Set 8004, American Civil War Union Zouaves, was originally planned as a set of 2nd Empire French Zouves. But more customers wanted ACW Zouaves than French Zouaves, so American Zouaves they became.
The French Zouaves originated as a North African unit. In the 19th century, every country aspired to have colonies, and for the French, North Africa, just on the other side of the Mediterranean beckoned. The fact that the Ottomans had lost their grip on most of their Empire gave just about every European country a free hand. The zouave costume was the uniform of the native troops, and the French, quick to capitalize on such an exotic uniform, soon dressed some of their units in the same. The zouaves, as they used to say, soon "covered themselves with glory" in the Crimea, and took on the celebrated status of an elite unit which their dress magnified. Captivated by the French Zouaves, Americans thousands of miles away with no connection whatsoever with North Africa or Algeria clothed some of their militia in the same uniforms. The American Zouaves pretty much died out with the end of the Civil War, but in France they lived on, elite status and all up to the first year of WWI almost without change, until the machine gun dispelled any previous notions of elan or glory.
Well, enough of history. While it is true that set 8004 could be dumped on a WWI diorama, something is missing from these figures, and what is missing is that huge equipment pack that the French had on their backs. The metropolitan infantry pack was big already, but the units serving in Africa had an even bigger pack due to the rather more inhospitable nature of the environment. Tents and rations were larger, and even the water bottle was twice that of the line troops. Well, to address this problem, long time visitor but first time contributor, David Hennen, has kindly sent in his own conversions of the ACW Zouaves to French Zouaves.
The conversion is simple and elegant. Backpacks were removed from the Airfix Foreign Legion figures by cutting them neatly off. Small holes were then drilled in the back of the body and the backpack. For this purpose, a small manual "hobby drill" from Tamiya was used. A very small peg, cut from the base of the Foreign Legion figures was then pushed into the back of the zouave figure and the backpack attached to it. The finished result is quite sturdy as the peg attaches more securely than glue and the backpack can be removed easily. The following scans show the results:
Firstly, a kneeling zouave with the pegs and holes shown.
The next shows 3 zouaves with backpacks attached.
This last shows 2 zouaves with backpacks from the Airfix astronaut set. These huge backpacks actually approximate the large North African backpack more closely and comes with a peg, but the disadvantage is that Airfix astronauts are quite rare and it would be quite expensive to equip the full quota of a set of 48 zouaves. Maybe some company will come out with a set of backpacks.
Many thanks to Mr. Hennen for his interesting conversions.
dhennen@yha.att.ne.jp