencing hostilities with the Belgian forces on the 3rd August 1914, with Britain declaring war on Germany the day after due to treaties between them.  In the early days, there was a distinct lack of understanding of the type of conflict the various combatants were heading toward, and uniforms and equipment was still reminiscent of days gone by, with bright colours and soft helmets, plus swords carried by officers and cavalry riding horses into the face of withering fire from machine guns.  The Belgian forces fought bravely against the German onslaught for a month but they and their Allies ended up pulling back, leaving most of Belgium under German occupation for the rest of the war.

 

This figure set arrives from ICM in a small top-opening box with their usual captive inner flap, and within are three sprues of grey styrene and a single sheet of instructions, printed on glossy paper in colour.  The largest sprue holds the four figures, while the two smaller ones contain lots of accessories and weapons to assist in personalising the finished articles.

 

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The four soldiers are dressed in dark blue tunics with lighter blue trousers, and are all striking a crouching pose as if they were under fire.  The officer with his sword is aiming his pistol from a kneeling position with his free hand supporting some of his weight, while two of the troopers are aiming their Belgian-made Mauser M1889 rifles from the kneeling position with large packs on their backs.  The final figure is cocking or reloading his rifle with a fresh stripper-clip of 5 x 7.65mm rounds.  The figures are broken down sensibly to improve the detail and hide the seams as far as possible once complete, while the tails of the tunics that are hanging loose are moulded as separate parts, as are their caps, some of which can be exchanged for metal bowlers akin to the French WWI type.  The instructions consist of a page of sprue diagrams with a colour chart, and a full side of colour drawings of the figures on the other side, with their parts and colours called out around them.  To avoid too much confusion, the colours letters are printed in red boxes that correspond with the chart overleaf, which should keep you cool due to the constant flipping of the page.  The colour key has colour names in Ukrainian and English, plus ICM’s own brand-new paint system as well as Revell and Tamiya.

 

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Conclusion

There aren’t many sets of WWI Belgian soldiers out there, so this one is a welcome sight, and with ICM’s excellent sculpting and moulding, they should make up well.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

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Review sample courtesy of

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I followed this build up of the kit a bit from the side line on facebook.

 

I see they managed the 1889 Mauser quite well. They even added the carbines!

The rifle is not unimportant in the theme.
It are these kind of soldiers that halted the German advance in 1914 very well and avoided the total break through.

The focus on markmanship in the Belgian army at that time made the Germans crazy.

Edited by Steben
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