Special Forces Figure ***COMPLETE - 13MAY09***

Actually an ODA team that used to wear the Green Beret in the field is where the whole thing came from. JFK thought it was a great idea.

As far as the term "Green Beret" ... If someone were to call themself a Green Beret, they'd really be calling themselves a hat .... hey, it's the truth. But "Green Beret" has become one in the same for the Army SF. If you're SF qualified, you're a Green Beret. Its not a seperate division or anything. They're all one in the same.

Also, ALL SF operators are Airborne qualified. Its one of the requirements for qualification. Some ODA teams are HALO or SCUBA in addition to being Airborne, but all are Airborne.

Hey! ... mud just adds flavor to the water. Stop complaining!!!

Well, I just got back from a SORRY, LOUSY Astros game .... almost wish I'd stayed home to work on this build ....

Ho ... hum .....

Guess there's always tomorrow .... supposed to rain here, so I've got the best excuse in the world!!!

that sux. at least the red wings are winning!! do ya get into the stars at all down there buddy? j/c. supposed to be georgous today...like yesturday. 2nd weekend in a row. but while its 85 today i had the heat on b/c it was 38 earlier in the week. yep...that's what ya get in this state. you go from having the heat on to turning the a/c on. hmmm...! guess i can get the pool ready. going to the m-i-l's house late 2-morrow for about 5 days while she has surgery. will take some of my dio build with me so hopefully i will be near 90% complete by thurs. when i get back.

anyway, guess with the rain you can work on your guy like ya said. nothing better than a rainy day sometimes to get things accomplished!! oh....or put a coat of primer on....lol.

Unfortunatly, I didn't get to work on things today lik I wanted. Rain off and on today, but I just couldn't get in the mood. Besides ... the SF figure talked to me and said that he liked hanging out in the paint booth ... I think he's got a problem!?!

Anyway, I don't have any real plans tomorrow, so I'm going to enjoy a little modeling with my coffee in the morning. All I really need to do it scratch the throat mic, prime it, and then start trying to mix my paints. I may also try to work on my base a little. I haven't really even looked at creating the "3D" effects for the images I'm going to use. I'm not worried about making the desert terrain he's going to be standing on ... although the plastic palm tree might be a little tricky, but I'll figure that one out.

Here's to hoping ... (that I have some build time in the morning...)

modelchasm wrote:

Besides ... the SF figure talked to me and said that he liked hanging out in the paint booth ... I think he's got a problem!?!

tell him to keep it together! All those fumes!! lol

modelchasm wrote:

Here's to hoping ... (that I have some build time in the morning...)

he doesnt have a problem...they like all those dark places! had some thunderstorms here all day too...just stopped raining. was gonna cut the grass b4 i leave 2-morrow but not sure that'll happen. i didnt get anything done either model wise model. spent this morning cleaning and sweeping out my garage. doubtfull i'll get much done 2-morrow either since i have 2 get my stuff 2-gether. will work on it during my time there though.

you enjoy your coffee and modeling 2-morrow model...lol...just dont get any cherrios or fruity pebbles stuck to his gear or anything b4 ya paint him!!

I sat in the garage too! But my neighbor came over and now I'm down a six-er. Oh well ....

I'm actually getting some bench time this morning before church, and I think that I'll get pretty close to finishing the throat mic. So, we'll see how much I get done this afternoon. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some pictures up this afternoon.

Camo/ psst ... what paints have you guys used in the past for the tri0color uniform? I like MM and Vallejo acrylics, but I'm open to suggestions .... I just don't re-inventing the wheel.

Ok, so here's what I've got thus far .... (BTW thanks for the color advice guys ... I just needed a place to start and you guys gave me what I needed.)

... I'm going to start off painting the base layer with Vallejo's deck tan, probably darkened a tad with brown. Then I'm going to use either the rust or burnt sienna, as suggested, but lightened a tad with the deck tan for the darker brown color. And then for the lome green, I'm planning on using MM's dark green or OD green lightened to the shade I want using the deck tan color.

I like using MM and Vallejo as these two don't seem to have any "quams" when I mix the two. Some paints are just finicky like that, but not these.

Well let you know what it turns out ....

I'm looking to get the base sprayed on tonight.

Sooooo .... I'm sitting here looking at this figure, trying mix paints, and the more I look at this thing the more horrible I think it is! Everytime I pick up the figure, I continue to notice all the imperfections that the primer coat picks out.

So I stopped with the mixing and went back to the figure. (Yes, I'm messing up my prime coat ... UH-gain!) I'm continuing to try new techinques to get these dang casting holes filled. As much as I try, I can't get a PERFECT cast. But then again, I sometimes get crappy casts from NEW kits, so I don't feel that bad ...

Anyway, I'm throwing this post out there b/c what I'm using now seems to be working pretty good. I had recently read about using baking soda and CA glue. Didn't have BS, so I tried flour. Worked pretty well, but for the smaller fills, it was hard to get the CA right where I wanted it, so I ended up with a little "donut" ring around the fill. So now, I went back to the flour, but instead of CA I went with ..... WATER! Why now just make a flour/ water paste!?! Seems to be working well, but I'm a little curious to see how it sets up went it dries. I figure that once I prime it again it'll be ok, but we'll see...

I mixed it to a pretty thick paste. I used the "sump test" people use to test concrete. (There's always Google if you don't understand... I'd explain, but I feel like building today!)

Just thought I'd share.

ok i know how you feel always looking at it and seeing what should've or could need changing...difference between u and i is that i would leave it alone (most of the time...lol)...where you change it to make it look better. nothing wrong with it (in fact i think i just complimented you) just saying.

as far as the colors...i told you b4 in some way far away post the colors and consistancies i use for the tri color uniform...but i know u use acrylics...just wish i knew something comperable to what i use via acrylics. you seem to have an idea with what u want so u know me...good luck and i hope it works 4 ya! which i'm sure it will!

flour and water....hmmmm....are we baking g.i. cookies or painting figs?? j/k. i know exactly what you mean about making imperfect casts....seems like i try and try and it never works like it should....oh well. i just usally have small holes or something and fill it with either green putty or a/b putty. i wish u luck though with the paste and hope it gives ya the results u want. let us know brother!!

Well, I like cookies ...

The flour paste works pretty well. Dries rock hard. But still will pop out if messed with. But with that said ... Once another coat of primer/ paint is put on, it would be fine.

With that .... the face start to receive paint yesterday. I've been bad about posting update pics on this one, so I'll be sure to so it today.

modelchasm wrote:

Well, I like cookies ...

who doesnt!! i wondered if it would "pop" out if messed with. i suppose if you threw or mixed it with some glue it would maybe stay put better. but glad it works! how about sanding does it need alot? paint on the face...alright!! at least its moving along! and if ya want to post you can but dont have to...i prefer to see the final product anyway!!

As far as posting pictures ... thats where you and I differ ... UH-gain ...

I like to see work progress, and I'm sometimes suprised at my own work when I see it in pictures. Sometimes I see things that I don't when looking at it face to "face". I also like to get feedback from others as they tend to catch things b/c I sometimes tend to keep my face a little to close the canvas.

The flour paste does work well. Dries much harder than putty alone. However, I've not tried to dilute Sqaudron putty (basically the same process). As far as keeping the paste where it belongs ... that's more a problem when you've got to clean it up later after it dries. With the paste, I was able to apply it just the way I wanted with scuplting tools and little to no clean up was needed.

I've just been annoyed lately b/c I haven't been able to get the smooth finish on things that I want .... again, I sometimes keep my eyes a little too close to the TV screen! It's not so bad when you back off and the details are "smoothed" by distance.

Pics are coming ...

Here's some pics from what I've had going on lately ...

Just test fitting the helmet to the hand. This is how I plan to pose it. I'm debating however to have the figure hold it by the shell near the ear piece, but this is my first thought ...

I've sprayed the helmet with textured spray paint and then primed it along with everything else. Looks goo , IMO, but you have to be careful not to touch the texture when wet otherwise it flattens it out quite a bit.

Here's the new ear piece/ throat mic, along with the first flesh coat on the face ...

Comments welcome ...

Hope to have more pics of the painting process as it comes along ....

Awesome work! I don’t know about you, but I’m glad this moved away from the 24-hour quick build OOB thread. All the scratch building looks great. Was there a notch taken out of the hat bill? Can’t tell from the progress shots if you puttied that or not.

The helmet looks really cool with the texture- glad that turned out for you. That throat mic looks great! And so does the first coat of flesh - at least the fill texture for the skin in smooth, it's easy to roughen up a uniform with the hard edge colors, but the flesh tone and the gradual shading would make things difficult. I too am a fan of the WIP pictures; a lot of neat tricks and techniques come out of them. Glad you’re making some progress- should start picking up soon- paintings my favorite part anyway, maybe that’s why it goes faster for me...

Thanks guys. I'm glad that you like the progress. Yes, there's a notch out of the cap's bill. Not intentional, but I've tried to fill/ reshape it twice w/ no luck. Any suggestion would be great.

And yes, although I agree that more time was actually a good move for this build, I never meant for it to stretch out to a couple of months. But ... oh well.

a couple of months....whoopie dude...just dont make it 6 years ok!! we all have lives outside of modeling (like u need me to tell u) so no big deal. as u know i've been doing mine for almost 5 months now!!! whatever i can finish when i want to...

what have ya used to fill that gap/crack? could always make more "cookies"!! have ya tried to just fill it with ca glue then sand when dry?? we should like the progress...its good...not to mention we can live through you via all that scratching!!! contrary to some earlier posts...i do enjoy seeing the "progress" of builds...i just ultimately think that whether you show them or not....eh, whatever....never mind...i enjoy the builds and i'll just stop trying to legitimize my thoughts through written word!!!

it looks great model...im jealous as always...the detail you provide is fantastic. im just glad i can throw in a few tricks and things you guys arent aware of to help you in your builds as well as you guys help me!! in case i hadnt mentioned it b4 thank you both!!

Wow!  Great work on the helmet.  From the pics the texture looks spot on.

How about supergluing on a piece of plastic inside the notch and sanding it smooth afterwards?

Thanks guys ...

Camo, you always have a way to remind me of "reality". And you're 100% right .... it doesn't matter how long it takes me. The only problem is .... the longer this one takes me, the more attached to it I get. I'm wondering how it would look on MY shelf now!!!

Things are going well with the painting. However, I'm working mostly on the face ... still trying to mix colors for the uniform ... RRRrrrr.... But I think that I'm getting closer.

For 1/2 a second I actually thought about doing this one in ACU since I know the colors!!!