Como got it right- it shouldn't be very bloody. The key is you cannot over do it. Hollywood likes you to think blood is bright red and when you get shot it squirts everywhere. The heart's a strong muscle, but only in a Quiten Tarintino movie is it going to get all over the place. Think of a bullet wound as what it really is, a puncture wound. Just instead of a knife or any other sharp object, it’s a projectile moving incredibly fast. There might be some blood from the initial wound, but unless someone has started doing CPR and really pumping the blood up and out of the holes, if the shots killed the individual, it’s really just going to be oozing out as it drains to the lowest point in the body.
If you have a solider laying dead on the ground, the best way to portray bullet wound blood in my opinion is to have maybe a little blood coming out of the mouth and pooling around the neck (maybe he was hit in a lung and he coughed it up before he died?) And then hint at a larger pool underneath the body. For bullet holes in clothing/people- unless your talking about close range shotgun/zombie type stuff, think back again to the puncture wound, it’s such a small piece of metal, when it hits the body, the hole might only be the size of a dime, in 1/35 scale clothing, with folds- it could easily get covered up. I wouldn’t add the hole at all- maybe just a palm sized bloody stain (1/35 palm sized that is). Now if he was shot in his front and now he’s laying on his front- you’d have an exit wound to worry about. That’s always larger (if it exited at all) because the speed of the bullet slowing down transfers from the bullet into the human tissue- think science class, energy cannot be created or destroyed. For as fast as that bullet was going, if it’s going to be going much slower when it comes out, it’s because a lot of transferred energy just tore up the insides.
For modeling that, just get a small drill set, and after drilling the hole, get some putty/xacto knife and try to mold the torn up uniform so it doesn’t just look like a hole in a guys back. There’d be more blood due to a bigger hole, but remember, if the soldier’s dead, gravity is going to be working harder than the heart.
Bullets really kill two main ways, hit a vital organ (lungs/heart/liver/etc.), or blood loss (hit a major artery)- as far as instantly goes, there’s also infection (usually abdominal wounds don’t bleed much, but as soon as that gets hit you worry about bodily waist in the wrong place) etc.
Point is, think about where you’re dead solider was hit/where he’d be loosing blood from.
Now you also don’t want a big puddle on the ground, bloods thick and viscous, and it doesn’t run up hill too well. Think of your groundwork- and if it’s dirt, you might not see much blood beyond the silhouette of the fallen solider.
As far as the color goes, mix in some black/brown/purple- as long as it’s a dark color, with your normal red until it gets to be a murky red. Whatever you do, make sure it doesn’t look like ketchup. And due to the scale color effect, while you might have a great color blood to match your own 1:1 blood (I cut myself all the time in this hobby) it might still look too bright in 1:35.
I think the most important thing about doing dead soldiers (especially if you plan on posting it to a forum like this) is keeping it tasteful. And in my opinion, the only real way you can tastefully depict a dead solider is to do it up as accurately as possible. This is why I gave you such a long, possibly overly graphic response and I apologize for that.
Now this is just a personal thing, everyone has their own opinions, but a big thing to remember, is likely you are depicting a war that actually happened. Some modelers don’t like dead bodies on dioramas, some don’t like Nazi flags on dioramas, I disagree, I feel like war is war and that’s what you get. Modeling a tank accurately is one thing, but if you don’t depict the rest accurately- what’s the point? This being said, you must remember- the 1/35 soldiers you represent, represent (this is kind of a stretch I know, but I like to think so) a casualty number from the conflict you’re trying to represent. So while you might not be trying to replicate a specific person that died, the death alone represents the death from that conflict. So if you have someone whose grandfather passed during D-Day and you have a bunch of US GIs sprawled across the beach all torn up with blood everywhere, that could easily be upsetting. Now if you have a bunch of GIs charging up the beach, with one GI receiving treatment for a leg wound behind an obstacle and a blood-tinged tide is coming up the beach. While not as gory as a video game, I feel that’s more powerful, while also being accurate. It’s tasteful, and as long as the water isn’t BLOOD RED, just the surf has a reddish look- it might not be something a viewer catches until a second look, being that much more powerful.
Sorry I got very long winded on that one. I know some people will tell you don’t do blood, don’t do death, if you do death, don’t do any blood, etc. But I think if you really want to accurately do death (and in my opinion that’s the only way), there some things you have to know. I’m sure I could have said it with less words though... anyway I hope most of them made sense. It’s really just paint work though as far as how you depict it. The key is getting the right color, the right amount, and making sure your dead solider looks natural with the groundwork he’s laying on, not like a standing figure got knocked over by a little brother/pet dog.