Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments. I said - WTF, I'm shaving the molded EGA off, too.

Eaglecash867 - nice idea, but the molding was too fine, all my scribers and needles looked like wrecking balls next to it, I just leveled it, just took some measurements before that.

I started painting the cap. I've found one on e-bay - good reference with many photos that unfortunately can't be easily copied - and try to copy it's pattern almost 1:1. IMO that's the best way to get a realistic pattern. I took some Games Workshop acrylics so that I don't have to wait almost at all until the paint dries. First I have painted the whole cap a tan-yellow, trying to keep it shaded (the recesses to be darker):

Then added green patches:

Then some olive drab:

Then the black squiggles:

Then I painted on something EGA-like and tried to additionally shade it all, making the top surfaces lighter at the same time to suggest some fading:

So here's how the Captain looks like at the moment:

I think I will now try my hand on the "chocolate chip" on the trousers, let's se how this turns out. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel: Sharp work on the hat, good luck on his pants! 

And interesting thread, I'm getting a whole new education here. 

Hi Pawel;

     I think the only comment I have is that I might've thinned the visor a little. Other than that, Well Done. Oh, the Stockholm is coming along better than the Doria. Thanks for the advice !

Gamera - thanks a lot, I always wanted my threads not only to be fun, but also educational!

TB - glad it works for you, but it was in an other thread! I think the visor is all right - if I thinned it down it would become very brittle and damage-prone.

Happy new year!

Paweł

What...no rip-stop pattern on the cover?  Hehehe.  Just kidding, Pawel.  That looks great so far!  Even looks like he's been deployed in the desert for a little while.

Pawel

I'm shaving the molded EGA off, too.

Good choice.

François' sculptors did you no favors with the shaps of the cover.  It's meant to have eight very distinct points, with a gusset or pleat from the sweatband up to those points.

Marines were (are) picky about their covers.  There is a pair of items, one is a round fixture, the other is a metal or plastic "stretcher" to hold the exact shape of the cover rigid so that it can be thoroughly be starched.  Very common stuff.  Also handy for when you pack your gear in a seabag.

https://www.grunt.com/products/blk1

Marine issue has a unique NSN (National Stock Number) for covers with a permanent (black) ink EGA.

These are floppity--and old--(USN officers are meant to wear a stack in lieu of rank).  The background colors on the "chips" are sore faded, too.

Hello!

Eaglecash867 - thanks a lot for your kind words!

Capn - as always I can count on you with the interesting info! Thanks a lot! That's true, the cap looks a lot like a train driver's cap. The points aren't very distinct.

I'm afraid the photo you wanted to show didn't make it through.. Could you repost it?

And I tried my hand at the 6-Colour desert camouflage aka "cookie dough" or "chocolate chip" camo. Befor I read about it I didn't even suspect there are so many colours there - but that's because there are two tans (one of them is actually green) and two browns there. I wasn't sure how to show the colours right - here's what I have come up with.

First I had to repair the part that broke befor I even took it out of the box - the red arrow points to the place:

Then I primed the part with Tamiya grey spray primer and painted it all white:

Then I put on a brown wash - I got a nice pinkich tan that automatically shaded itself:

To keep the contrast low I painted the green swaths with a green wash:

I have put some brown stripes on that:

And some darker browns:

Now I put on some dark grey spots (the shadows of the "pebbles" - I didn't want to use pure black):

And now I have painted the pebbles themselves with off white - didn't want to use pure white neither:

And this is what I have so far - I'll work some more on the faults that are just visible in the photos and maybe I'd shade the colurs some more. I'll also get better photos, I'll take them in the daylight. What do you think? Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

I'm afraid the photo you wanted to show didn't make it through.. Could you repost it?

Will try again (Kalmbach is ugly towards google photos)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XN42SLk9zKy294sv9

Hello Cap'n!

Sorry to tell you - the photo still doesn't show :-(

Maybe you'd like to PM or mail it to me - then I'd put it on my server and repost it, I'm very curious about what you have to show.

And I shot a daytime shot to hopefully reproduce the colours better. Here's what it looks like:

Unfortunately I didn't manage anything more, but my daughter urges me to move on with the jacket/blouse/parka (what's the correct term here?). She's a little more than 3 years old and her motivation is she get's to paint the white early on!

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Well the label, in it’s great GI jargon says: Coat Combat, Battle Dress Uniform, Day Desert Pattern, or something pretty close to that. And then of course each service has their own name for the item.

Hello!

Thanks for the info, Stik! That will help me look for references!

And I also got one of the photos the Capn wanted to show us:

Looks a little like I need to make my pattern a little lighter and a little more dustier!

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Here’s a reference shot for ya. To my eye, one sand was pinkish, and the other more yellow, not green. Then the two brown tones.

I like where you're going Pawel! At the size you're working at everything looks fine to me. 

Gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words! I'll try one more thing - to make the "green" a little more green and I think I'll leave it at that.

Have a nice day!

Paweł

stikpusher

a reference shot

And an important one for showing a very common thing in-theater:  OD name & branch tapes.  Which officers would have bought in job lots.

The Marines issue gear by the Regiment, so, if a Theater required DBU, then those would be issued, each officer then had to get those uniforms badged up to regulations.

There was a bit of a fad, back in the 90s of having a name tape on the back of one's Utility cover, but it was not Corps-wide.  So, it can be forgiven if not replicated.

There ought to be a name tape over the back right pocket of the utility trousers, but that's going to be less visible.

Hello!

I have also noticed those OD bands, and it's a cool feature. But it won't work in my case:

As you can see those bands would be covered by the vest - which in turn seems to have its own bands. I suppose those bands would be OD, too. The vest - by the way, is it kevlar? What would be the desription here? - is supposed to have woodland pattern.

I have also put the boots on wire holders:

Funny thing - those boots look a bit like the early jungle boots with no ankle bands, they don't have those tiny water drains, neither. I'm planning to add those features - more specifically, paint them on.

Thanks a lot for your comments and thanks for looking - have a nice day

Paweł

The bands above the pockets on the body armor are for hanging items, not nametapes. On the vest itself they are OD. On the Desert camo cover that can be added, the bands are light tan.

And yes, Verlinden goofed on the boots details. No reinforcing bands for the ankles. But they do look like the black jungle boots that came out in the late 80’s with the padded collars.

Coming along nicely!  No shortage of reference help on this forum.  Great folks.

Hello!

Stik - thanks a lot for the great shots of the armor! They really help me a lot. The one in woodland camo is very interesting because it looks like it has at least two different kinds of fabric on it, I'll try to replicate it on my model. Good info about the bands, too - I was very close to making an error here - but I have to research the armor more.

Good ole' Francois decided to make the captain wear armor in woodland camo - is that realistic? And why? I could think about supply shortages or maybe woodland would be a better camo at night? (rolled down sleeves and gloves would also suggest nighttime, right?).

keavdog - that's what I discovered on my previous figure build (called Good Morning Vietnam) - there is a lot of first hand knowledge here on the forums and all you have to do is to politely ask! Makes building real fun. And thank you friends for heelping me!

I have tried to lighten the camo I already painted and make the contrasts less pronounced. Here's my result and I'm calling the trousers done:

 Movin' on to the Coat, BDU and the boots now.

Thanks again for your great help and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

Good ole' Francois decided to make the captain wear armor in woodland camo - is that realistic? And why? I could think about supply shortages or maybe woodland would be a better camo at night? (rolled down sleeves and gloves would also suggest nighttime, right?).

The woodland camo vest isn't really a mistake.  Not all units/Marines had the covers.  Many had mixed uniforms during ODS.  Also, sleeves down is standard when in the field and gloves are often worn to protect the hands.  Neither is indicative of nighttime ops.

Pawel

 

Stik - thanks a lot for the great shots of the armor! They really help me a lot. The one in woodland camo is very interesting because it looks like it has at least two different kinds of fabric on it, I'll try to replicate it on my model. Good info about the bands, too - I was very close to making an error here - but I have to research the armor more.

 

 

 

 

Gino covered the sleeves down and gloves, as well as the vest cover

It would also be very period-appropriate to have the black 'jungle' boots, supply of all three variants of "the desert boot" lagged well behind tropp deployments.

The is particularly true for the Marines on two fornts.  One is that gear had to get to Regiment, and then down to each Company.  The other is a Marine focus on being "legs"--so unit commanders--like our putative Company commanding Captain--are going to be focused in on insuring that th troops have broken-in boots that fit, and in enough pairs to equip all hands.  Which had some Marine units in the black leather boots, too.

The boots I would up with were the second pattern (non conductive protected toe).

This topic has me thinking to go dig out my PASGT vest.  The nostalgia here is strong.

Again I have no idea how accurate what you're painting is but it looks very impressive to me!

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments - they mean a lot to me!

Gino - great shots and thanks for clarifying the thing with rolled down sleeves and gloves.

Stik - good info on the vest, thanks a lot!

Capn - if the shoes can't be brand new - understandable! - then it's got to be the jungle boots, of course. Sure would love to see that vest, especially the back of it - that side is not documented as well on the web.

Gamera - Thanks a lot for your kind words!

And I have tried one more thing with the "chocolate chip" camo. After painting the coat white I have put on swaths of light green:

On top of that I have just put one brown wash:

Now I have tan and green swaths without so much contrast between them. Other coloursw will stay the same, but hopefully this will also help convey the looks of two separate garments - trousers and jacket.

One more thing - what colour would the gun belt be?

Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Here is the vest, front and back

The pistol belt is made from OD Nylon

Hello!

Stik - thanks a lot for the great shots of the kevlar vest. This is going to help me a lot with the painting. Thanks also for the info on the belt.

I have already started painting this belt that is just visible under the lower edge of the kevlar vest. I have also put the brown spots in two colours on the coat:

Now I have to add the "pebbles" and shade it a little to get the contrast down again.

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day!

Paweł

Hello!

I have painted the "spots" or "pebbles" and managed to take some daylight shots. I think I'm going to lighten the camo a little more still:

I have also found one more "Verlindenitis" symptom - there's a strap for the gas mask bag on the front of the coat, but none on the back... I'll not correct this one though, as on the rear the spot will be covered by the canteen.

I'd like to ask one more question if I may - what can you tell me about that shoulder US flag patch? Such flag is not so often there, is it?

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

there's a strap for the gas mask bag on the front of the coat, but none on the back... I'll not correct this one though, as on the rear the spot will be covered by the canteen. I'd like to ask one more question if I may - what can you tell me about that shoulder US flag patch? Such flag is not so often there, is it?

M17 mask carrer has two straps, both are the same width.  One loops over the opposite hip, the other around the thigh.  There's a pocket on the bottom left (looking at the front of the carrier) that's very rectangular, that contains the decontamination kit, which is in a hard(ish) vinyl/plastic container.  So, the shape in the corner is quite distinct.

Prefered wear in 1990 was to snug the canteen to where it sat above the "notch" created by that decon pocket.

Amercian flags became a more common thing which in multinational deployments.

Byt rule they were menat to have the blue union to the front of the wearer, but supplies of those were limited, so, seeing them "backwards" (blue union to viewer's left) was some common.  Usually they were "bright" but some subdued examples were in the field.

Barring matching an actual photo, I'd probably go bright.  I'd probably render it "backwards" too, if only to tweak the experienced.  (Marines probably sent LCpl Snuffy down to the PX/BX to go grab all the US flag patches available at the beginning of the deployment, to get everyone to local SOP, and would not be picky--and would be distracted by the cases of I.W.Harper.)

If I can find my M17, I get you some photos.

M17 Protective Mask Carrier. Olive Drab cotton canvas

Outer side

Inner side worn against body

The lower thigh/waist strap in thinner than the upper waist/chest strap. The carrier can be worn at the hip or under the arm over the belt. The hip is the most comoon wear location.

Hello!

Cap'n, Stik - thanks a lot for your comments, again - great info here.

As for the gas mask carrier - I meant Verlinden modelled it as if there was only a half of the upper, shoulder strap - the back half isn't there, but, as I said , it would be covered anyway.

What my daughter noticed - there's a personal dressing pouch in the kit, but the box doesn't show it and it is unclear where it should be put.

And thanks about the remarks about the flag.

The photos of the real thing are as always very welcome!

Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł