bwildfong
Well-Known Member
Hey all,
Here's my latest - a USAAF pilot on a Soviet airfield during "Operation Frantic" in the summer/fall of 1944 in 1/32 scale.
For those unfamiliar with it (like I was), Frantic was a joint US-Soviet operation in which American planes flying from England and Italy would hit targets in far Eastern Germany, land at 3 Soviet airbases in Ukraine to refuel and re-arm, then hit German targets again on their way back to their home bases (also known as "shuttle bombing"). A total of 7 missions were flown between June and Sept. 1944 when the program was closed down.
Anyway, on to the figgie. He started life as an Ultracast personality figure of Gabby Gabreski, beautifully captured by sculptor Mike Good. I replaced the Gabreski head with a modified Nemrod offerring (a Napoleonic, complete with ponytail that I had to remove) - I sculpted the overseas cap from Apoxie Sculpt. I also added the "blood chit", the package of ID documents with the US flag to identify downed crew to Ukrainian civilians and Soviet ground forces. The whole thing then got painted in my usual oils over acrylics:
In the interests of "full disclosure", the nose art on the back of his jacket is, uh, only partly me (the lettering); the Chief's head was cannibalized from a 1/72 scale decal sheet I got for a buck from a model show vendor - I'm not THAT talented a painter!
I was also finally able to (cheaply!) source some 250 pounder bombs in 1/32, so that meant I could duplicate the graffitti I saw in a photo taken during Frantic which showed bombs with both English and Cyrillic messages on them, a visual cue that nicely hinted at the slightly odd setting of a Yank on a Soviet airfield.
As always, any comments or advice are appreciated. Thanks for lookin'!
Cheers,
Brian
Here's my latest - a USAAF pilot on a Soviet airfield during "Operation Frantic" in the summer/fall of 1944 in 1/32 scale.
For those unfamiliar with it (like I was), Frantic was a joint US-Soviet operation in which American planes flying from England and Italy would hit targets in far Eastern Germany, land at 3 Soviet airbases in Ukraine to refuel and re-arm, then hit German targets again on their way back to their home bases (also known as "shuttle bombing"). A total of 7 missions were flown between June and Sept. 1944 when the program was closed down.
Anyway, on to the figgie. He started life as an Ultracast personality figure of Gabby Gabreski, beautifully captured by sculptor Mike Good. I replaced the Gabreski head with a modified Nemrod offerring (a Napoleonic, complete with ponytail that I had to remove) - I sculpted the overseas cap from Apoxie Sculpt. I also added the "blood chit", the package of ID documents with the US flag to identify downed crew to Ukrainian civilians and Soviet ground forces. The whole thing then got painted in my usual oils over acrylics:
In the interests of "full disclosure", the nose art on the back of his jacket is, uh, only partly me (the lettering); the Chief's head was cannibalized from a 1/72 scale decal sheet I got for a buck from a model show vendor - I'm not THAT talented a painter!
I was also finally able to (cheaply!) source some 250 pounder bombs in 1/32, so that meant I could duplicate the graffitti I saw in a photo taken during Frantic which showed bombs with both English and Cyrillic messages on them, a visual cue that nicely hinted at the slightly odd setting of a Yank on a Soviet airfield.
As always, any comments or advice are appreciated. Thanks for lookin'!
Cheers,
Brian
