101st in Iraq UPDATE

Heck as soon as we ditched ours it was "hasta la vista." Few joes are gonna strap that thing on if they dont have ta!

Just trying help alleviate additional headaches for the good modeler!

Are you going for the initial deployment of the 101st Airborne in OIF?  If not I don't think they wore pro masks during operations on their 2d tour since the threat of NBC was nil. When I was in OEF our pro masks ended up on the bottom of our dufflebags in the connex.

Here's my progress. I completed the vest and the canteens (can be seen in background).

I followed the suggestions I got and washed & drybrushed the vest, to blend the colors.

That's good news m1garand. I would have hated to paint the rifle again!

HeavyArty and m1garand thanks for the info on the gas mask bag. I'll have to check the one of the model to see if it's an M17 or an M40 bag. In case I'll have to make some minor modifications.

Thanks.

M17 Mask hasn't been used since the mid-'90s, ODS Era.  Current Mask is the M40 mask and it has a larger, more square carrier.  Looks like below.

Mask:

Carrier:

Avus wrote:

Interesting point, The Mage. What I did is paint the barrel and the body of the M4 with Humrol polished steel, washed it with acrylic black and then rubbed off the excess to make the metal reappear. Do you think painting it in gloss black would have been more realistic?   Avus, I personally used M4/M16 in the service, but they are not as shinny due to the fact that it has been used in the field. In fact, they are more like flat gray. I also personally own CAR15, which is a civilian version of M4 and it is in flat color, so I think your rifle looks just fine to me.  I can send you pictures of my rifle if you want to use it as a reference. Questions to all: This figure comes with a M-17 gas mask bag on the thigh. Is this equipment still issued or deployed?  Yes, I've seen it still being used by local Reserve and National Guard units. Can someone tell me what the writing on these kind of pouches are? I'd like to make a decal to place on it. It has US and then Chemical Corp Insignia on it, and then it printed "MASK, PROTECTIVE FIELD" and under it "M17" Take a look at the link I've attached.  It has a pretty good visible marking of the bag. http://cgi.ebay.com/Qty-3-US-Army-M17-Gas-Mask-Carrying-Bag-Paint-Ball-Ammo_W0QQitemZ7221054492QQcategoryZ64672QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Thanks again to all.

Interesting point, The Mage.
What I did is paint the barrel and the body of the M4 with Humrol polished steel, washed it with acrylic black and then rubbed off the excess to make the metal reappear.
Do you think painting it in gloss black would have been more realistic?

Questions to all:
This figure comes with a M-17 gas mask bag on the thigh.

• Is this equipment still issued or deployed?
• Can someone tell me what the writing on these kind of pouches are? I'd like to make a decal to place on it.

Thanks again to all.

Avus,

Really nice job. M4 with Aimpoint M2 looks like real thing. 

Thanks guys!

Chatting with intruder_bass he noted that the vest is indeed a little too bright. So I'll give it a light wash of  black to make it a little duller, once the pouches are done. And then weather it with a dry brush of various sand shades.

Hope to post more pics next monday.

What's not to like about that so far? Great build. The face is spot on!!! I am sure you will be treating the vest etc. with weathering as you go along so I am not even going to suggest anything. Fantastic. Post more as the build progresses.

Cheers;

Gregory