WIP Lewis Gunner, Somme, 1916.

[Cannonball]

That's very nice! I like the overall weathered effect. Regards Pete

Thanks Pete, really appreciated.

Neal

 

[Henk]

As said, superb painting of the leather. How did you do the helmet cover. Unfortunately the light washes out the helmet, I'd love to see photo of the helmet with different lighting.

 

[Cannonball]

As said, superb painting of the leather. How did you do the helmet cover. Unfortunately the light washes out the helmet, I'd love to see photo of the helmet with different lighting.

Hi Henk, thanks for looking in and the great comments. The helmet cover is a piece of wet wipe I attached with some pva glue and a bit of super glue. It’s the first time I’ve tried it and think the texture seems to correspond quite well with the hessian sacking I normally associate with these covers. It came about by accident as I chipped a bit of the helmet rim off when cleaning it up prior to paint. I’ve painted it with Humbrol 93 Desert Sand and shaded with washes of Burnt Umber oil paint then used some weathering powder to dirty it up a bit.

Neal

 

[Henk]

Excellent. Good use of tissue. I've used lots of different paper over the years for their different textures, when creating tarps etc when building armour and trucks, but hadn't thought of wet wipes. They seem to have a perfect amount of "hairyness" for this scale. Good thinking Neal

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Looking really good Neal, just arrived back last night from a weekend touring the Battlefields in France and Belgium, we managed to visit the WW1 Australian Memorial at Villiers-Bretonneux in France where you will find the newly built Museum and Visitors facility, The Sir John Monash Centre, part of the experience is a short film that has been especially produced to Holywood standard shown in a state of the art Cinema Room and I can only say that it was amazing, Trench scenes, hand to hand fighting, Tanks and lots off action involving the Lewis Gun, anyone going to the Somme etc this is a must see.
Definitely considering this Lewis gun bust myself, well done with you version.
TERRY

 

[Cannonball]

Looking really good Neal, just arrived back last night from a weekend touring the Battlefields in France and Belgium, we managed to visit the WW1 Australian Memorial at Villiers-Bretonneux in France where you will find the newly built Museum and Visitors facility, The Sir John Monash Centre, part of the experience is a short film that has been especially produced to Holywood standard shown in a state of the art Cinema Room and I can only say that it was amazing, Trench scenes, hand to hand fighting, Tanks and lots off action involving the Lewis Gun, anyone going to the Somme etc this is a must see.
Definitely considering this Lewis gun bust myself, well done with you version.
TERRY

Hi Terry, really appreciated. I’ve visited the battlefields a few times myself and as you say there are some amazing exhibitions to visit. We did a horse and cart trip across the Australian battlefields near Hamel with one of the locals and my little lad loves going to Ulster Tower as he invariably ends up coming away with a rusty shell, fuse cap or shrapnel courtesy of Teddy who looks after the cafe/shop. If you get a chance to go on his tour of the Irish trenches in Thiepval Wood that is well worth it.

Neal

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Hi Neal we done the Ulster Tower and Thiepval Wood on Saturday, we know Teddy very well, unfortunately his wife wasn't very well and they had to come home to Northern Ireland for a while however the replacement at the moment is Austen another Ulsterman and his tour was excellent too, he had several members of his own family coming out of the wood on 1st July 1916 and had lots of detailed information regarding their fate then and after the war, took this picture at the South African memorial because I had been planning to do a lewis gun bust at some stage.
TERRY

 

[Cannonball]

Hi Neal we done the Ulster Tower and Thiepval Wood on Saturday, we know Teddy very well, unfortunately his wife wasn't very well and they had to come home to Northern Ireland for a while however the replacement at the moment is Austen another Ulsterman and his tour was excellent too, he had several members of his own family coming out of the wood on 1st July 1916 and had lots of detailed information regarding their fate then and after the war, took this picture at the South African memorial because I had been planning to do a lewis gun bust at some stage.
TERRYView attachment 345060

Great reference material you managed to get there Terry. Sorry to hear about Teddy’s wife, hopefully she’s on the mend.

Neal

 

[Nap]

Hi Neal

How have I missed this !

Love the weathering effects on this very effective

Glad someone asked ref the helmet asIbwas going to !

Leatherwork ...top stuff mate

Thanks for sharing

Nap

Put something into FOTM if you wish .....enjoy Euro

 

[Steve Brodie]

Excellent

 

[Cannonball]

Hi Neal

How have I missed this !

Love the weathering effects on this very effective

Glad someone asked ref the helmet as I was going to !

Leatherwork ...top stuff mate

Thanks for sharing

Nap

Put something into FOTM if you wish .....enjoy Euro

Thanks Kev.

 

[Cannonball]

Excellent

Thanks very much Steve, really appreciated.

Neal

 

[chailey]

How about an SBS on your method of painting the leather, it certainly is eye catching?

Steve

 

[MCPWilk]

Great job.

Mike

 

[Cannonball]

How about an SBS on your method of painting the leather, it certainly is eye catching?

Steve

Thanks very much for the kind comments Steve. Not sure what I’d put in an SBS to be honest, the base mix in oils was Burnt Sienna/Burnt Umber/touch of Brown Madder and a touch of Vandyke Brown until I got something I was happy with then shades with the addition of a bit of Ivory black to the base and highlights with Naples Yellow. Fortunately the webbing on the kit has a number of cast in score/crease marks which I picked out with the shade colour then ran a highlight on the bottom edge and feathered it in. I tried to vary the tone between the jerkin and the webbing.

Neal

 

[Cannonball]

Great job.

Mike

Thanks very much Mike.

Neal