"Belgian chasseurs ardennais" Topic

So far as I know, no one makes these in 28mm. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good way to represent these?

I was thinking of using Crusader's or Battle Honour's French and doing some conversions.

The question I mainly have is would the great coat the French wore be appropriate? Googling the uniforms of these guys turns up as many pics in great coats as the regular tunics. From what I understand the uniforms are very similar (or at least would be similar enough on a 28mm model).

I figure if the great coats are appropriate, it would be easy to add heads with berets (though a lot of pics also have the Adrian helmet as well, so a mix would seem to work), and then sculpt a leather wrap over the puttees.

The FM 30 I think I can cut off the clip from the top of the MG and add it to the bottom. It won't be exact, but with the hands and arms covering parts of the weapon, this should look ok.

Anything I am missing or does anyone have some good links to actions these guys were in or uniform pics they would like to share?

The great coat only works for ordinary infantry Chasseur Ardennais (being mostly cyclists) wore a shorter coat. The FM30 is nearly identical to the US BAR. The rifle is a Belgian Mauser. The SMG is a Peiper Bergman (similar to the World War one version)

How would you do the green Beret ?

Carolusone: Hmm, ok, my original plan might not work out then. Also, I noticed that the collars of the great coats are different anyway, so it might not have worked.

The beret I just planned on finding a source of separate heads in berets and swapping them.

With tunics in mind, maybe I will look into using the Battle Honours French Alpini instead and doing conversions on those. The problem is, I think they are carrying MAS 36 rifles which don't look anything close to the Mauser to pull off fudging it.

I think I can pull off the FM 30 with some converting. I just don't fancy changing rifles or doing whole conversions on every model if the tunics and ammo pouches are that different though, so maybe this project is a dead end for now.

There is a rumour that BEF miniatures might do some Belgians

Oh that's right. I remember seeing the Belgians listed on their website. Maybe I will just wait. Perhaps they will even do some Chasseurs Ardennais!

So far I like their new BEF and EW Germans. Though I would like to see them do EW SS with the ZB LMG and MP-28s, that would be interesting.

The BH Chasseurs Alpins have the M07/15, which could pass for a Mauser, I suppose. The problem there is the ammuntion pouches. However, many of the poses are "advancing," and thus the weapon or arms hide the pouches.

For the FM 30, I was thinking of using Bolt Action Poles. I was also looking at the BTD Poles: their guys in French uniform have capotes that are a bit short -- for capotes. With some filing and putty they might work.

Jeff: Ahh, it's been a long time since I saw the Alpins at a con (in the flesh so to speak), and I thought they had the MAS. I must have been thinking of their Motorcycle troops which I own and thought their Alpins had the same thing. If it is the M07/15, then that would be close enough for me to pass as a Mauser.

I'll have to check them out at Historicon to see how many I can use as you are right about many of the pouches being covered by arms (they are on many of the other French minis).

I don't mind the work involved in covering the puttees.

Maybe this will work out after all…if nothing else, I will probably end up with an Alpins platoon for a Norway project I have in mind…

I will do them but I produce in 36-40mm(1/48)scale is it ok by you?Are you talking about green beret head gear or helmets?
I am planning to have that small tractor chennile for Infantry and artillery use.
Also there will be Tiralleurs du Senegal,Slovakians,Japanese,GI´S,anything German ever fielded,Brits,french,etc.