Kelly's Heroes Busts for Steve

[Deleted member 6559]

This is my Christmas project. I will be painting three busts depicting characters from Kelly's Heroes, namely Clint Eastwood as Kelly, Donald Sutherland as Oddball and Karl-Otto Alberty as the German tank commander. The busts belong to Steve H and the project will be a big thank you to him for his continued support over the years and particularly since joining SM.

The busts are part of the Mitche's V Bust range, and are that manufacturer's usual high quality castings:



I think I'll start with Alberty to get me into the swing.

 

[BigGreg]

FANTASTIC project... can't wait..

 

[JR]

Front row please Peter.
Looking fwd to this.
John

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Your offer to paint the busts is much appreciated too.

I shall be watching from Bradford Royal Infirmary on my phone through their rather slow network.

Hopefully they will have a bed for me tomorrow morning, and I should have my new knee before the end of the day.

Back home by the weekend.

Crisp clear and bright here, hopefully some good light where you are too?

Have a good day with the paints.

I can't over estimate the anticipation of seeing the busts painted

They have taunted me for many years, time for you to whip them into shape.

Regards

Steve H

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
This will be fun. Love the film and the characters. Do they do a Big Joe (Telly Savalas)?
Jim

 

[SteveH]

Hi Jim
Sadly not
Now if only we knew a figure/bust sculpter, who fully appreciated Mr Day's painting skills, they could possibly make one?
Perhaps one day.
The film was definitely more Clint and Telly!
Regards
Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi chaps.

Glad to have you along chaps. It is a pity that Mitches didn't do Telly Savalas, but you can't win 'em all.

So, the big day approaches Steve! I hope everything goes well - I'll try not to make you wince with my painting.

Here's Carl-Otto's head so far:



Pretty tricky, what with the very narrow eyes, wrinkles and scar, but really good fun to paint all the same. I will walk away from it for a while, then return to it with a fresh eye to see what needs adjusting.

 

[rtfoe]

Peter, I like them positive waves of these busts.

Steve H, hope you get a good scratchbuilt knee and recover soon.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Richard48]

Im just sitting here drinking some wine and eating some cheese and catching some rays.Moriarity is fixing me Sherman WOOF WOOF.
Will take a pew with the fellas.
Richard.

 

[minitnkr]

Iconic characters. You'll do them justice I'm sure. No pressure. I have a project on-going of converting a Russian tank commander fig in 1/87 to a likeness of Oddball for one of my Shermans. A lot easier in my scale to hide sins. PaulE

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Richard F - I'm hoping those positive waves will get me though Christmas.

Richard P - Sounds like a perfect recipe for a chilled festive season.

Paul - I can't even imagine how you start to convert a 1/87 figure. I'm not going to look too much at photos of the actors as that will just bring me into conflict with the sculpts. There's no mention of Kelly's Heroes on the Mitche's website, though I would imagine that was for copyright reasons, rather than anything to do with the likenesses.

 

[SteveH]

Evening Peter

As I might be distracted with the spinal block tomorrow morning, I have to comment now,

Wow, that is superb, I always knew the narrow eyes on all 3 busts would raise your blood pressure, but what a result.

Even Anna said, isn't he in that film you keep watching?

Kelly's Heroes is on Keep, on our Planner, and got played every time I got the pack of busts out, enjoyed the film, and put them back in disappointment as I knew I just couldn't do them justice.

When you come back from your walk, Peter, that is one hell of a paint job, I am more than happy and you have only just started.

What ever it takes, just mix and match, to keep your focus.

Well done, great start.

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Your approval is all that matters on this one Steve. Glad you like him so far.

I'll go with the uniforms as depicted in the film, rather than make any corrections (Karl-Otto's shoulder boards should be the white corded officers' versions for eg.). I'll also try to get as good a likeness as possible, though that will be down to the sculpts really.

You also have to let me know what you want doing with Clint's helmet. It will sit on the head with the hair in place, but not convincingly, Ideally I would need to remove some of the hair to make it fit. Perhaps it would be better to mount it in front of him, as though he's holding it?

Anyway, if I don't speak to you before the op - good luck and enjoy the inevitable pampering.

 

[PaulTRose]

woof! woof!

will watch this one......one of my fave war movies of all time

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi Paul - welcome along.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Here's Karl-Otto:



The torso was fairly straightforward to do, not least because the detail was very well defined. The jacket was first painted black, then the highlights built up with a couple of tones of Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform.

I think the tilt of the head has given the bust more resemblance to the character.

I'll tackle Clint next.......

 

[Richard48]

Nice Mr.Day.Really captures the lookof the Tiger commander.Love the film watched it countless times.My wife and couple of folk have talked me into carrying on with my stuff.See what new year brings.
Carry on mate.Im sure i remember a Telly savalas bust somewhere.Could be Battle of bulge one.
Richard

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Richard - So glad to hear that you're going to stick at it - you're a very good sculptor and it would be a great loss if you deprived us of your talents.

I know there's a Telly Savalas Battle of the Bulge bust out there somewhere, but I can't find it - discontinued Mitches?

Very pleased that you like this one.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
You have captured Karl-Otto perfectly. It could not be anyone else.
Jim

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Mitches Models Sgt US 35th Infantry Div France 1944.
Is that Telly Savalas?
Jim

Looks like he is available on their web site at £20. Part of the 'V Bust' series.