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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Modelling -> US Infantry Uniform and 1/72 Figures Qu
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PDA


Legend

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US Infantry Uniform and 1/72 Figures Qu
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I don't know if this should be in "References" or "Modelling". But here it is.

Please correct any errors in this statement:

When Americans fought in WW1 they were segregated; the whites fought together, and the blacks (those that fought, and were not stevedores or other labourers) fought with the French.

This question concerns the Americans that were fighting with the French. What uniform did they wear?

It makes sense to me that they would have worn an American uniform with American webbing equipment, and a French Adrian helmet. It also makes sense to me that they would have worn a French uniform with French webbing equipment.

If they wore French uniform and equipment, could I use any of the 3 available late war plastic 1/72 figures sets: Airfix, Revell, and Pegasus?

If they wore American uniforms with French Adrians, could I use Waterloo 1815's Italian Infantry ( a sample is shown in the pic below)?



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Paul B


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Hi PDA

There's a picture of one in the Europa Militaire series of colour plates of present day chaps wearing contemporary uniforms (WW1 Infantry in Colour Photos, Europa Militaire No 3). The figure concerned is from the French 157th Regt and wears an American uniform with an Adrian helmet and I think mainly French equipment.

I've got some of the Caesar WW2 French infantry which I think I may try to use for this unit on the wargames table. According to PSR they have mostly WW1 equipment rather than WW2 and many of them are in tunics rather than the capote, although the tunics are slightly different as these are the 1940 version, so it depends how accurate you need to be. I'm sure with a little bit of carving they'll look the part. The other difference seems to be that the figure in the pictures has US M1917 canvas webbing leggings instead of puttees, but looking at PSR I'm not sure what the Caeasr figures have got. I'll have to dig them out of the WW1 figures drawer where they currently live and have a look!

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Paul B



-- Edited by Paul B on Wednesday 7th of September 2011 09:00:45 PM

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James H


Legend

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Here's yer mon. Tallies with the pic that Paul mentions.

http://www.cablecommandercustoms.com/id85.html

Problem with the Italians, if it bothers you in this scale, is no external pockets on the Infantry tunic. And W1815 have got the webbing wrong, but not wrong in the right way. The French webbing, unlike the Airfix Germans', did have Y-straps.



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Ian P


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Some useful pics here:

http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/detached.htm



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Excelsior1


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Paul B is right: Black soldier in US uniform and French kit in the Europa Militaire book (H blue helmet; pouches, belts & straps (brown leather); "light brown" cotton bread bag (looks white in the picture); H blue water bottle; khaki gas mask container (presumably Foreign legion issue); and a Berthier rifle with Lebel bayonet). The text says that the 157th Div. "was entirely equipped from French stocks, though retaining American uniforms.

Hope that's useful.

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PDA


Legend

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Thanks @all.

I have attached the image Paul B refers to. (Copyright belongs to Europa Militaire. I use it here solely for discussion purposes smile)

My thinking was/is:

Convert the awful Airfix WW1 Americans with some heads from the brilliant Airfix WW1 French. However, the poses of the Airifx Americans... no

Use the Waterloo 1815 WW1 Italians. The collars and webbing are wrong, but a sharp knife, a hot pin, and some Milliput can work wonders.

Taking a look at Caesar's WW2 French I see they have some promise. (And the figures I don't use for WW1 can be used with my growing collection of WW2 French tanks - hey! The Matchbox Renault FT comes with a free Char B1 bis!)

The other WW1 Americans sets from HaT and Emhar/Imex have the SBR and I don't believe these Americans used those. The other WW1 French sets look too French to be American.

Perhaps I'll use a little of all of them.

Again, thanks for the help.



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