Both look great. There's something about the BAR gunner that reminds of Val Kilmer.

Thank you, Al. I appreciate that.

Val Kilmer, eh?

Steve

~Steve~ They both look kickbutt 'ole buddy--love 'em!

Happy to hear you got a nice new hobby room set up--(COOL) and there's gunna be progress on this Dio (been keepin an eye peeled for a while now)

That BAR man is a super cool customer-Where's he from?I dig the aditude and the grit in his teeth

(I guess its the photo he looks a little squished short if you know what I mean? I don't know if it was a re-size-?)

Anyways Man--keep it coming ~~

Hey Indy, thanks. Squished... I think I know what you mean. Nah, it's not necessarily the photo... he does look a bit squished in real life. MIght be the Hornet head, perhaps, that is doin' that. It does seem a tad small for the body.

Steve

They both look great. I like the netting on the helmet.

ajlafleche

Both look great. There's something about the BAR gunner that reminds of Val Kilmer.

Actually I was gonna say he looks like a young Sgt. Hulka from Stripes!

Brian

HA! "Lighten up, Francis"

~~Hey that said--it's not a problem--so he's a short guy--big deal--I don't think anyones gunna say it to his face!

Steve that other figure--I know you said he was heavily mod'd, but I wondered if I caught the base figure while browsing around--was it a certain Nemrod of France dude?~

~make any new progress?

Great to see more American GIs here in the forum!  It inspires me... your work was a work of a master.  Mind if you can tell me how you painted the helmet net?  Drybrushing.  I tried that last year and it wasn't that even good.

Hey great job Steve, great idea and great looking figures.

deafpanzer, master I ain't- light years from it- but I thank you for the compliment all the same. Yes, the netting was drybrushed.

Gamera, thanks for the compliments as well!

Indy, the modified figure is from Custom Dioramics, "U.S. Infantry Battle of the Bulge". I suppose the modifications weren't really all that "heavy", now that I see the original figure again. Both arms rearranged, and heated to get better suited angles. The back of his collar was twiddled with, to suit the Hornet head that was used, so that he would appear to be looking up when positioned. The feet were also heated to get him to stand correctly, amongst the rubble guts of the bombed out building. He'll be placed in here:

More progress shots soon, gonna be the S&T officer you are also currently working on.

Steve

~Steve~ Thanks for posting that man--I was wondering--sorry I misplaced the picture I thought might have been that pic--get back to ya if i find it--just for giggles----that CD figure looks like a better way to get there!

I've got my squad leader, 2nd Lt. Left his gold bar off the front of his helmet, since he might have painted over it in reality, but I left the officer's white vertical bar on the back, to keep his rank somewhat clear. I still have to weather these guys, as well as add some Hudson and Allen gear markings. Some of those decals are awful small... kinda scared...

All of 'em so far...

if yer here, thanks for looking. All comments and corrections welcome.

Steve

Looks good so far. Just 2 more and your up there with Indy.

I swear I heard them speak Japanese,

They look awesome. You got the eyes right and even the buck teeth. Your blending style is smooth. I'll reserve my comments on the pose until they're in the cool dio base you've done but for now they're look great.

I see you and Indy have different styles in rendering like Rembrandt and Van Gogh. Interesting.

Looking forward to the two more figures.

Cheers,

Richard

~Steve~ Seriously beautiful painting Buddy. Love the textures and shadows you giot going on the garmets & gear--you set the bar pretty high---gave me a few things to think about finishing mine--and a challenge for yourself to improve on,

                 .......but keep this kinda stuff com'in!   

Thank you boys, apologies for the delay. Switched gears this week, no painting updates. But I appreciate your comments.

The figures look great! Are they supposed to look Asian or is that just how they were sculpted?

Hi 101st- yes, they are Japanese-Americans from the 442 RCT. Hornet's Asian heads.

Steve

Here is the last of the 442nd figure for the scene. I had a 5th figure- a Dragon figure in an overcoat- almost finished. However, I think I'm gonna lose him... the soft-detail sculpt of the Dragon styrene figure just ain't doin' it for me, standing next to the resin figures. I really wanted that overcoat in the scene, tho. I do have a Mantis Ardennes figure in an overcoat coming to me, from a Russian distributor, and a Hornet Asian head painted and ready, but I think I'm just gonna move on.

The folds in his right forearm sleeve bug me, so I'll throw that out there first. Yes, I'm the one who added the folds. Can't really remember why I did it... must have been an ugly Warrior seam.

Crap, I hate that sleeve:

Here he is with the B.A.R. gunner; they'll be covering the entryway of the bombed out structure:

And finally, all 4 figures:

4 styles of US combat boots in as many figures! COOL!

Some of the color tones are lighter that I would normally go. On this project, I have made the concerted effort to try and "brighten up" my figures a bit. The tones can look OK under Optivisors, and you can always lighten them up in an image. Yet, when they sit in real life, mine always appear too dark. I want them to "pop" a bit more than they usually do.

Anyways, thanks for looking. Feel free to leave comments, critique, it's all good. They ain't sealed up yet.

Steve

Nicely done. On the last figure did his arm come like that or was it a sanding accident?

Again Steve--This one's wonderfully painted! I particularly like the look of the head-----yes, Hornet is the best--but even so you've really put some magic to it. So he's an old warriors figure under the Hornet head?--Interesting I don't remember seeing him---& man-he's the shortest of the lot! Whats your secret to make them suitably short?

Oh &--this is bright paintwork for you huh?wow---seemed very conservative with the highs to me--especially lovely figure #3--of course I've been trying to up-contrast everything lately with little regard towards conservatism so we make a good complementry pair I think.??

Thanks, guys. Hornet heads really are exquisite, and I take little credit. They are just stunning in the detail.

jetmodeler- not sure what happened with the arm, been about 6 months since I assemble the figure. IIRC, the arm was heated and modified to hold the rifle. May have been a seam there, or I may have just placed a big ole finger print on it when reshaping it. Overall, the final placement will hide this ugliness to some degree. It better, 'cause I'm countin' on it

Indy- again, I can't recall too much about the figure, but I'm pretty sure it's Warriors, and the arms are not from the original kit. Whoever he was, I know I wanted a different pose, so I think I grabbed arms offa this guy:

I modified the arms a bit to get the angle I wanted for the M1.

He's actually no shorter than the rest of the figures, and that's likely a perspective thing, when the figures were posed for the camera.

Yeah, these are pretty light for me. That doesn't necessarily mean I went super bright with the highlights. It's just an "in general" kinda thing. They'll tone down a bit when I dull cote them, which is why I went "light" to begin with.

Thanks again for your comments, guys.

Steve

Hey Steve--

Again--I love what you came up with....but that figure

Is better than anything Squadron currently has from Warriors for U.S. Army anyways(By far)  They must just be selling down everything that hasn't sold over the years--instead of releasing anything this good.  I'd like to see what else they (used to make) Know where there's a  complete list?

Yeah he's cool, I have ended up with 2 of these figures. Pose wasn't quite right for this scene, tho. He looks more like he's covering some POWs, kinda leaning back a bit. I waz gonna pose him facing the other direction, opening the building door. Then, with all the destruction I built, I figured the door would have actually been blown off. Back in the box.

For a (nearly) complete list of Warriors, I've been looking here:

http://www.ecomodelismo.com/GFB_ver.php?catID=7

I use their list for reference. Seems backwards hitting up a Spanish company for American-made figures, but there are some cool, hard-to-get kits on there. I've had an order sitting with them for almost a month for other, Euro-made, kits... no correspondence, updates, nuthin' There's a set I've been dying for, and have only found through them. Maybe one day they'll actually ship it to me.