Yeah. Once it will get its tracks, it will be more hefty even… 
You are an artist.
These faces are awesome!!!
Beautiful paint up BroSki !!
I don’t know if it’s the larger scale palette or your painting brilliance , your large scale work always seems more 1/1 real than smaller fig painting offerings . Not to take away from smaller scale fig painters who equally shine . Maybe it’s just the greater detail afforded in larger scale figs ?
Sorry for the delay Gents, no inet for almost 5 days, yikes!
Hey Bruce, thanks Buddy!
Tanks SF!
Hey Cheyenne, good to hear from ya Brotha. I am a bit timid to go back to 1/35th, lol. These biggins will make the mistakes glare you in the face, so more attention to detail is a must. I really like the Corporal face, but the last two, eh,…time to move on. I recon I’ll make my bunker time more regular from here on out. I am intent on going thru an oil based face painting session of just faces to work out the bugs, they still plague me right now 
Thanks gents, Ski.
Team Member #3
A bit late on this update, but finally all the faces are complete. They say we are our own worst critique, this is no exception. I’ve scrubbed every one of these heads at least twice and some four times. So, time to move on and get to the figures and that camo pattern. Of course I’ll go back later before I attach the heads and do any final touch ups. Ruck On from here.
I will add that using #6 readers has helped out quit a lot when doing the eyes, my weakest point. I’m pretty happy with the results so far, but obviously I’ve still got a bit more to learn.
Ah, it’s just practice, practice, and more practice,…and more practice, lol.
The team is finally together and on stand-by until all the figures are completed.
Thanks for watchin, more to follow soon. Cheers, Ski.
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Words fail me Ski, these guys are possibly even better than your U-boat crew. Eyes…your WEAKEST point?? Jeez…well OK maybe you really screwed up there with no eyelashes, but seriously they’re magnificent 
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Hi Ski,
Bloomin’ brilliant, subtle blending of the skin tones, and the eyes have it, 
.
Cheers, 
,
G
Martin, you are too kind, Tanks Bro. Eyelashes, yikes!
Hey G-man, thank you Amigo!
Look at that first face I painted Gents, the others are far from him, which is why I’m a bit frustrated. Lesson learned; don’t flip your palette to the other side, (right brain/left brain thing), don’t re-blend tones in the middle of the ball game, and don’t stop till they’re all done! And what ever you do, don’t let life get in the way of your painting!!! Lesson learned, HA! Ah,…T’sall good.
Camo Pattern, Para Smock and Web Gear
Finally it’s time to get to work on the smocks and web gear. This particular camo pattern was not as difficult as some I’ve done in the past, but it has unique brush marks on all the examples I’ve seen. I was able to duplicate this by doing just as they did, swipe the brush across the area.
Now, I did give this figure a bath after my first attempt, but now the pattern is more in line with the examples. I had the pattern a too bit tight for the actual pattern, it was not going to work. Like I said, don’t be afraid to wash it all and go for it again.
The first pic is a bit blurry, but you get the idea. The web gear and pack were given an acrylic base tone using Tamiya FX-49, Khaki. The mid pouch on the back was blend of a Khaki and light greenish tan.
Time to work the camo pattern on the other three figures and slightly alter the tones of the web gear for each one. My Official Advisor has reminded me that the veteran’s uniforms will be slightly faded, whereas the green horns will have a more crisp appearance to them. I will work to make that happen as best I can.
Once these smocks are patterned it will be time for oils, the fun part. More to follow soon.
Thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.
5 Likes
Ski,
Nice work; just be aware of the intricacies of British Army '37 Pat webbing. There should be 2 x brass buckles on the bottom of the Small Pack - that is the main pack on his back; the “L” straps - that is the straps affixed to the Small Pack were secured to these buckles. There are also 2 more buckles at the top of the sides of the pack although on this figure they’re obscured by the strap dangling (which may in fact have been attached to said buckles then sort of folded over).
The Lightweight Respirator haversack - the pack immediately below the Small Pack and secured to the belt is - as you have depicted - produced in a shade of green; these varied quite a bit depending on wear and tear so you’ve fair bit of latitude there. The ones I encountered in 1969 were quite olive in colour.
Lastly, the waterbottle was stoppered with a cork which was secured to the bottle mouth by a simple piece of string; you might want to portray that in this scale with a small piece of wire.
I hasten to add that this is all meant to help not to be seen as negative criticism in any way(!)
Brian
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Nice paintups BroSki !! Beautiful work man !!
Tanks Brotha!!
Howdy Brian, I missed your post earlier, my bad. Thanks you for the input, and no, it was not taken in a negative vain. I appreciate all the input I can get, I’m kinda anal retentive to accuracy whenever possible.
The cork on the water bottle, yes, there will be a string installed. I do intend to vary the tones a bit to show a contrast between figures. All the ref pics I have show a pretty wide variance of tone, so I’ll keep em close, but varied.
Here’s a few of the ref pics I’ve got on the gear and smock.
I greatly appreciate your assist on the details. Feel free to holler when you see something a bit off or not up to speed.
Thanks Brian. Cheers, Ski.
P.S. In reference to the strap hanging from the pack on Corporal Reynold’s back, I can’t see directly to his rear, so I can only go off the reference photo by the sculptor and add what I’m seeing. This strap I assume would be the one we see in the equipment pic that appears in a crisscross fashion. Is this correct?
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Ski,
I feel you’re more than bang up to speed; I’ll get back in my box! Seriously though, that’s the stuff I was issued with way back in '69, less the Large Pack, and Entrenching Tool. We didn’t have a strap and buckle on the bottom centre of the Small Pack either so I suspect that’s a local mod. We didn’t have the ability to fit anything under the Small Pack so I suspect that’s another modification.
For what it’s worth and if I’m in danger of teaching you to suck eggs I apologise, the web equipment would have had an application of a substance known as “Blanco”; despite the name it wasn’t white although there was a white colour issued. It came in around 4 x colours all numbered - as is the way with Armies. I can only remember No 97 and 103. I believe 97 was called “Khaki Green” and was a sort of pale pea-green - and I think this would have been what your Paras would have applied; the other I remember was No 103 Khaki Green Light which is what we had to purchase and apply to our webbing. The British Army never makes life easy for its soldiers believe me. We also had to ensure that the brassware was polished so that it gleamed like gold (more expense for metal polish too). Back in WW2 I believe the stuff was in cake-like form in a paper wrapping and one had to moisten it and apply with a small scrubbing brush (I had this type in Army Cadets as a keen 13 year-old); there was quite an art to it all as it mustn’t be applied too thick or too thin. And of course, all the equipment had to be covered to the same consistency. The No 103 I used in 1969 came in small round tins and was a sort of jelly-like gunge, again, all diluted and applied with small brushes. However, that doesn’t help much.
I think you’re right re Cpl Reynolds’ pack; I think he must have scrounged a spare cross-brace and has attached it to the buckles at the top of the sides of the Small Pack, conceivably so he can, if desired, unbuckle it from his equipment and carry it in sort of school satchel position slung across his body. I have no idea why but if so he must have had a reason. I think the reason we can’t see the buckle is because the strap is folded over it. Perhaps he was tasked to carry something that would take the space on his back eg a Bergen rucksack, radio, weapon system perhaps? All speculative I’m afraid.
Just to finish off: there is a web site somewhere devoted to Blanco colours but I can’t find it at the moment. If I stumble across it I’ll give you a shout; as I say, I suspect the Paras may well have used the green colour, but that is not to say a buff-type colour wasn’t appropriate. Sorry if I’ve muddied any waters.
Keep it up Ski, a cracking job.
Brian
Sorry, I said I’d finished: just to get ahead of the game a bit, the face veils - which the Paras wear around the neck cravat style - are a camouflaged pattern of chocolate brown on a pale green; there was a plain green type but I’m not sure if they were issued at the same time.
Beautiful figures and beautiful painting so far. Arnhem battle is one of my favorites and this set is very tempting. I just don’t know if I can match the quality of your work. Looking forward to tour progress!
Expert research and implementation.
Looking at you camo shots I was thinking they could do with some fading & then I read your caption below them – class act Ski!
Ski, Further to my last and I hope this helps rather than hinders: I’ve found the website called “Blanco and Bull” - I couldn’t seem to embed the URL but a bit of Googling will take you there I’m sure - if relevant; I know you’re well down the road of painting.
Amongst the info is a colour picture which I’ve filched and is this, showing the salient colours of Khaki Green 3, No 97 (the sort of “Pea Green”) and No 103:
(If I say the picture is “for discussion purposes” is that all in order?)
This is really just for info and not any suggestion that you should alter in any way your figures. The Taniya XF-49 Khaki would work well enough representing colour 103.
'Love these figures and what you’re doing with them.
Brian
