Rommels' nemesis! Young minatures 1:10 scale SAS gunner bust

golikell · November 16, 2025, 11:59am

This one has been on the shelves being nearly done for a couple of months now. It was only waiting for a plinth, but finally I found a suitable one and mounted the bust. The name plate will follow in due time.

It is a well known bust of a SAS machinegunner in the North African desert made by Young miniatures.

The biggest challenge for me lied in the depiction of the sun burned/bronzed skin in a convincing manner.

I couldn’t get the ammo to convincingly be mounted, so I left it off.

As always: all comments are welcome.

And now for the photos:

agincajun · November 16, 2025, 1:06pm

The eyes are perfect making his gaze quite convincing, really nice painting and shadeing complementing the sculpture.Very artistic finish Erwin, great job!

Cajun

golikell · November 16, 2025, 1:10pm

Thank you very much for your kind words Terry …
I also tried to give him a bit of a rough look by adding a scar to his brow and arm…

metalhead85 · November 16, 2025, 1:29pm

Very nice job on that bust Erwin. The eyes look excellent and you have great skin tones there!

golikell · November 16, 2025, 1:34pm

Thanks Richard! Busts are a nice way to practice figure painting in a grand scale.

SSGToms · November 16, 2025, 1:54pm

Excellent figure painting Erwin! The skin tones are delicate and look spot on. The shading is exceptional, especially on the headgear.

golikell · November 16, 2025, 2:03pm

Thank you very much, Matt! I really appreciate your kind words…

Littlemarten · November 16, 2025, 5:18pm

Excellent work, especially the eyes and facial expression! I also like the monkey.

golikell · November 16, 2025, 5:43pm

Cheers buddy… The facial expression of course is on the conto of the sculptor. It is merely my canvas, which guided my paintbrushes. I do like the monkey too… I painted it like a young Barbary macaque.

Littlemarten · November 16, 2025, 6:04pm

Yes, the sculptor did a good job, but I know from experience how easy it is for the painter to ruin his/her efforts!

golikell · November 16, 2025, 6:43pm

Yes, that is oh so true I am glad I didn’t

Karl187 · November 16, 2025, 7:45pm

Really nice piece you’ve got there Erwin- I think you have judged the skin colors quite accurately for that bronzed look. The shading on the shirt and headgear are well judged too. I also like the bit of chipping you have done on the gun mount.

golikell · November 17, 2025, 10:45am

This is the second itteration of the face. The first was too purple, so I had to redo it. I do like the way it turned out too

Dioramartin · November 18, 2025, 2:57am

You nailed that mate, superb – makes me wish there was more of him sat in his seat…how’s your figure sculpture course going ?

I’d also like to see it in full sunshine, with a monochrome bonus photo

golikell · November 18, 2025, 5:11am

Cheers Tim! I recon you would like to see the Jeep too?
Alas I must report that the start of the course has been postponed indefinitely.
I will see what I can do with the pics. Sunny days are few at the moment, due to autumn/fall having kicked in over here.