Modification of Alpine tank crew 1/16

Michael Tse · Feb 10, 2010

Hi all,

I hope you don't mind the alarming frequency at which I make new posts. I really see Planetfigure as a platform on which to share ideas besides showcasing works...

Recently I took a stab at Mike Good's classic tank crew released by Alpine. This was my first time painting black, so pitfalls were plentiful. In fact I was so upset with the outcome I stripped off the paint altogether. Back to stage zero.

The lower half was the relatively successful part, as shown.

I love the pose the moment I glued the body together, and I could only picture this guy as someone with a bit of class, who cared to "look the business". As such, the two optional heads simply won't do. Instead I opted for an earlier Alpine head sculpt, again by Mike Good. Now that's much better!

Last pic was taken in Hong Kong. I find it a good reference for leather painting.

Michael

Michael Tse · Feb 10, 2010

I want to clarify that what I meant for "reference" taken in Hong Kong was the second last pic. The last last pic is the best I could google with an actual person wearing the U boat jacket depicted by Mike Good.

housecarl · Feb 10, 2010

Calvin Tan does an article on painting black leather. I don't know if you've seen it.
http://zyclyon.blogspot.com/search/label/Alpine Miniatures 12.SS Pz.Div HJ Normandy 1944
Carl.

pmfs · Feb 10, 2010

Hi Michael,

as I see, the head is from Großdeutschland Leutnant (Heer Division), try to change the insignia of the hat.
Only SS and Kriegsmarine were equiped with this uniforms

I use this mixed:

Base - Black + dark blue
Higlights - base + clear bue + violet
2 Highlight - base + clear blue
Shadows - Black
or
Base- Black + Sunny skintone
Higlights Base and increase sunny skintone
Shadows - black

Keep the good work

Michael Tse · Feb 10, 2010

Thanks Carl! Yes I have, except too late!

Calvin Tan is a personal hero to me. Actually I have a lot of personal heros in this hobby alone... Just below ten.

Michael Tse · Feb 10, 2010

Pedro, thanks a lot for that information. I would never have known that if you didn't tell me. You see I actually know very little about history. I just get hooked to the idea of hardcore warfare in a relatively fashionable period AKA WW2.

Now this presents a dilemma. There is no way I can change the insignia... It will be centuries before I take up sculpting classes.

Chris Oldfield · Feb 11, 2010

Michael,
There are plenty of 120mm Waffen-SS heads available out there to replace it, or I think you may find Archer transfers do a set of insignia decals which include the SS eagle & deaths head. Archer are available from HobbyLink Japan.
Re: the leather U-Boat outfits, these came in 2 colours, black & a mid-grey shade. Engine room crew were supposed to wear black to hide oil stains, & other crewmen wore the grey version. My late father brought 2 of the grey suits back with him at the end of WW2, he salvaged them from a U-Boat which had surrendered in Antwerp. Because there was a clothing shortage in UK at that time, he wore them as work clothing on construction sites until they fell apart eventually. When he told me about this in the 1980s his eyes nearly popped out of his head when I told him how much collectors would pay for these items at the time!
The black outfits were only issued to the Waffen-SS though, in particular being worn by Panzer crews of the Leibstandarte & HitlerJugend Divisions. I believe some stocks were also obtained from Italian Navy depots while the Leibstandarte was stationed there in 1943.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Chris

tonydawe · Feb 11, 2010

Hi Michael,

Nice work mate,and keeping positing your pictures and questions- that's what Planet Figure is here for.

Another option for the head is to show him with a bare head- no hat, no helmut (my poor attempt at humour).

You may not have the confidence yet to start sculpting and modifying kits, but there are always other options. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you invest in a set of 1/16th scale spare heads (Verlinden has quite a few sets that cover WW2). This gives you the option to use the head supplied in the kit, or choose your own head to make it unique.

Michael Tse · Feb 11, 2010

Chris,
Thanks for the info on Archer. I might try that out. Also grateful for your sharing with your father's ownership of one of the most special product to come out of the war.

Tony,

Thanks for the advice. A bare head is always the best, I agree. I have owned and let go of the head sets from Verlinden you mentioned over a year ago. I started out with Verlinden. But when you have players like Alpine, Sk Miniatures etc today, you just won't settle for the Verlinden standard anymore... I gave them out for free as a favour.

On the other hand I am quite tempted to try out Lost Battalion's bare heads. Two of those might work for me, but can't find the right distributor for LB over here in UK.

pmfs · Feb 11, 2010

Michael,

try photoetched from Nimix:
http://www.nimix.net/paginas de fotograbado/FT4 SS.htm

Erase the Heer symbol of the hat with a sandpaper and glued in the same place the SS skul from this set

The head that you are using are style

I will follow your work close

T50 · Feb 11, 2010

Nice work so far, Michael.

I had an original U-boat jacket a few years back.
From what I understand, the black leather suits
for the engine crew were made with softer and thinner
leather than the deck crew's grey ones.

These suits were issued not only to 1SS & 12SS but
also to other WSS Pz units in 2SS, 3SS and 5SS.
For an example, Karl Brommann (pic posted above)
served with 3SS.

I've heard the stories of Italian navy leather suits
worn by 1SS personnels but never saw photographic evidences.
(I know it means nada!)

FYI, I've seen a couple of rare pics of Heer Pz Officer
wearing this black leather jacket with Heer eagle
patch on his right chest. So you don't really have to
change the insignias on the hat if it's too much of a work
for you. See the link below:
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1061532&stc=1&d=1224309116

If you do decide to change the head again, make sure the new
head is in correct 1/16 scale, not 120mm. There are many 120mm
kits out there being marketed as 1/16. What's the big difference?
Well, the difference is very small since we are talking about miniatures.
And some people do have bigger head than others.
But 120mm figure in 1/16 scale is equivalent to a person 192cm tall.
That's like 6' 4".

Michael Tse · Feb 11, 2010

Thanks again, Pedro! Much appreciated!

Modification of Alpine tank crew 1/16

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