Completed IBG Polish Infantry 1939 (35048)

[Kimmo]

Cheers Simon, Merryweather and Nigel!


Simon, no real tool needed as such. I'll take some photos of the next set.


Slow going again this week, I managed to slice my thumb with a fresh blade. No major damage, just in the worst possible place and had to wait a day and a bit for the ouch to go away. I did finally get the rest of the gear added to our chap and a couple of minor things done. There will be one last session with putty for the front of the pants and after getting the arms glued in place. I'm leaving the buckles for the backpack straps for the last session as well. I'm going to make a squash mold as I need to add several more and figure that will be the easiest and quickest way to go forward. Click on photos for full size.



















More fun to be had...


Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Our next chap has been started. The usual clean up, sharpening and scribing in the usual places. The details here are much better off the hop. The straps are sharp, and the boots molded fairly clean, the laces just needing to be replaced. There are hobnails on the soles, but they are too faint to really be of much use. These are classic examples of figures being science and art. Science says that laces and studs are X size in Y scale, yet they disappear easily so they should be exaggerated somewhat for more visual impact in smaller scales. Click on photos for full size.


















In removing the blanket, I left a bit more material on top to help with the wings. I squared out the hollow on the back and just glued in a piece of sprue cut to fit nicely in the opening. Some preliminary work has been done with his hands and cuffs. A nice detail here is that the sleeves are pulled back slightly for a more realistic feel. I can't say that I've seen this on many figures before so kudos to the sculptor.


This chap feels like he'll be a bit easier and quicker to do, so hopefully number four can be started shortly.


Kimmo

 

[Oda]

Totally fascinating!

Oda.

 

[Briggsy]

More great progress, you're certainly getting your monies worth out of these figures.

Cheers Simon

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Oda and Simon!

Fortunately I didn't have to spend a farthing as IBG generously provided the sample, but the money divided by time spent equation would certainly have been quite favourable.


A little more progress today. I got the collar and cuffs hollowed out, a bit more fine tuning will be needed. The main body parts are glued together, dry fitting/clean up and scribing continues. Click on photos for full size.


















You will probably notice the entrenching tool is different from the others so far, not sure if this is an earlier variant or not, a little research will be needed. The kit bags fit a little differently and might need tweaking although some variety in sit is to be expected between individuals and poses. All in all, coming along nicely.


Kimmo

 

[Briggsy]

Another nice bit of work, a kneeling figure adds complications I'd guess.

Cheers Simon

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Simon!

Yep, you get a few issues, but in this case, some stuff gets hidden nicely as well.


More good progress today. The puttee flaps have been reworked, the belt has been cleaned up or replaced with strip and a buckle added. The ammo pouches have been glued on, they needed a bit of beefing up as they are way too thin. The cuffs have been cleaned up a bit more as well. Click on photos for full size.



















A head has been sourced, the kit bags have had the tabs removed to make it easier to fiddle with, and the gun has been cleaned up. A quick test fit of everything with blu-tack.



















The mystery of the entrenching tool carrier has been solved. Turns out that it's missing the bayonet sheath/frog. Both the carrier and sheath get looped around the belt (hence the two straps on the others) and the bayonet assembly is tied down to the carrier. The only question remains why is it missing? I have to source some hafts anyway, so maybe I'll get lucky with a whole unit that looks close enough as these are more or less copies of German designs.


Still a bit of work to go, but I'm optimistic that the arms and weapon will at least go together without much fuss.


Kimmo

 

[Briggsy]

Nice job on this chap, I like how you built up the ammo pouches.

Cheers Simon

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Simon!


Another smallish update. I need to get all the straps sorted out before I can glue the arms in place so that's been going on for the last couple of mini sessions along with some puttying and minor details. I sourced a bayonet/frog from a Tamiya set so that's taken care of as well. Click on photos for full size.


















Next up will be the side straps for the backpack, and the rest of the details on the backpack itself.


Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

My apologies for lack of visits, great to see the pics and the text of both Figures 1 and 2

Figure 1 looks great and #2 will I’m sure be the same

What I particularly like is the way you look at each area and with some fine modelling skills take each to a so much detailed better

Thanks for the updates

Looking forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Amazing the amount of detail you add that most modellers probably don't even realise should be there, great stuff.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

That's a lot of very nice work. I found working in 1/35 a bit frustrating, as the figures are quite small......

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap, Simon and Nigel!

Nigel, I've been working in 1/35th for eons so I'm just used to it. Way back when, I used to build 1/48 aircraft, that was a bit hinky at times.


More progress. In thinking over what still needed to be done and dry fitting the arms, I came to the conclusion that the arms will have to be glued on before I add the side straps because of putty work that will also need to be done. The left arm was glued in place, the ammo pouch interferes slightly so that the elbow doesn't sit on his leg which makes gluing and puttying now all the more crucial. There is a slight cut out in the arm to clear the pouch if you don't thicken them up and might not need enlarging, but have a good look before you commit to glue. A few other details were added as well. Click on photos for full size.



















After the arm was set and the gap puttied up, I test fit the BAR and gouged out some plastic to make sure I got a clear sit. When happy, I tacked the gun in place to his hand, checked sit on both hands and added some super glue to keep it in place. Once that was done, I cut off his thumb and the tips of the fingers and replaced them with stretched sprue. The thumb was jutting out at 90 degrees and just looked odd, and the fingers can be lived with but I decided to have some fun. When test fitting hands and weapons with a "pistol" grip, it is sometimes easier to just remove the thumb first as it tends to get in the way. If you're careful, you can slice it off and re-attach once you get the weapon glued on properly.






A tip for working with stretched sprue to make appendages: shave one side of the sprue flat. This will make positioning easier as it won't roll around. I mark the flat with a sharpie to make it easier to see. Another tip is to cut stuff over sized and trim in place. I round off finger tips while the sprue is uncut, then remove a slice for the finger nail and mark that with the sharpie as well.



And for Simon, and anyone else interested.






A drill bit is inserted backwards into the vise, the wire loosely twisted on and tightened up into a hoop. Tweezers are handy here to hold it nice and tight. Then the stem is trimmed and I use the tweezers to hold the hoop and flatten it with a wax carver, any stiff straight implement will also work. The tricky part is to find the right sized drill bit or rod. I find that something approximately 2/3 of the width of the stock works pretty well. In this case, and the others in this project, I'm using a #70 bit.


One more session will be needed to get the right arm glued and puttied, then I can fix up the fingers on his left hand and move on to figure four.


Kimmo

 

[Briggsy]

Looking at the figure I was going to suggest that there would be some give in the ammo pouch you could play with, but they are stiff leather so that wouldn't work.

Thanks for the tutorial on rifle sling swivels. I do it in much the same way but use the tapered end of a pair of tweezers, wind the wire tightly enough and it conforms pretty well to the rectangular profile. Trouble is I use those tweezers in preference to many other I have for everything, thus they are not marked for the optimum point to wrap the wire. I therefore don't always have matching swivels, hence why I should make a tool, I have made many similar jigs and forms and always manage to lose them!

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Nice work in the update .....cutting thumbs off ......goodness how do you not lose anything that small ! ....very effective result on that weapon grip

Thanks for sharing the tips as well

Look forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[NigelR]

Nice work, and some really helpful hints there, thanks.

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Simon, Nap and Nigel!


Simon, the pouches have two magazines per, so they'd be basically solid. The pouches are just canvas and seem to come in three or so slightly different versions. As to jigs, the problem I find with them is that its hard to get an even profile if you do any shaping and the hoop gets stuck somewhere along the way as often as not when you try to slide it off. Quicker and less frustrating for me to go with the hoop and squish method at this scale.

Nap, a clean bench makes finding tiny stuff easier. Barring that, cut things off over a sheet of paper. Slicing off thumbs and fingers etc without flinging them into the unknown can be tricky, a fresh single edged razor blade works wonders. You don't have to use any pressure, just a slight rocking motion. It has to be experienced to fully understand how easily it slices even thick parts.


Slow going as far as bench time lately, but things are moving along. I got the straps and a few details sorted out on our third chap and just a few things remain which will be done en masse with the others. Click on photos for full size.



















I redid the fingers of his left hand with sprue, it was just easier and quicker than to try and clean up the molded part. Some minor tweaks here and there, D rings and a small strap were added to the left side, and a half ring to the right upper as the rest is hidden. Laces on the boots and that pretty much sums things up for now.


Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Basic stuff has been started with our fourth chap. The usual clean up and seams etc. Getting the inner seams done was tricky because the other leg tends to get in the way. I removed a bit of the soles off both boots at the front as the sole was too thin and a bit short. Easier to replace with strip and reshape like this than try to add thickness to the existing soles. Click on photos for full size.



















I don't foresee too many issues here, there are always some things that crop up, but that's the nature of the game. The sculptor gets some hat tips again for the sleeves, and the engineering gets a finger wagging. There is a fair bit of material that will need to be removed from the hem/crotch area. Once again, if the figure had been molded conventionally as torso and two leg halves, we wouldn't have this issue, or at least something fairly minor to deal with.







The pose is rather unusual as you don't see a back lean on many figures, at least the hem juts out appropriately as would happen, hence all the material that needs to be cleaned out.



Plenty of fun left.


Kimmo

 

[Briggsy]

If you weren't so obviously enjoying this so much I'd say you were a glutton for punishment, that aside this is an entertaining and instructive thread that I am really enjoying.

On your fourth figure I would suggest the in a standing firing position the torso should be leaning forward not back. This is to enable the shooter to more effectively absorb the recoil of the rifle and maintain a steady position and aim on the target for the next shot. Modern firearms like the SA80 and M16 derivatives isn't such a problem as the recoil is far less than with for instance an SLR or older bolt action rifles such as those used in WWII. I first fired a Lee Enfield no 4 rifle at the tender age of 13 or 14, if I hadn't lent into the shot I'd have been on my arse, as it was I had a tender shoulder for a few days.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

I agree with Simon, there is a lot of work going in to these figures, we are enjoying the thread but I hope it's worth it for you!