"Flash Out!" - 120mm OIF figure ( COMPLETE!!! )

It looks like you are off to a great start, I am sure the finished product will be fantastic.

Thanks for posting the "Maki" link, that's a cool technique.  Once I finish up the other projects I am working on, I'd like to do a similar figure.

Too much done today .... is that possible?

Well, I'm now about 95% complete with this figure. Really wanted to take it to a show on th 21st, but now I've got travel plans again .... *&%&^@#*&@!!!!!! Oh, well. I still want to be done before I take off again, so I've got until this Friday.

Here's the progres from today.

Got tired of the face not having a "mic", so I gave him one. Just needs paint to match now ....

ACH with highlight wash. (The light is a little too harsh in this one.)

The dark-tone goes on....

The pixels get added and touched up....

Next, some highlights, and the "tan" colors go on.....

And next, the shadows go on ....

I even went for the nasty sweat crud that builds up around the neck area....

... that'll be it for tonight. I want to make sure everything gets a chance to dry. I've been using the hairdryer today (hehe!). I'm planning on finishing up the M4, the flashbang and the radio stuff tomorrow. Then, its off to the base .... of which I haven't even touched yet. This may have to wait until I come home again.

PLS let me know what you think. I don't normally like to go this fast without the gallery's approval, but I was on a roll today.... Enjoy!!!

No... way....jawdrop... hit the floor

I am 100% in love with your shading work. I was wondering how I was going to get it done on my 1/16 scale duo so now I have to at least make it look half as good as yours. I think you nailed the pixel effect, everything tan looks great, again, love the shadding- that mic's a good fix, I was wondering if you were going to add on, I wasn't going to ask as I wasn't sure what the real one's looked like and thought it might have been one of those tube-ish straw kind of mics from the early 90s? Know what I'm talking about?

..Anyway I checked back over here thinking I'd see an update that looked like the comparison pictures- no way was I expecting this

Great job!

Hey ps what's that pouch on the holster for? A magazine? A cleaning kit? I know the knife's have a pouch for a flint and... do the pouches on the canteens have some kind of filtration kit in them?

Anyway very nicely done, sorry to hear about the trip- this would have taken some serious golds at any show you brought it to..

Hey Chris,

Glad that you like it. Yes, the pouch is for a magazine. I need to paint it as well. I'm going to finish up all the "black/ dark" painting tomorrow. Then, I'm going to do the finishing touches ... adding the arm, the face, and the helmet. Everything should be completed, building wise, tomorrow.

I have an idea for a base, but I hate to cheat. I found a pic, don't remember where. It's of the same figure next to a door way, but, instead of waving off the rest of the squad, my figure will be getting ready to chunk the flash-bang in.

I was suprised too to see the pixels pop out and come together even after the shading was complete.

Thanks again, Chris.

Yeah, I think that's right .... I'm planning on using pretty much the same idea. I don't want to cheat, but I can't come up with something different.

Unless you went to the guys place and took it from him and stuck your guy up there, I don't think I'd call it cheating. I mean if you build it from the ground up and add your own personal touches I think you'd be able to call it your own.

Plus your figure and pose are much cooler- makes so much more sense with the FB.

ranger wrote:

Well I think you nailes it all around, I'm alittle scadish of the whole digaital patterns but your rendation is excellant.  as for the dio I have one thing to say creative license. plus it still your work all and all great job. also when your done are you going to send a pics to fsm so it could be in the magazines gallery I think it way past worthy

You know ... I hadn't really thought about it. I may just give it a whirl. Since I go so much done yesterday, I'm probably not going to work on it much today. Got some "oil changin' and yard work" to do ... BOO!!

Thanks for the idea. I might as well send a few pics to FSM ... couldn't hurt right.

Thanks again for your compliments.

Ranger's Lead The Way!!

Oh yeah! Definitly, I've always been planning on doing it myself, I've just never finished anything, save two or three projects, that I thought might be worth it.

I'm not sure that I've ever seen a digi patern in that magazine, so I think you even show them some WIP shots they might really love it!

** UPDATE **

I'm almost done with the figure, and I don't even really want to think about start the base, but I know that it's coming. But, here's what I've got thus far.

Test fitting the head ... again ....

Test fitting the helmet ...

Finishing touches on the M4, including a small dot from the green film to be used in a future dio, spots of future for the ACOG and the flashlight ...

Adding some home-made "decals" ... actually I just printed them on regular paper, and colored them with a pencil....

Stay tuned ... cause here it comes ......

...

Easily the most BA figure I've ever seen... Did you even sneek on a rank patch? Very well done- I really love the flag and the 1st Cav. Very nice.

Hmm... always thought the ACOG looked red, is there an IR version that looks green or... are the Comp M2s the only red ones?

*** FINISHED FIGURE ****

Well, allthough I'm not done yet, by far, I feel that I should say some "thank you's".

Thanks to all of you that helped along the way with comments, compliments, and complaints. All helped in their own way.

A special thank you to psstoff ... thanks for staying along for the ride. You've help drive me to get this one done. You have no idea how long this one sat waiting on me. Thank you for helping me get this one done. This one means more than you know. Thank you.

Here "she" is ....

And my favorite ... model? .... or real person? ....

Thanks again everyone. PLS stay tuned for updates on the base....

psstoff995 wrote:

... Easily the most BA figure I've ever seen... Did you even sneek on a rank patch? Very well done- I really love the flag and the 1st Cav. Very nice.   Hmm... always thought the ACOG looked red, is there an IR version that looks green or... are the Comp M2s the only red ones?

Didn't have any red film ..... and NO, I wasn't going to wait on a 2mm size dot if it!!!

...but now that you've brought it up ... I guess I can change it out ...

Oh no no not at all!! haha that looks awesome as is! I was just wondering if there were green looking ones, I have no idea what makes scopes reflect the way they do... same with tanks and their crazy multicolored viewports, I kinda tweak everything to fit my preference... my M1 Abrams just has a blueish black under a coat of clear gloss

I'm a little surprised that you went for a 2mm circle cut from your film, any reason you didn't just stick some green paint on a brush and put future over that? Just curious, I did that with red paint on mine and... I don't know, even with the gloss it still looked a little "painted on" so I think your film meathod worked out much better- it looks like green glass.

Anyway, I think you should definitly blur out the face on this guy before you give away his identy and post it all across the internet. He looks way too real!!

I really love the way you went about wiring him up with the radio and the strap already on the gun etc.

I also like the positon of the hand with the FB, whenever I think grenades I always think overhand hurl, but I like how it almost looks like hes just gunna give it a little underhand roll into the room. As I'm thinking of being a Tactical Medic SWAT, I end up watching a lot of cop shows, and I feel like this is a more controlled, natural and realistic kind of technique that you depicted with the grenade and something I probably wouldn't have even thought about. I'm glad you're such an amazing modeler because you're real world experience totally shows through on your pieces. Can not WAIT for the base!

As a matter of fact .... some real world experience did play a part in the hand placement.

During a training exercise, thank goodness, one of my Soldiers went to throw in the FB into a shoot-house that we build on our small base ... for training btwn missions. His FB hit the frame of the door and landed at my feet. Needless to say, we scrubbed the mission for that night. I finally got the ringing out of my ears the next day.

After that, we tossed them in under-hand. Typically, with a "slam dunk" motion with your hand hitting the door frame. Porbably not necessary, but an inside joke within the PLT none-the-less. The only time after that, that I threw one like a baseball was when a guy was coming out of the house with a weapon. I tossed it at him, just soft enough for him to try and catch it. SUCKER!!!

Just a fun-fact for ya...

Glad it was training, it wasnt a stand in simulation for a Frag was it? That would have messed with me for a while...

hahaha that's such a cool story though thanks for sharing- but so I gotta ask- did he catch it?! haha I'm sure his face was priceless. Lesson learned, dont run at the Army with a weapon in hand.

psstoff995 wrote:

Glad it was training, it wasnt a stand in simulation for a Frag was it? That would have messed with me for a while... hahaha that's such a cool story though thanks for sharing- but so I gotta ask- did he catch it?! haha I'm sure his face was priceless. Lesson learned, dont run at the Army with a weapon in hand.

I can't remember ... I was already on the ground laughing at him when it went off. We treated him for burns to the hands, so I guess he did. I'm surprised he didn't loose one! But, yeah ... I was crying so hard I couldn't even call it in on the radio. I still laugh my arse off everytime I think about it!

Thanks for the comments lil' bro.

hahaha I can imagine! That's pretty ridiculous, that's some pretty serious trauma though, probably more state side than in country I'm sure, but serious burns to both hands is actually concidered "critical" transport simply due to the level of pain.

How'd your guys treat for it? Just flushed it with water and bandaged him up?

Reminded me of one build that I did bring to school, all the paint is just craft acrylic so I wasn't afraid to start on that, most of what I've done has just been construction and modification, you can check it out here if you want

Actually, this is similar to this OIF guy in that- the standing figure is me and the two other EMTs are friends of mine, the Ford is our Rescue 9 etc.

psstoff995 wrote:

...serious burns to both hands is actually concidered "critical" transport simply due to the level of pain. How'd your guys treat for it? Just flushed it with water and bandaged him up?

Mmm... I'd say flex-cuffs, but that might upset you, so yeah, we flushed them and wrapped them up.

But seriously. Yeah, Doc took care fo them. That's one thing I can say that we do well. If we don't kill'em first, we definately get'em to the CASH.

So, I'm still working on the base for the OIF figure. The wife's on call, so there's nothing better for me to do. I've decided to go with a plaster base and wall. That'll give any texturing I do, something to stick to. I'm finishing up a styrene door that should be ready for paint tomorrow.

But, here's a new one for me. I've never done anything with rust on it. Most, if not all, doors over there are metal. For the life of me, I can't remember them having rust on them, but it would make for a nice color "splash" on an otherwise BLAH dio. Hmmm, dust, dirt, tan, brown, grey .... why not throw some vomit in the mix!?!

Anyone got some advice for this one?

haha hey I wouldn't be upset, again, maybe next time don't run at soldiers with a gun?

The plaster makes sense. As far as rust goes- I'd use a combo of pastel powder (before or after? Durring? I'm thinking after...) some thin to thick style build up of washes in a streaking pattern. The pastel- put on thick so it gives it some nice rusty texture.

I'd say for the door color- paint a bright color over top the metal. Like a blue or a blue green maybe? Kind of like the door on the cover of the book "My Men Are My Heros" if you're familiar with it?

Anyway- something like that'd break up the monotony, and look real cool with the rust on it for some harsh contrast

*** NEEDING SERIOUS HELP ***

Psst ... Funny, I was actually thinking about a blue door!?! Guess that one's taken care of!

Now for the serious biz-nazz .... I'm now all dressed up with no where to go! The scene is looking all kinds of crappy. I even slept on it, and it still looks strange to me this morning. It just looks off-balance, and I have no ideas ... none. I'd go for a completely different scene set-up, but there's really no other way, I see, to place the figure. PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Here's what I've got to work with. Some shots of the door. Pleasesd w/ it. Decided to show some shotgun damage to livin' things up a bit. (Later you'll see some SG damage to the wall inside the door if you look close.)

The figure w/ the base ...

Added the channel up at th top to help give some spacial "awareness". Just thought the top was an "open top".

I just think that the space opposite the figure is so empty. I've got some plaster chunks that I've been playing with, but everything I put there distracts from the scene. It just seems to block the viewers eye as they try to "come up on the scene". I'm also planning on a little larger wooden base to help the scene breathe a little ... letting some of the plaster "rocks" to fall of the scene a little onto the wooden base.

I need some help here guys. I feel stuck and this is keeping me from the paint booth this morning. Anything will be appreciated.

Thanks again.

My artistic eye thinks you nailed it as far as the base set up goes- I think the way you balance this out is in the finishing.

I think if you make the walls and ground all gray/tan Iraq blah, then paint up the door a vibrant color (like blue) and mix some real vibrant rust- that will offset the soldier nice, I'd say then, on the ground, maybe around where you were experimenting with that rubble chunck- take a single shotgun round (little brass tube? Styrene? whatever's in scale- I'm sure you coulf figure it out), paint it up all red (or whatever other color you guys used??) and that will be small enough/natural enough to blend into the groundwork to not distract, but just the right splash of color against the gray and tan to stand out along with the door to really stand up on its own against the soldier, not to mention adding some level of interest- plus it would tie in with that SWEET SHOTGUN BLAST!! It would just tie it in and solidify the weapon that had been used.

Your scratch building never ceases to amaze. So did the whole dead bold get blown out of the wall? Very very cool

Dead bolt!?! No, no, my friend. No dead-bolts here ... or there. Iraqi typically have very simple locks if at best. Most of the time, they have one of those slide lock things you see in a bathroom stall. Usually just used to keep the door closed during the cold months. In the cities, they usually have some type of simple lock, but its still no match for buck shot .... or my favorite ... C4 door charges .... 0.5s of instant fun!

And once again, THANK YOU!!! I hadn't even thought about a SG shell. That's PERFECT! I agree .... after letting the dio sit for the better part of today. I think that the blue tint door, with a little rubble/ rocks in the corner, and NOW a SG shell or two will really help offset the figure.

I may have to wait until after I return to paint the base up, as I'm packing for my trip. However, I'm planning on working on my "midnight raid" dio ... or at least trying to get the figures .... Rrrr .... figured out.

Thanks again psst, for your help. You've once again saved my arse!

Hey not at all! Least I could do- glad to hear you liked the idea!

Hmm... so the buckshot tore through that wall?! Wow... Don't mess with the breaching crew- haha I'd love to see a door post-C4. How often is there even a padlock on these things? I was thinking about a real messed up padlock... but I wasn't sure if it would have blown off backwards into the street or just shot through the hole into the room!

And hey what's the lead foil/tin can looking stuff you spread around on the inner door jam, and looks like a piece on the ground? Is that part of the locking mechanism or left over door parts or..??

Which ever project you decide to work on, have fun with it and enjoy the trip!

*** UPDATE *** 

So I'm pretty much back on track, thanks to psstoff. I wish that I hadn't lost today to the thinking process, but I guess it happens. I should have had this thing wrapped up today, but it'll have to wait a few more days. Good thing is, there shouldn't be anymore fabricating left. All I've got left now if painting .... and of course everything that goes along with that. I'm going to have to wait until I get back for that, and to find a place to make me a "name" plate to go with it. I think I'm just going to simply call it "Flash Out!"

Here's the last update pics until I get back.

Since psstoff suggested the spent shotgun shells, I figured that I needed at least two shots. So, I went back to the door and made another hole .... easy enough. I also added a torn up handle and a little more "carnage" to the inside of the door (Psst, those are the metal pieces you were asking about ... just door "in-ards".)

Here I added a little bit of ornament to the door. It just looked too plain, and you just don't see plain doors there. (The spirl pieces are now glued down so it's better than it looks.)

And lastly ... just for psstoff ... here's two SG shells ready for paint.

I'll get back to this one as soon as I get back. Thanks again for all the help.

That looks nice! Like the title, short and simple

The handel is awesome, I really like the ornate spiaral additions to the door, even if they're not glued down in the picture.

The shells look real though! Based on your set up I can only think you glued the copper wire to the inside, and then... "laythe" the metal to make indentations in the alum rod? Turned out very cool, knew you'd figure out a nice way to make them