Yep. 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (United States) - Wikipedia
There was an effort to number All American Freeway into Bragg NC-555 in honor of the 555th.
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Ohh well at the time seemed like a good one to try the skin tones with plus I tried using the tamiya weathering shades to cam him up as much as possible. I did figure that technically it would be wrong but with my eyes I needed a large subject to try it out on. He has been in my stash for many years.
I’ve never tended to share what I do very much. It’s a rather new thing for me to post anything. I tend to make a number of what if subjects like the battle star galactica’s viper and assault ship I have put Canadian Forces decals on.
Sometimes I just do things for the particular challenge that it will give me. I have avoided dark skin tones for that reason for years so when I came across those how too’s I tried it. Besides I couldn’t really imagine dropping in at night with your face camouflage done leaving a big bright skull left over. The camouflage sticks I had used were two shades of green and they didn’t want us having anything left exposed so I thought back then they used some sort of black paste for the more specialized troops like the Royal Marines and Airborne on night ops. So without a helmet I figured go dark so he doesn’t stand out in the dark either.
But do you think the skin tone is working or am I sniffing glue?
Thanks though I do appreciate it.
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Wow didn’t know that- very interesting. I believe many African American paratroopers were sent to fight fires around the country and used in that capacity. Not sure but weren’t they recruited by the fire service?
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No worries Al, I was just pointing out the historical aspect of your figure. I think you have a good start; the base color is good maybe add some highlights to the other areas.
I think back then they used burnt cork, charcoal or black shoe polish for face camouflage if I recall correctly. I have many books at home about paratroopers and haven’t looked at them in a while so I’m not sure.
We used two different colors of camo sticks also, one was called loam and the other light green. Some guys bought the commercial hunting camo packs that had brown and some white for winter.
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The burnt cork, soot and especially the boot polish is familiar to me from reading on some of the operations years ago. But most of my references are still in boxes in one of our sea cans because I just don’t have the space in the house for them. I also had to give up a shelf to my daughter for her reading books 
.
I do recognize that highlights would probably help him look better but what I came to realize last year when I got stuck in the fog out on the land is I can’t see shades anymore so for me to see the difference would be to great. I was developing cataracts and was almost blind in one eye when they caught it. Although my sight was restored the first thing I knew was gone was the ability to see in the dark. In a dark room we could be toe to toe and as long as you didn’t touch me I would have no idea that you were there. Last summer we got caught in the fog lost the trail ended up in razor sharp rocks ended up shredding 2 tires and ruined a rim getting out of there and back to town but the side by side did get us home. My wife says you see the white tent 
and I’m like everything is white. Couldn’t see the tent until I was under 5 feet away from it.
So now for me I use a base colour and a wash for most skin tones. I’ve settled into the citadel paints for skin tones. Vallejo tones need more fiddling than I can do anymore plus my tremors make putting highlights and shades into small areas just doesn’t work anymore so I’ve had to go as simple as possible to try and get close. I got the books and have tried with we pallets and all that stuff just can’t differentiate between them anymore it’s taken a while to realize.
For Caucasian skin I use one called bugmens glow and then others depending upon what I’m after. I think I did him using the real dark recipe that I posted. The cavalry scout was done with a lighter base and I think nuln oil was. It’s been a while so I’m not 100% on the combo I used. A lot of hit and miss for me these days. 
Working with photo etch today it took me an hour to cut and bend the end of a tank fender. Sometimes sausage fingers work and others not so much.
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A little late to the party as I don’t visit as much as I used to, but…
That camo looks great, but it is far too tight to be “spot on” for the BDU pattern. I’m glad someone mentioned ERDL because it may have taken me a minute to remember that. I was issued BDU’s at Fort Benning for infantry basic. They were so new we were issued white T-shirts as well. Brown hadn’t made it into the system yet.
When I got to 10th Group were were issued OG-107 (slant pocket style) and ERDL’s. I rarely wore the BDU’s except for Airborne ops. A true jumper knows why. Anyway, we called the OG’s OD’s, and the ERDL rip stops, even though the OG-107’s were rip stops as well.
That’s such a nice paint job though. Is it conceivable a trooper with a little more time in service had a set of ERDL’s? To me, quite possible. The Jumpin’ Junkies were co-located with SF at Ft. Bragg after all.
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Sorry I didn’t realize you had eye problems Al, keep plugging away and you’ll do ok.
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Wow, from a simple question comes a thread like this! There’s one heck of a world of knowledge on this forum. Thanks to each and every one of you for your contributions. I value every one!
Now, where was I?
Got some free time so, the camo has been tweaked just a little……
Thoughts please Gentlemen? Nailed… or failed!
G.
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Lazarus, all in all , I’d say you nailed it. Just my humble opinion. The colors are excellent. Keep it up.
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Thanks mate, much appreciated! This was the last chance before the oven cleaner bath so, I’m glad I got it right. Now, on to the M60…. Just one final question, would it have had the can to help with the feed?
G.
I liked it before, but it still looks great. I’d really like to see you cut off that bogus pro mask carrier and add a scratch built one. Anything you do has to look better.
As for the can - more than likely. We used the short C ration cans, like the ones ham and eggs came in.
Mmmmm, good!
Can in use to help feed ammo:
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Just been looking at some pics of the gas mask carrier. I see what you mean! Time to break out the putty methinks…
G.
Yeah the pro mask carrier looks like it doesn’t have a mask in it. It looks flattened; obviously no fault of yours though.
Not sure what you mean by the can for the 60. We had a 100 round cardboard box in a cloth holder that had a loop to hook on the outside of the weapon. Can’t remember the name of the piece that was attached to the side of the gun that held the box of ammo. I’ll try to find a pic of it.
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Oh ok 18B I see what you are saying. Never saw that used lol. Very interesting!
Lazarus, I was referring to the part called the ammo hanger. Not sure if it’s depicted on your model.
This was mounted on the left side of the gun to hold the 100 round box. That’s what I used when I was a gunner.
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Here’s the 100 round box with cloth holder that hooks onto the left side of the gun
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Looking good, I like the camo!
As for the mask carrier, is it possible that it is “deflated” as it doesn’t hold the mask inside? I always thought that’s the case with this particular figure. Some of the Desert Storm figures from Verlinden I built have a beefier looking gasmask case.
Mario
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Yeah it looks like there is no mask inside the carrier.
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Great job on the camo, nailed it!
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Ok lads, as Mario says, it could be that the gas mask case is empty.
This is with the case from the Stinger Gunner in the same range:
And this is the M249 gunner:
Does look like it’s empty.
G.
The one on the bottom looks better, although I can’t see the front of it. Definitely better than the original though. Neither the one in yellow resin nor the original looks right to me. If memory serves me (and yeah, I don’t always remember what I had for breakfast) those carriers had a flap that went across the FRONT of the carrier as it is worn, making both of them incorrect in design as well.
Now I’m trying to figure out why anyone would wear an empty mask carrier without actually wearing the mask.
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