@Paul_Bishop1
Thank you and welcome to the forums.
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I use acrylics from several companies. For the uniforms I use Scale 75 Ardennes Green as a base that I adjust with Scale 75 Black and Vallejo Sunny Skin Tone. Other paints I use are from Reaper (mainly for skin tones), AK Interactive, and Vallejo. As for brushes, I am currently using pro modeler brushes from Vallejo.
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Hey, Bro. You are about to find out. I will be posting photos of the first Donut Dolly after I answer the replies.
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Thank you. I am glad that you like them.
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@SFCJJC ,
Thank you. I have been wanting to make a diorama featuring Donut Dollies for a few years now. After H3 Models came out with their two, I had something to work with. I didn’t like the unhappy faces on them so I changed heads with ones that are friendlier. I also wanted to make sure people see what they actually did fir our guys, not some busty bimbo depictions that I have seen some other modelers make. I thought those depictions were disrespectful especially since these volunteers did not have to be there yet they worked long hours visiting troops or running recreation centers.
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This afternoon I completed the first of three Donut Dollies for this diorama. This one depicts Sherry Cozzalio who was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division in 1969.
The figure conversion is based primarily on a recent figure from Royal Models from a kit of a family greeting liberators. The torso with skirt is from that set. The head is from a bathing woman from Royal Models whose hair I changed a bit. Since I misplaced the rest of the kit the main body came from, I ended up using legs from a WW2 German nurse from Dragon. The arms are from the parts box. I will ad the game cards to her hands prior to mounting figures to the diorama.
Something to note is that she is wearing the proper patches and insignia for the time she was assigned to the 9th ID. Some of these photos are not tge greatest. There is the American Red Cross patch on the left shoulder, color 9th ID patch on the right shoulder (dry transfer from Archer), ARC pin on the right collar, Red Cross pin on the left collar, and a black plastic nametage with white lettering. The figure looks pretty good at arms length/audience viewing distance.
It is not an exact likeness, but I think it is pretty close for it being 1/35 scale. It looks more like Sherry from the side, so I think it will work fairly well.
Not sure which figure I will work on next…
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Great depiction James- the uniform is superbly painted with nice shadowing and highlighting plus the insignia stands out well and looks just right for the scale. The nice, bright blue shade should look excellent against the green fatigues on the other figs.
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This is really excellent. I read the story about Sherry. Very moving
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@Karl187 ,
Thank you. I was kind of worried about how the light blue was going to turn out, but it seems to have turned out pretty close to the example of the uniform that had been on display at the 1st CAV Museum.
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Thank you. I had wanted to make a diorama about Donut Dollies for a while, but when I found a website, which may have been where you found the story about Sherry, that contained the stories about so many of these dedicated women, I decided that now was the time to get off my ass and make that diorama. It helped that H3 Models recently came out with some Donut Dolly figures although their hairstyles and facial expressions do not capture the feel or essence of a Donut Dolly.
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Today I completed the second Donut Dolly figure depicting a woman named Kay. I don’t remember her last name.
The figure is a conversion of the standing Donut Dolly figure from H3 Models. The uniform details are correct, but the original face and head did not reflect the positive nature and purpose of these women. I switched out the head with one from an IDF female figure from Royal Models and added the patches.
This is what the original figure looks like.
See what I mean about their expressions and they don’t have 60s or 70s hair styles. The models they used for the 3d Scan could have at least smiled instead of just being there dressed in the uniform.
This is my version. I wish I could have done a better job at painting, but with the cold temperatures here in Oklahoma right now, the heat was on almost constantly and was drying out the paint on my brush as I was applying it which was pretty frustrating. However, it does look pretty decent at arms length or audience viewing distance. For a while, I had been trying to paint my figures in a way that they could look more realistic. It was pretty time consuming and they didn’t turn out much better than these five figures that I have painted so far for this diorama. I have decided that I will just go about painting my figures in the manner that is standard for doing museum exhibits since we paint in a manner where they look good at a particular viewing distance rather than up close. This is mainly so a diorama being used as an exhibit can be completed in a timely manner. Anyway, here are some photos of this one.
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Your figure painting is excellent James and they are better than museum quality no doubt.
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Outstanding. Your work is beyond my comprehensive skills. Just beautiful sculpting and painting.
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Thanks for the encouragement. For some reason, I guess because of the way I paint and do the shadows and highlights, when I look at them as close up photos, they just don’t seem to look as smooth as the way some figure painters paint. But at arms length or normal viewing distance, they look quite a bit better. It seems to be a similar effect that some painters utilize where if you look at their paintings close up, the brush strokes are visible and the image looks gloppy, but if viewed at a distance it looks much better.
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Your last picture shows that effect very well, especially if one compares the male figures close ups to that one.
Great work!!
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James I consider myself a pretty good figure painter, you’re much better. When I look at my pics of the figures I paint I often cringe because the camera certainly picks up things the naked eye doesn’t. I like my figures better at arms length lol!
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I have the same problem James, maybe an overspray of clear Dullcoat would help.
Cajun 
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I use Vallejo acrylics and still struggle with paint consistency. No matter what I always find a hair or bump on the figure no matter how careful I am.
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Having not been online for some time this one, sadly, snuck in under the radar, 
. Catching up on your work James has been a real treat, some excellent , both pose and paint-wise, 
.
Will definitely be keeping tabs on this one, 
.
G, 
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Always good to see your figures and dioramas
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