WIP Critique 101st Airborne, D-Day, Micheal Roberts 54mm

[tonydawe]

Hi guys,

Here's my first WIP pics on my latest figure; Michael Roberts' 54mm resin of a US paratrooper on D-Day from Easy Company, 506 PIR, 101st Airborne Division, as seen on "Band of Brothers".

Better quality pics to come. Hope you like my progress so far.

 

[megroot]

Tony,
Excellent work.....And is 54 not to small for you...

Marc

 

[Ferris]

That's a nice figure Tony! Looking very good.
It looks fairly complete actually; your remarks suggest that you are not done yet?

I'm not an expert on this subject, but the helmet looks to sit quite high on the head. Is that the way it should be?

Cheers, Adrian

 

[housecarl]

Blimey Tony you don't mess around, looks great. No bergen trouble with this one?
Carl.

 

[Jim Patrick]

Looks pretty darn good to me . I agree with the helmet comment. If it's not glued on try tilting it back just a tad. If it is glued on? Ehhhhh, keep rolling on with the figure. I like how your uniform turned out better than mine. Oh, speaking of which, I wasnt trying to ignore your post on my thread, it's just that I used so many different colors because I didnt like how it was turning out that I quickly forgot all the colors. Most were tonal colors anyway to change how the base colors looked. Sorry . And YES! I do like your progress so far!

Jim Patrick

 

[mil-mart]

Tony, nice figure and great painting, will follow progress.

Cheers Ken

 

[gothicgeek]

nice work indeed!

i'm pretty sure the helmet looks fine, but i could be sooooooo wrong

Mark

 

[housecarl]

I'm guessing, but I would say the helmet is a temporary fit (blu tack).
Carl.

 

[pmfs]

Hello Tony,

nice one.
Keep us updated!

 

[tonydawe]

Hi guys, thanks to all of you for your comments. The helmet is already glued in place, and I like the "cocked" angle.

I'm planning to pose the figure in the doorway of a badly bombed out house. It's plastic kit from Italieri which I picked up this afternoon for $13. I'm filling the rear of the plastic wall sections so I can do an interior scene of the house.

The figure is now highlighted and shaded, and I just need to fix up the eyes and add some more contrast to the face.

 

[ubbi]

very very cool Tony, excellent wip


cheers


stefano

 

[1969]

lovely looking figure Tony, didnt know you delve into 54mm as well, the paintwork is just as good as your larger work.

Steve

 

[tonydawe]

Thanks Stefano, I'm happy you like it. I'm pretty happy too.

G'day Steve. Mate any subject, any scale- I paint what I like in any size. The only thing I need to remember is to increase the contrast as I move from large to small scale, and decrease contrast as I go from small to large scale. I try to paint 54mm just as detailed as a larger scale figures, but it's easier to cheat in small scale. There's simply no excuses for not painting everything when you're painting 1/6th scale or larger.

I've been working on scratchbuilding the interior of the bombed out house. As you can see, the exterior is rather simple moulded plastic. I plan to go to town on the interior, with broken floors, broken glass, roof tiles, ceiling beams and smashed furniture all covered in building rubble and dust.

I also want to use the cavity in the base I'm using to show the sub-floor area, sort of a split-level effect.

I'm thinking of posing the figure standing just inside the door surveying the ruins for survivors, or Germans.

Such a large and detailed base makes it difficult for the figure to remain the centre of attention, so I'm thinking of adding a few extra figures and turning it into a vignette. Who know's. I'm just making this stuff up as I go along.

 

[unknown01]

It's very cool progress, Tony.
The figure is also wonderful and a ground work is also Superb.
I expect future's development very much.

Mitsutaka

 

[housecarl]

Great start Tony, you can't beat a bit of home improvement on a Sunday.
Carl.

 

[el cid]

Nice idea for a vinette Tony, & very well painted thusfar.

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Mitsutaka, thank you. I hope you like these latest pics.

Hi Carl, as you can see, I've been doing a spot of construction and demolition lately.

Hi Steve, thanks mate. This wasn't originally intended to be a vignette, but rather a big single figure base. I'm adding floor boards and wall interiors before i paint the building and the basement area.

I've cut and glued the cobble stones to cover the street area and blu-takked on an old Tamiya lamp post. The paratrooper will be standing inside the door, staring at the remains of the house. The floor boards he's standing on are unstable and so are the ones over his head.

I'm searching for ideas how to make the scene look realistic and still make the paratrooper the centre of attention.

 

[tonydawe]

I've had a long break from doing any modelling, partly due to the extreme heat of summer, and mostly out of sheer laziness.

Today I had a few mates over for a painting session (the first time I've picked up my brushes for 2010), and I've made some progress on this figure.

I've decided to ditch the bombed out building idea and stick with a simple figure on a base. The building was too big for a single figure, and the figure became lost in the scene.

I've added the rifle sling and done a few touch ups on the webbing today, and will finish them in the next day or two.

Still some work to do but nearing completion.

 

[ghamilt1]

Looking good Tony. I was kicking myself, as I remember taking some pictures of the village of Carantan in Normandy when I was through there in 2007. If you saw the Band of Brothers miniseries, you'll no doubt remember that this is where Easy Co fought a pretty sharp battle, and my pictures may have been useful as a reference. As luck would have it, I don't have any of those pictures here . Still, you're on your way to a winner here so keep it up!

 

[HiroshiAirborne]

Beautiful work Tony! The cocked helmet really adds character and completely correct. Can't wait to see the finished product.