1:72 American Civil War Marching (2)

HäT 1:72 marching infantry of the Civil War

A set of plastic figures in 1:72 scale from the brand HäT. The package holds forty-two foot figures in eight marching poses. Among the headgear, soft hats predominate, which corresponds rather to units of the Confederacy, as the box suggests as well. The figures are unpainted and molded in one piece, so it is enough to separate them from the sprue and seat them on bases.

The real subject

The American Civil War was a conflict of long marches. Units covered hundreds of kilometers on foot and the kit wore out and fell apart along the way, so photographs of the period show soldiers in a varied mixture rather than in the prescribed uniform. With the units of the Confederacy in particular a soft hat was more common than a cap and the uniform differed piece by piece according to what each man managed to get hold of.

Building and painting tips

Wash the figures, dry them and spray them with a flexible primer. Do not paint the gray Confederate uniform in a single shade: the cloth of the period differed and a shift toward brownish is plausible. Tell the hats apart by color as well as by the degree of wear. A marching column looks best with a regular spacing, but with the figures turned slightly, so that they do not come across as cast from one mold.

Who the set is for

• for collectors of troops of the American Civil War
• for players of war games who build marching columns
• for builders of dioramas from 1861 to 1865
• for filling out other sets of the same period

The figures are supplied unpainted and unassembled. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.