Okay so by now folks will realise that I've a great fondness for Sid Horton's figures and in particular the old Chota Sahib range. Here are a couple which I gave a makeover to 
Sorry no photo's of the 'before' figures. They weren't badly done, but were painted when the figures first appeared in the 80's and I thought I could do them more justice now I'm getting back into the swing of things.
First up is one of my favourites that was obviously influenced by a certain picture of Marilyn Monroe. This was a straight paint job of the original once the old paint had been removed. HMS Heron was one of the vessels that this young lady might have served on at the time and, since she is very petite, I added the steps to make her a little taller. The scraps of paper that are barely visible were one of those things that amuse us (or is it just me?) I wanted some contemporary sweet wrappers and so after some research reproduced a 'Golden Cup' wrapper (Hands up who remembers those?) and a 'Rolo' wrapper. (The Rolo wrapper went through various incarnations this one has the design from the early 1980's when the figure is set)
The second one is my version of the Battle of Britain pilot. Most are painted as blue eyed blonds that were popular in various films so just to be different I wanted one of the many 'foreign' pilots that made up a large part of the RAF at the time. I chose a Polish officer (Spot the 'POLAND' shoulder flashes?) and imagined him watching the stragglers landing after a patrol. I didn't like the sculpting on the Mae West when compared to contemporary photo's so a bit of work with the scalpel and sandpaper sorted that - This one's painted in the dull greeny grey colour since I thought these squadrons would not get the latest kit and many were left in the original colour rather than painted bright yellow. It also gave me the opportunity to practice my sign-writing on the front!
The head is a replacement one from the spares box with re-done hair and I also removed and replaced the RT and oxygen lines on the helmet.
Both figures painted in acrylic this time 'round (originals were done in enamels) with a touch of gloss varnish on the eyes.
Hope you like them both
Cheers
Paul
Sorry no photo's of the 'before' figures. They weren't badly done, but were painted when the figures first appeared in the 80's and I thought I could do them more justice now I'm getting back into the swing of things.
First up is one of my favourites that was obviously influenced by a certain picture of Marilyn Monroe. This was a straight paint job of the original once the old paint had been removed. HMS Heron was one of the vessels that this young lady might have served on at the time and, since she is very petite, I added the steps to make her a little taller. The scraps of paper that are barely visible were one of those things that amuse us (or is it just me?) I wanted some contemporary sweet wrappers and so after some research reproduced a 'Golden Cup' wrapper (Hands up who remembers those?) and a 'Rolo' wrapper. (The Rolo wrapper went through various incarnations this one has the design from the early 1980's when the figure is set)
The second one is my version of the Battle of Britain pilot. Most are painted as blue eyed blonds that were popular in various films so just to be different I wanted one of the many 'foreign' pilots that made up a large part of the RAF at the time. I chose a Polish officer (Spot the 'POLAND' shoulder flashes?) and imagined him watching the stragglers landing after a patrol. I didn't like the sculpting on the Mae West when compared to contemporary photo's so a bit of work with the scalpel and sandpaper sorted that - This one's painted in the dull greeny grey colour since I thought these squadrons would not get the latest kit and many were left in the original colour rather than painted bright yellow. It also gave me the opportunity to practice my sign-writing on the front!
The head is a replacement one from the spares box with re-done hair and I also removed and replaced the RT and oxygen lines on the helmet.
Both figures painted in acrylic this time 'round (originals were done in enamels) with a touch of gloss varnish on the eyes.
Hope you like them both
Cheers
Paul
