Dog Tag 1/16 Gurkha

[Deleted member 6559]

This is a 1/16 Gurkha made by Miniature Alliance for their Dog Tag range. A lot of these figures were sculpted by the great Calvin Tan, as I suspect the case is here. I've made versions of this figure a couple of times but never been very happy with the results, so....

A combination of resin and metal parts:



The resin is nicely done, but has large casting blocks and is subject to pinholes. The white metal is truly nasty - why the left arm had to be cast in it is a mystery to me. A lot of work will be required to put this one together.

The base includes a bollard for him to sit on:

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
A great subject. A while ago I saw a fascinating programme on how the gurkhas are recruited. Tough selection process. Maybe the left arm is white metal because of the kukri? Would resin be too fragile? Wonder why they chose a bollard for him to sit on? A tree stump or a rock would seem more appropriate.
Looking forward to it.
Jim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi Jim

We have a lot of Gurkha people living locally. They're still based at Hythe and there used to be a battalion garrisoned at Canterbury's Howe Barracks, now closed. Both my daughters have Gurkha (Nepali) friends - soldier's daughters that they were at school with.

The metal parts supplied are, if anything, more fragile than the resin. Both the kukri and the Thompson were bent double, so I don't really know why they did it - perhaps they were worried about their resin casting (these are quite old figures).

As for the bollard - Road to Mandalay?

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Initial building is done:



I'd forgotten that resin is quicker to prepare than plastic, as you don't have any mould lines to remove. The fit was reasonably good, helped by the fact that the resin was quite soft and easily worked. As with all of this range, there were quite a few surface pinholes, and sanding tended to reveal more, which was a bit annoying.

He'll be wearing the slouch hat and carrying the helmet - I swapped the awful kit pot-lid for a much better Verlinden version. I'm opting for the later jungle green uniform, as I think it will paint up better than khaki, given the heavy outlines to the strapping (i.e the need for deeper shading):



There is a pole indicated on the bollard for the gun to lean on. This was not supplied, but easily made:



The base will be further decorated with foliage.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Should be a good one Peter .

 

[scottie3158]

I have worked with the Gurkha's they are very proud and excellent soldiers. I look forward to following this along.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Welcome along Scottie. I used to come across Gurkhas picking up their children during the school run - all big muscle-bound blokes.

 

[JR]

I'm in Peter.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Take a seat John. Won't have the time to model today, but back to it on Monday.

 

[JR]

Take a seat John. Won't have the time to model today, but back to it on Monday.

Good I'll be able to pay full attention.Is the dog in a good mood ? before I break out the biscuits.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

The dog is incredibly jealous of my granddaughter at the moment, so anything goes. They're going home tomorrow, so after a couple of day's elation, he'll probably sulk for a week.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

I managed to get the head done today:



Just couldn't focus my eyes for the first half-hour or so - just shows what working on a bust and having a couple of days off can do. I tried to keep the skin tones darker than usual by adding Red Leather to the Flat Flesh, and, apart from a couple of extreme highlights, using the Flat Flesh as the lightest tone - normally I'd add a lot of white for European skin tones.

There was no hair indicated, as most will be hidden by the hat, so I just painted on a crew-cut to finish him off.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Really looks the part. You have got a lot of character into that face.
Jim

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Very nice Peter .

 

[JR]

Another successful head by the looks of it Peter. Nice

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Your off to a great start with the head.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thanks chaps - that's the hardest bit done.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Except that I decided to do a little bit more work on the face:



Something wasn't quite right with the eyes, and I realised that the hooded skin over the upper lids should flow more smoothly to the sides, ie. not be completely ringed with shadow.

 

[scottie3158]

That looks a lot better as you say it looks a lot more natural.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Glad you approve Scottie. Many thanks.

The uniform is done:



I decided to use Vallejo Refractive Green as the base for this (no idea what's supposed to be 'refractive' about it), adding Black Brown and Off White for shading as usual, together with a little Camo Dark Olive for some of the mid tones.