Young Miniatures 1/10 SS Fallschirmjager Bust

[Deleted member 6559]

Lets see how we get on with this one. A great sculpt by Laurent Borget whose work I've only encountered at 1/16 before, depicting an SS fallschirmjager. He's wearing a jump smock, grenade bandolier and soft gas mask holder. A full grenade is provided for cutting up, but as the detail is so good, I intend to have the head protruding from the bandolier. The kit comprises five parts, excluding the stand:



The clean-up required was minimal:



I intend to paint him in an early war reed green jump smock, so that there is no camo to distract attention from the face:



This was the pattern worn up to 1941 and the invasion of Crete.

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Sorry to see the Centurion didn't make it.

This does look good, the head has good shading just in the photo without paint, must be a strong sculpt for you to work with.

Looks like a really wet day down in the South East today!

We have just had some more snow to top off the lockdown.

Hopefully some light for you to paint with and a break in the household fun to get some bench time too.

Have a good day with the paints

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Morning Steve.

Bit fed up with this modelling lark to be honest, but I'll soldier on. This is a nice one, though there is some dodginess around the left eye. My daughter and granddaughter are returning home today (via support bubble and crossed fingers) so the peace and quiet and undisturbed concentration should return. Heavy rain all night and forecast for some time, but no snow here in the benighted Garden of England (which even has it's own private strain of Covid).

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Well, as usual I couldn't get the kit head to work. The eyes were extremely dodgy and and after two attempts I gave up. So recourse to another Reedees back-up:



It's not as realistic, but it will do. I'll need to make the helmet straps, but that should be fairly straightforward.

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Good start with spare head 2, he looks OK from here.

Hopefully a clear day with the light will cheer you up and give you some quality time with the body and/or helmet.

I guess we are all feeling the usual January blues, but the lockdown is amplifying them considerably.

The weather is just adding to the woes, and all the Government procrastination about the jab isn't helping either!

We will get there, eventually, and it gets lighter by 2 minutes everyday.

Enjoy the reed green and have a good day at the bench

Regards

Steve H

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
I think most normal thinking people are fed up and rather unnerved with the current situation but we have to just hunker down and get on with life. I am sure that once the granddaughter has gone you'll miss her. We certainly find not seeing our little one is very hard.
Shame about the kit head. It looked nice in the photo. I suppose that until you actually start to paint it you can't be sure how it's going to be.
Stay safe.
Jim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Steve and Jim- I've found a better head in the meantime, which I'll give a go. The eyes on the kit head were very odd and I did wonder how the box artist managed to paint them - I suspect that they only looked OK when photographed from a certain angle.

Things have certainly quietened down at the Chateau Day. We love our granddaughter to bits, but four weeks with a very lively two year old has taken it's toll and we're exhausted. I couldn't really concentrate on my painting while she was here, so I'm looking forward to settling back into the routine and hopefully being able to finish something.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Head number three:



I feel I'm getting somewhere now.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Yep, he looks great Peter.

 

[Steve Jones]

Your having a tough run of it at the moment my friend. This one looks on course to be a real stunner. Keep it comin sir

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

What a come back with head 3, it just reminds us just how good your best work is.

Your not good enough is more than acceptable for us, but I can really see how head 3 has risen above the previous one, it looks superb.

And some peace to work in too, you should be back in the winner's box again this week and back on production too.

I guess you will have to set up a stripping and recycle station to even out the buy one, recycle one, rebuild one, to meet your usual production rates?

Another frosty day ahead but some light too.

Have a good day with the bone sack and the reed green

Regards

Steve H

 

[Steven000]

Very nice work on the face Peter!

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Tim - Thank you.

Stevie J - Certainly have had a run of failures recently and it does dent the confidence.

Steve H - This is Reedees best head and has saved many a figure. I have a bottle of Dettol at the ready at all times in order to strip down and recycle parts from old figures - the thing to do is not be precious about completed work and prioritise the job in hand. It looks like a brighter day today after a lot of rain - I've even had to work under artificial light for the last couple of days, which I hate.

Steven - Many thanks.

 

[JR]

Like Jim said think we are all feeling somewhat down , more so for you as your daughter and granddaughter have left. The house must seem so empty.

We had to do with face time this year to see anybody, other than grandson Jack who lives in Stamford, he shouted to us from 3 mtrs in the dark as well.

Keep up the painting Peter, this new head looks to be the business to you ( the other looked to be perfect to my eyes ) just shows what I know !
Take care.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi John. I was mainly down about the fact that the modelling didn't go well over Christmas. The house is deliciously empty, much as I enjoyed having the little one around.

The front of the torso:



So nice to paint. There is still some tidying up to do, then it's on to the back tomorrow, I also have the gas mask case and grenade supplied with the kit to paint, and I've added a Young's flashlight and the rifle from the abandoned Italeri figure I attempted recently:

 

[Jim R]

HI Peter
I'm not going to jinx this one so I'm not going to say that I think he is excellent or that the jacket front is superb. I'll keep my mouth shut
Jim

 

[Neil Merryweather]

it's looking rather good, Mr D

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Jim - I'd never say 'never', but if I mess this one up now I deserve to be shot. I would have preferred to use the kit head of course, but this one is not too bad.

Neil - Thank you Mr M!

 

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Lovely work and subtle blending and colours selections with the tunic, jump suit and grenade sacks.

Looks like you should be over the finishing line today and back to the old conundrum, what next?

I guess you will need another barrel of Dettol, to keep the cabinet up to date, and the production line moving.

Have a good day with the paints

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Morning Steve - Yes, should finish this today. I'm very relieved that it's working out after the recent run of failures. I've got a series of Young's busts to do after this, and I've also ordered some Tamiya 1/16 figures for a bit of therapy - I've noticed that the UK suppliers seem to be running low on these - hope it's not a sign to come.

Hope the insurance business is keeping you busy. I spent the summer between school and art college working in an insurance office transferring their paper files to microfilm (it was a long time ago). My mum had to buy me some shirts and a tie. Happy days with some nice people.