WIP French Colonial Para, Indo China 1953/4

[Babelfish]

I have never seen an Andy Cairns figure, they do not usually cover my area of interest. However, I read complaint after complaint about his casting and I'm surprised he keeps going.

Has to be said, based on what I've seen first-hand in boxes at shows, the quality of AC's casting is shocking. Comments from others online seem to bear that out, and for that reason I have never purchased a single AC figure. Which is a shame because he does some fantastic and very original subjects, and (having met him at Euro some years back) he is a really nice bloke.

If he upped his casting game, I would be all over his stuff like a rash.

- Steve

 

[Airkid]

Has to be said, based on what I've seen first-hand in boxes at shows, the quality of AC's casting is shocking. Comments from others online seem to bear that out, and for that reason I have never purchased a single AC figure. Which is a shame because he does some fantastic and very original subjects, and (having met him at Euro some years back) he is a really nice bloke.

If he upped his casting game, I would be all over his stuff like a rash.

- Steve

Thanks Steve. It isn't good. As you say, he does some interesting stuff and I bought this having been out of the game for a while, so I wasn't aware of the issues. I'll get it done, but it's a ball-ache knowing there are some really nice pieces at the back of my bench that I should rather be spending my time on.

Phil

 

[Graham]

All part of the modelling fun Still confident you will make a decent job of it and think of all the techniques you will learn on the way

 

[Airkid]

All part of the modelling fun Still confident you will make a decent job of it and think of all the techniques you will learn on the way

Thanks for your confidence mate! The one technique I will learn is how to make a silk purse out of a pig's lug-hole (it's usually t'other way round)

Phil

 

[Airkid]

Afternoon friends. Here's todays progress with this project.

Face is finished to my satisfaction, and I painted the helmet and fitted it to give some perspective to the features. This is how it looks:


Of the two faces the oriental one is better sculpted - this one has issues around the right eye which I have sorted to a degree with paint. I have started to look at the other head with a view to tidying it up, and may yet use it - we'll see.
I also cleaned up the filler I'd applied to the leg/body joins thus:


Looking at the sculpt, the waistbelt is the US pattern (three eyelets - the French copy only had two, upper and lower) The belt is too wide but it's gonna have to stay that way. The support straps appear to be the US version too. At this time, the French were using a load of surplus kit from all over, mainly the US, so no issues there. The mag pouches look like the French pattern.
Tomorrow I shall undercoat the body and start to think about the camouflage.
Thanks for looking in

Phil

 

[Banjer]

Phil, kudos to you, for persevering. I think I'd have binned it with all those faults.
Still, you are the man to make it into a silk purse.

Cheers
Bill

 

[Graham]

Coming together nicely. I have a Life Miniatures bust slowly on the go and that needed ‘putty washers’ to get the arms to join correctly.

 

[Airkid]

Phil, kudos to you, for persevering. I think I'd have binned it with all those faults.
Still, you are the man to make it into a silk purse.

Cheers
Bill

Thanks for that Bill. I think if I hadn't set up this WIP I may well have skipped it, but it cost the fat end of forty quid as I recall so being a tight sod I will persevere with it.

Phil

 

[Airkid]

Coming together nicely. I have a Life Miniatures bust slowly on the go and that needed ‘putty washers’ to get the arms to join correctly.

Thanks Graham - I don't know if it is the casting process that causes such issues, or just bad sculpting. I can't comment as I've never tried to cast anything I'd sculpted. There does seem to be a wide variation in quality of the resin stuff on offer nowadays.

Phil

 

[Nap]

Hi Phil

Blimey your really going through it with this ...a lot of shrinkage on the torso and legs fit but nice putty work

The face looks good as well after your clever painting on the eyes

I've painted several of Andy busts , he has at times a rough sculpting way and I've needed to rework pieces as well ..but been pleased with the final result

Keep chewing at this

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Airkid]

Hi Phil

I've painted several of Andy busts , he has at times a rough sculpting way and I've needed to rework pieces as well ..but been pleased with the final result

Keep chewing at this

Happy benchtime

Nap

Thanks Kev. Yes, he does a couple of nice busts from the Indo-China war, especially a guy drinking from his bidon, with a nicely done MAT49 SMG. I think I'll get a result with this one but there's still a bit of putty work to be done.

Phil

 

[Nap]

Thanks Kev. Yes, he does a couple of nice busts from the Indo-China war, especially a guy drinking from his bidon, with a nicely done MAT49 SMG. I think I'll get a result with this one but there's still a bit of putty work to be done.

Phil

Yes I like that one , there's also a napoleonc one recently ( well last year ) but that had casting issues ..hopefully sorted ...like it as its a great face on it , as they are from NZ can be quite expensive but that's life

Look forward to more on this mate

Keep the putty handy

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Airkid]

Afternoon all.

Not a lot done today. I spent some time on the arms, filling the minor gap in the right arm with Green Stuff thus:

.. and attaching the left arm using a brass pin. As you can see, there were issues with the fit. In order to get the left hand to its correct position on the webbing, I ended up with a fierce gap:

..there was no way the arm would fit otherwise, so I reinforced the joint with thin superglue, and then filled and blended the gap with Green Stuff.

.. the smear of Green Stuff in the neck aperture is there to fill a gap between the neck and the collar, and to "fix" the head position.
The rest of today's session was spent filling air holes which keep appearing, and examining the fit of the various accessories against the photo references in the kit. I noticed too, that the suspenders are in fact French pattern, and not US, as I had originally thought.
I have been looking at reference for camouflage too. The jacket could be US Army or USMC camo, of which there were quite a few variations, and the trousers are sculpted to represent British Windproofs. The French used these as issued and also modified them extensively. Again there are several variations in patterns and colours. I will probably go for a "generic" look in both cases. That's the next job!

Phil

 

[Banjer]

Phil, I think it's terrible the amount of work you've had to do. By the time you finish you will have sculpted the damn thing. Good luck.

Bill

 

[Airkid]

Phil, I think it's terrible the amount of work you've had to do. By the time you finish you will have sculpted the damn thing. Good luck.

Bill

Funny you should say that Bill. When the Osprey first came out (see above), I really fancied having a go at the piece, just a one-off for my own satisfaction. Didn't happen.....

Phil

 

[1969]

You are doing a cracking job Phil in completing the figure, should look nice once finished.
Steve

 

[Graham]

You are certainly rising to the challenge and you are winning. Keep it up mate, it will be a cracker.

 

[Nap]

Phil, I think it's terrible the amount of work you've had to do. By the time you finish you will have sculpted the damn thing. Good luck.

Bill

Agree there Bill .....but Phi is surely doing a great just b with the putty .........I would be using it as .22 target practice by now !

At least he should be able to get a brush to it soon

Carry on Phil

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Airkid]

Right - here we go with the reason I bought this kit in the first place, the camouflage.

I started today by undercoating the figure with Army Painter Skeleton Bone rattle can, thus:

- this is a nice neutral matt finish which in this case is quite close to the base camo colour on the USMC fatigue jacket.
The base colour is a greenish buff, so I used Vallejo Buff and Green Sky to match a colour photo in the H&C book noted earlier in the thread. This was brushed on and once dry, the second colour, a reddish tan was applied in random blobs (Vallejo Brown Pink and Mahogany Brown). Third colour is a grey/green which I made up using Vallejo Light Grey, Medium Olive and White, again in random blobs. Fourth colour is a strong Olive Green so Vallejo Dark Olive was used, applied in larger blotches adjacent to the previous two colours. Final colour is a Dark Chestnut Brown, applied using Vallejo Chocolate Brown and Mahogany Brown. These blotches are larger/longer and link up with the other colours. This is how it looked:


The blotches are lined around in places using the base colour. I then gave it a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil to delineate the folds and crevices. Once dry a wash of Vallejo Game Colour Green Wash was brushed over, and the base colour was re-touched in places to highlight the high points. Final result is thus:


It's starting to look reasonable. I'll give it a couple more washes next session, and do the highlights and shadows, then it's those trousers
Thanks for looking - I'm gonna do something simple next, maybe a Napoleonic Drum Major

Phil

 

[Nap]

Hi Phil

Great to see the camo appearing starting to come together ...payback for all the prep you have done so well

Good update details

Look forward to the next on this and perhaps a simple bemedalled veteran ...lol

Happy benchtime

Nap