101st in Iraq UPDATE

Ok, here's some progress I made this WE: completed the uniform.

Sharp as a tack man. It'll be a real gem when you're done.

I'm not sure I like the foot posed on the rock like that though. I know that's not your doing, so it's nothing against your work, of course, just something that sands out for me. A lot of sculptors try to add drama to the pose and it doesn't always work out. I've made a few piss poor decisions to that end myself.

 It's not that it's unrealistic, or even unatural, but rather that, for me, it's a weak extreme of an action the sculptor tried to capture. I think I'd have planted the foot more firmly on the rock. Frankly, I've come to find that's kind of typical for Verlinden. Even on some of they're best figures (which this one seems to be. It is an otherwise well sculpted figure).

 But with regards to your fine work, that's neither here nor there. I'm impressed man. Great work.

 

Thanks plymonkey!

I was kinda scared to ruin the figure with the painting of the uniform, but I'm pretty satisfied of how it turned out.

I noticed that "foot-thing" (quote from "The Rock" movie), too. It's only that I was too lazy to change the pose of the leg to have the whole foot touch the rock.

 

It's a small thing. I wouldn't worry about it. The uniform turned out great.

I am curious as to what colors and brands you used for the uniform?  I am working on that figure as we speak (only 1 year in progress with primer so far).  I think you did a great job with high lights and shadows on the individual colors.  As far the the foot on the rock .. I think that is a tricky part.  I seem to remember I was able to get it so the foot was more on the side of the rock, but it's been a while siince I have worked on teh kit.

Thanks again plymonkey!

Rob Brown as for the colors I used Vallejo Acrylics the tones are:

• "Iraqui Sand" for the light sand base
• "Pale Stone" for the large gray stripes
• A mixture of "Iraqui Sand" and "Mahogany Brown" for the brown stripes

I'm glad you noticed I shaded the three colors individually. It wasn't as annoying as I thought and I got a good result. Once shaded I gave the whole uniform a drybrysh of "Iraqui Sand" mixed with white.

Avus,

This figure is coming out rather nicely.  Did you say you painted the uniform's camo stripes with gray color?  DCU has sand color base with almost like greenish instead of gray. 

You know, m1garand, it's a mean thing to say to someone as picky as I am.
I might strip dowm the paint and correct the whole uniform since, besides what you pointed out, I noticed that the real sand base is "pinkish" while mine is yellow sand.

But then I made this picture and my picky mind was at ease: the color difference is not that bad:

But thanks for noticing that. I'll use the correct colors on my next figures.

I really didn't pay too much attention to the DCU color patterns until few days ago.  I was cleaning out my closet filled with my old uniforms and I didn't even know I had 5 new sets of DCUs.  Anyway, as I said before, your figure is coming out nicely and hope that you'll build another one soon.

I was gunna point that out when I read he painted it gray- right up until I realized that at 1/16 scale IMHO his gray looks more realistic than my light green does. There must be some kind of thing where paint doesn't stay exact as you scale things down, I think I've read the same thing in armor forums or in magazines where panzer colors that are exact matches in 1:1 scale look off on the 1/35 and stuff. Maybe its the way you weathered the gray, or maybe its all just in my mind, but it does look like a shade of green. I really like how the woodland turned out, and the gloves look like there right off the Blackhawk website. Have fun finishing it, looks great!

m1garand wrote:

Anyway, as I said before, your figure is coming out nicely and hope that you'll build another one soon.

Thanks, but first let me complete this one.

psstoff995 wrote:

IMHO his gray looks more realistic than my light green does. There must be some kind of thing where paint doesn't stay exact as you scale things down ... Have fun finishing it, looks great!

Thanks to you, too.
I also read something about scaling colors but I didn't really get it. So what I usually do is look at the picture or real thing and pick the closest colors.

Colors fade, especially under combat situations, so it's concievable for a green to fade to a gray of sorts.

Yes, I like that explanation A LOT: now I can sleep at night again, without nightmares of gray and green DCU colors haunting me! .

Thank you plymonkey.

psstoff995 wrote:

...I'm not even sure if this is accurate, but i added in a led foil strap, and a little copper wire sinch kinda clip, here a few pictures if you were interested, again, i dont know if that's actually how the pack is put together, but i figured a soldier wouldnt want that gas mask smaking up and down and swinging around, plus even if its not a standard strap, im pretty sure the spec ops guys add on all kinds of extra pockets and straps and things anyway...

Yup, Psstoff, that's exactly how it should be. Nice coffee stains too. Looks dead-on!

~jerry

psstoff995 wrote:

There must be some kind of thing where paint doesn't stay exact as you scale things down, I think I've read the same thing in armor forums or in magazines where panzer colors that are exact matches in 1:1 scale look off on the 1/35 and stuff.

It's all about the distance.

The light green (we called it "Air Force Green" for whatever silly reason) does indeed look gray from a distance, under certain conditions - and that's what you're doing when you're looking at a figure. You're looking at it from a distance. The smaller the figure, the greater the distance (in scale) between your eyeball and the figure. Ergo, the smaller the figure, the more "distance distortion" there is in the colors and the finer details.

Same principle for painting a tank's roadwheels gray instead of black, or some vehicles tan or sand instead of the actual pink (actual British OIF Land Rovers are often pink). Sometimes a machinegun in 1/35 can be painted blue or something like "Dull Drab" to look more like worn gunmetal. Also you see this in aircraft wing thicknesses and things like that.

~jerry