1:35 Assorted suitcases

A set of travel suitcases in 1:35 scale

Royal Model offers here a collection of luggage of differing shapes and sizes, cast in polyurethane resin. The suitcases carry no military marking, so they can be used for a civilian scene, for a station platform and for a load stowed on the fender of a vehicle. The goods are supplied untreated and without paints.

Suitcases as the narrator of a scene

A piece of luggage is one of the strongest signs of action in a diorama. A pile of suitcases by a road establishes at once that this is an evacuation or a flight; a single suitcase set down by the wheel of a wagon suggests a return instead. During the war, luggage made of cardboard and vulcanized fiber with metal corner caps was commonly carried in Western and Central Europe, because leather pieces were expensive and wore out quickly.

The surface and the shades

Suitcases suit a brown and ocher palette with marked differences between the individual pieces, so that the pile does not merge into one. The metal hardware and the locks are picked out with a dot of dark steel, and the straps take a darker glaze. Scuffed edges come out with a light pass of a dry brush in a lighter tone. The thin straps over the lid take a darker glaze, after which the luggage visually gains depth, and the remains of labels or a name written in chalk give the pile a story. The finest tip and a single light paint are enough for that.

Where the set stands out

• in a scene with refugees or an evacuation
• as a load stowed on a vehicle
• in a scene at a railroad station or a hotel frontage
• for filling the empty places on a base

The luggage is sold as resin castings with no surface finish.