U.S. Airborne 1944

Hey ModelManiac,

That's a good looking figure.  Tell me more about the netting on the helmet please.  Also, if I might critique one or two things.  Skin tone and eyes.  It appears that you base coated the flesh and then washed with a brownish ink and then highlighted.  I would suggest you try something different on your next one.  Start with two puddles of color, the darkest and lightest colors of the flesh.  Using whatever medium you use to thin the paint, drag them together in the center and mix them a bit there.  Go back to the darkest color and base the flesh.  Go to the lightest color and highlight while still wet.  Not move into the portion you dragged into the center and apply that to the recesses and wrinkles in the flesh, the eye sockets and so on.  If needed, darken it up with some of the darker color all while wet.  As you keep doing this the colors will blend naturally and you won't end up with harsh lines between fingers or needing to outline eyes and such.  The flesh color will flow better.

As for the eyes, I would suggest that you hide the upper 1/3 of the eye by the upper eye lid.  Go look in a mirror at your own eyes.  The only time you'll really ever see all of the iris is if you are excited or scared and your eyes are wide open, which they almost look like on this figure.  The dark outlining accentuates this to some degree too.  Most peoples eyes look a little lazy or squinted.  Finally, avoid making the eye whites WHITE.  They should be a little on the gray or fleshy colored side.  Try for an effect like that and see what happens.  Just my opinion.

JigSawMan

1. Eyes: 2 different sized irises one of which is too small and round and the other is a smear of paint. 

2. Eyebrows: Too dark and uneven

3. Flag patch: Using a dry transfer from Archer Fine Transfers will produce a much better effect.

4. Canteen: Another mold line across the cap (oops, see the comment in my next post.)

5. Flashlight and grenade: These items are floating on the right shoulder with nothing to hold them in place

6. Left sleeve: Big round pour plug mark on the underside of the forearm

7. Left hand: Mold lines on the fingers

8. 45 Cal: There appears to be flesh paint on the hammer

9. Binoculars: No strap, they're floating on the chest

10: Not sure but I believe the pouches on the belt, including the canteen cover, should be OD canvas, not leather.

11: NOt AI's fault: the left hand looks misshappen and flat, the holster strap should have been a separate piece, especially in this scale. Overall, very soft on details, but that's typical of Verlinden.

AJ, that mold line on the canteen looks like the cap retaining chain to me the way it curves back.

The pouches on his web gear are in the older khaki color not leather, which is okay.  The pistol belt and suspenders could be that shade as well. US forces did not start recieveing OD web gear until later 44. The radio and binos should be painted OD. Most every bit of metal gear issued by the US Army was painted OD (except canteen and mess gear).

stikpusher wrote:

AJ, that mold line on the canteen looks like the cap retaining chain to me the way it curves back.

Looking closer, I think you're right about that. Sorry.

stikpusher wrote:

The radio and binos should be painted OD. Most every bit of metal gear issued by the US Army was painted OD (except canteen and mess gear).

Too true--but binos were also one of those things that were traded for, so, they could be almost any color.  The USN binos were almost universally black, in a black-tanned leather case (that scuffs grey/white, not russet).

Really, the grenades ought to be a green, OD, schwartzgrun, somesuch, with a yellow band around the tops.  The only all-black ones were inert trainers.  At least by the time HBT was issues, most of the all-yellow grenades had been expended.  (Must have been fun, chrome yellow grenade with a "bright" fuse assembly screwed into the top of it . . . )

Figure is still better than I could even pretend to--really, getting the eyes right would almost over the top (NPI).