Hi guys. I finished this figure a couple weeks ago and I was just fixing a few things here and there. This figure represents my Dad who served in the US Army from 1953-55 in the 37th Infantry Division at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and was done in his honor. He was in the 3/145th Infantry Regiment as a BAR gunner. I think he said his unit changed colors in his last year and became the 10th Mountain Division, but not sure.
Anyway, this figure is from the Tamiya Scout set. I changed the head to a Warriors head as I tried to find one that looked most like my Dad at that time. The BAR is from the Dragon WW2 weapons set because I felt it was more detailed. The sling was made from lead foil, the boots were cut off the figure and replaced with Paratrooper boots from a set of Verlinden figures. I felt they most resembled the M1948(?) boots worn after WW2. I have pics from my Dads service to use as a reference. I think I got it mostly correct. The duffel bag is from Verlinden, the fuel can is from a Bladt Sherman set as well as the helmet. The helmet was hollowed out and I added the webbing from lead foil and wire. The figure was painted with Vallejos acrylics. Comments welcome. Thanks !
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I meant Blast models for the fuel can and helmet. And the name plate came from nameitplates.com, a UK company that does outstanding work at a reasonable price and I got it in a week.
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(Sadly, the black and white pics I used were lost when, while trying to download music from my iTunes account to my iPhone, I somehow deleted my contacts, text messages and about 900 photos. I’ll just reload my Dads pics when I see him next…… I’m such an idiot!)
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Only comment- top notch and absolutely wonderful. I’d say you did your dad proud with this tribute.
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Beautiful tribute Richard. You’ve created a nice, original pose there that looks natural and have done a fine job with the painting and basing.
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Outstanding figure Richard. Very nuanced shading, excellent. A beautiful tribute to your father.
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Thank you so much for the kind word guys, much appreciated!
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Those Tamiya figs from their Scout set are very well done. Even if you don’t upgrade heads they’re fine as is.
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Very nicely done. You should be very pleased with it, as it came out superbly 
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I know your Pops is proud of this, awesome work from top to bottom. You are fortunate to still have him around. My dad was a Korean War vet, passed in 2012, I miss him a lot. Great tribute, Richard.
Tamiya has finally gotten their act together when it comes to figures. And that’s a good thing, more options.
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Thanks Steve, I am indeed fortunate to have him around still. My Mom passed away on Good Friday at the age of 90, Dad’s 91 and still going strong. We are very close- he was a major influence in my decision to join the Army.
Yeah nice to see Tamiya improve their figs, you can do so much with them now as far as conversions go etc.
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Thank you Johnny, appreciate it.
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Thank you very much Karl! It was a pleasure to work on. Tamiya really did a great job with the detailed uniform folds and creases and such. The personal equipment is nice as well. I highly recommend this set.
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Thank you Gerrit , very nice of you to say.
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fortunately a build only tanks…
top level !
You got good genes! I’m sure he’s gonna love this 
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