Regal Soldiers of the World Collectors (3 Viewers)

[lancer]

As you know, I love the colorful, albeit impractical, French Military uniforms in 1914. See my Hiriart thread "French Military Parade, 1914." I always wondered where and how the horizon bleu came about since it, while better than the previous uniform, seemed like an odd, less than ideal choice. The red German dye story is a scream.

The Horizon Bleu always struck me as a strange choice of color, too. At first glance, it seems unlikely to be a wise choice for low visibility. In color photos (what few originals exist) and of re-enactors, I am always jarred by how the horizon bleu sticks out, kind of an affront to the whole scene. The reality is that the blue would fade and dirty up to the point where it was almost as good as anything else in the trenches and actually was quite effective under low visibility situations such as smoke, gas, mist/fog/snow, etc. There are also written accounts on how morale amongst tired or reteating troops could be raised by the sight of the clean horizon bleu uniforms coming up as reinforcements. Still, the French did supply khaki versions of their uniforms to their colonial troops as well as the Foreign Legion. These must have been better, low visibility wise. Eventually, the French Army must have thought it was better, too, because during the inter-war years they did switch the regular army to their khaki uniforms and away from the blue for the next war. -- Al

 

[ucla1967]

The Horizon Bleu always struck me as a strange choice of color, too. At first glance, it seems unlikely to be a wise choice for low visibility. In color photos (what few originals exist) and of re-enactors, I am always jarred by how the horizon bleu sticks out, kind of an affront to the whole scene. The reality is that the blue would fade and dirty up to the point where it was almost as good as anything else in the trenches and actually was quite effective under low visibility situations such as smoke, gas, mist/fog/snow, etc. There are also written accounts on how morale amongst tired or reteating troops could be raised by the sight of the clean horizon bleu uniforms coming up as reinforcements. Still, the French did supply khaki versions of their uniforms to their colonial troops as well as the Foreign Legion. These must have been better, low visibility wise. Eventually, the French Army must have thought it was better, too, because during the inter-war years they did switch the regular army to their khaki uniforms and away from the blue for the next war. -- Al

The British had the best practical uniforms---better than the German field gray or French horizon bleu, IMHO. I had both sets of Tradition's Adrian helmeted French Infantry in horizon bleu and colonial khaki, at one time. I have seen photos of the late war French Foreign Legion uniforms which were a really ugly mustard brown rather than khaki.

 

[lancer]

The British had the best practical uniforms---better than the German field gray or French horizon bleu, IMHO. I had both sets of Tradition's Adrian helmeted French Infantry in horizon bleu and colonial khaki, at one time. I have seen photos of the late war French Foreign Legion uniforms which were a really ugly mustard brown rather than khaki.

LOL. Those mustard brown unis were ugly. The British uniforms were the best as attested to by the Germans themselves. I have read somewhere that more than one German lamented their field gray uniform when compared to the earth colored, hard to see, British uniforms. But, let's face it, almost anything would have been better than the 1893 model Madder red trousers worn by the French Army in 1914, (and not even discussing the variants and colors worn by the Zouaves and other colonial troops). -- Al

 

[PolarBear]

Two Figures from Regal's Victorians line

http://regaltoysoldiers.com/brands/thevic

http://regaltoysoldiers.com/brands/thevic/page/2

 

[ucla1967]

Very nice, Randy. However, I would not like to arm wrestle the woman on the horse.

 

[ucla1967]

Al,

PolarBear (Randy) sent me some examples of World War I French Foreign Legion uniforms a couple of days ago. I was specifically interested in the FFL at Gallipoli. Here are some attachments you might like to see. We both agreed that the uniform as described in the drawing was the most interesting.

 

[lancer]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Mike. It has always interested me as to how the French infantry wore those heavy overcoats in just about all weather. The depictions of the coats being worn at Gallipoli and in North Africa just make me wonder how the men could function. The coats had to be heavy and hot under all conditions. -- Al

 

[ucla1967]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Mike. It has always interested me as to how the French infantry wore those heavy overcoats in just about all weather. The depictions of the coats being worn at Gallipoli and in North Africa just make me wonder how the men could function. The coats had to be heavy and hot under all conditions. -- Al

I too have been surprised by the fact that the French had those heavy overcoats which had to be miserable to wear. However, it can get VERY cold in the desert at night even though it was unbearably hot during the day. Also, although I have never been to the Dardenelles, I was stationed in Sinop, Turkey on the Black Sea coast for one year and they have full blown winters there.

 

[lancer]

I too have been surprised by the fact that the French had those heavy overcoats which had to be miserable to wear. However, it can get VERY cold in the desert at night even though it was unbearably hot during the day. Also, although I have never been to the Dardenelles, I was stationed in Sinop, Turkey on the Black Sea coast for one year and they have full blown winters there.

Quite true. I remember reading that a winter storm hit during the Gallipoli campaign that caught all unprepared and froze many soldiers to death. Still, I wouldn't want to have been a French infantryman running at the charge in August 1914, either in the red pants or heavy blue overcoat. What a choice, heat stroke or machine guns. That was one impractical uniform. -- Al

 

[PolarBear]

Very nice, Randy. However, I would not like to arm wrestle the woman on the horse.

That's probably why her husband is walking. No doubt who runs this household.^&grin

 

[Wolf]

"Chow Mein and Sauerkraut"

Chinese Boxers skirmish with German Kriegsmarine near a Peking courtyard during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900

I received 9 new Soldiers of the World Boxers for Christmas (Sets BX1A and BX1D) and here are 2 of them in action. As usual they are beautifully made glossy figures.

Hello,
I recently found this SoW thread. Polar Bear, really enjoy your photos. I also collect SoW Boxer Rebellion and the 1066 ranges.

Purchase all of my SoW from Mike Rosso of Stockade Miniatures in Stroudsburg, PA. Actually, a visit to Mike's store three years ago got my hooked on this great TS hobby.

As I read the replies to this thread, I agree, Mike is great guy to know, not only for TS talk and knowledge, but he can carry a great conversation.

When I figure out how to post photos, I will add sets for the thread.

Thanks, and look forward to other members sets and discussions on SoW.

Walt

 

[PolarBear]

Hello,
I recently found this SoW thread. Polar Bear, really enjoy your photos. I also collect SoW Boxer Rebellion and the 1066 ranges.

Purchase all of my SoW from Mike Rosso of Stockade Miniatures in Stroudsburg, PA. Actually, a visit to Mike's store three years ago got my hooked on this great TS hobby.

As I read the replies to this thread, I agree, Mike is great guy to know, not only for TS talk and knowledge, but he can carry a great conversation.

When I figure out how to post photos, I will add sets for the thread.

Thanks, and look forward to other members sets and discussions on SoW.

Walt

Hi Wolf

Glad you like the thread.

Mike tells me he is trying to update his website so that we will know what SoW he has in stock.

It is definitely an excellent glossy product.

You are lucky to live close enough to visit the brick and mortar store.

Randy

 

[PolarBear]

My latest Regal SotW addition Set BX5A France 1st Battalion 11th Regiment of Marine Infantry Boxer Rebellion, China 1900

My set came with an alternate officer wearing a kepi rather than the helmet.

 

[lancer]

Beautiful set, Randy. The French blue is quite striking, especially so with the white gaiters. -- Al

 

[ucla1967]

Randy,

That is a beautiful set. The blue is striking; the three sets I have from Trophy of Wales (2) and Bastion Models (1) are wearing a lighter blue uniform. Trophy's has the kepi on the officer on both their six figure and Nordfeld machines gun sets while Bastion's officer is wearing a white helmet with a dark blue tunic.

 

[Dragoon]

Great set of figures Randy. Cleanly painted as expected from Regal/SoW. Did you do a special order for the set to include the officer w/ kepi - and if so, how long did it take? - Ken

 

[PolarBear]

Great set of figures Randy. Cleanly painted as expected from Regal/SoW. Did you do a special order for the set to include the officer w/ kepi - and if so, how long did it take? - Ken

Ken

This was the set that Stockade Miniatures (Mike Rosso) had in stock, so I got it directly from there.

Randy

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hi,
once again very nice photographs. I think they did a fantastic paint job, looking very nice and clean. Skin colour a bit "pinkish" to my own liking but in no way downgrading the great appearance of these wonderful figurines.
rgds
Wolfgang

 

[PolarBear]

Randy,

That is a beautiful set. The blue is striking; the three sets I have from Trophy of Wales (2) and Bastion Models (1) are wearing a lighter blue uniform. Trophy's has the kepi on the officer on both their six figure and Nordfeld machines gun sets while Bastion's officer is wearing a white helmet with a dark blue tunic.

Here are the Trophy and Bastion sets that Mike is referring to:

 

[PolarBear]

As you can see in the previous post the Trophy and Bastion set uniforms are a lighter blue color than the Regal set.

I asked Allan Finlay of Regal about this and here was his answer:


"The darker shade of ‘Mechanic Blue’ is a deliberate move. The common source for this uniform is Osprey’s MAA95 THE BOXER REBELLION which leaves a lot to be desired with a number of uniforms illustrated (particularly the German East Asia Brigade. Check out www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk for excellent references). Instead we’ve used Osprey’s recent MAA461 THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION 1872-1914 which illustrates this uniform, Plate C, Figure 2 in the darker shade.

We also came across this photo of the FFL in Africa dated 1905 which again shows the uniform to be of a darker shade."


Here are the relevant images from the Osprey Books Allan Refers to:

1. Osprey’s MAA95 THE BOXER REBELLION (lighter blue)

French Marine in China in Color

French Marines in China B&W photo

2. Osprey’s MAA95 THE BOXER REBELLION (darker blue)

FFL Madagascar 1895 in color

Text explaining how FFL and Naval Landing party (Marines) shared the same blue denim uniforms (like blue jeans)

3. Photo FFL 1905 Congo