We come to the end of this four part series on Dave's restoration of a Tamiya 1/16th Scale Luftwaffe Pilot. All painting and detailing complete, I must say it looks a treat.
He is a bit of a ugly bugger, but a smart uniform still makes all the girlie's come running.
Now with added life preserver!
Again some nice work on the base.
Not a bad piece of restoration from Dave, Cheers for the pic's mate.
Dave's 1/16th journey continues, oil wash applied to uniform.
Gloves and boots given a base coat.
Uniform details added along with a base stand. Boots and gloves given a wash as well. Pity the details of the uniform will be hidden by the life preserver.
Harness colour added. Originally thought to be a canvas colour, it turns out it was yellow.
Detailing added to the head and Service Cap.
Shading gently added to the facial features.
Last part tomorrow.
B Company next for the second Battalion, Platoon stand above shows two Matchbox figures, with the rifleman on the right being another Commando conversion.
Again two Matchbox figures with the stabby the ground rifleman having a arm swap so he is actually chucking a grenade.
I have just noticed that this platoon is all Matchbox as well, again a helmet replaces the headover on the Bren gunner.
Matchbox Officer with a Airfix 'Boys'AT conversion. The figure was taken from a series one Airfix Commando set. He has a thin Bazooka type weapon which I shopped into a Boys gun. I am always looking to do something with these early sets.
Luftwaffe Pilot has been painted, and had now received an oil paints wash. After the wash he wiped him down to remove the excess paint. He is happy with the effect to date.
The vest is sort of covered in a few transparent layers of yellow mustard over bright yellow to simulate the linen look. He will do the straps in canvas.
Before oil wash...
After oil wash.
Dave was going though his junk box the other day, trying to get ready for a bring and buy, and he can across a Tamiya 1/16th scale Luftwaffe pilot he had picked up a few years ago in a second hand state. Painted and assembled to a rather poor standard he decided to restore it.
This is it after stripping most of the paint off with oven cleaner, and then putting it through the dishwasher. Again Davids wife was not at home for the all important dishwasher phase.
The 2nd Battalion of my BEF 1940 is all but completed, so it's time to post some pic's. First up is A Company. Above two Matchbox riflemen. Not too keen on the closest figure myself but the charging figure shows heaps more animation.
Two Airfix troops here, Series two British Infantry Bren gunner, soon to be replaced by the Series four coming out soon (Series three I count as the old ESCI/Italeri re boxing effort) and a Series one Commando with headgear swap...not too sure what this cad is up too, but he plugs a hole.
Matchbox grenade thrower (without weapon) and Airfix Series two Commando again with a helmet instead of a head over, gasbag addition can be made out on his chest.
Command Stand, with Matchbox Officer and Airfix Series two Thompson armed NCO. Both have had surgery to their heads...as you do. I was thinking of shaving the pistol back to a revolver, but never got round to it, tisk, tisk, tisk.
Al from 20th Century Wargames http://20thcenturywargames.blogspot.com/ popped in for about 30 seconds yesterday afternoon. He dropped off a few figures from HAT's British Machine Gun set. I think he suggested to use them for my BEF 1940 army the other week, but I may have been a little tipsy. Not wanting to mix these 1/72 figures with my Airfix and Matchbox 1/76 warriors I think I will put them with a 1941 Greece/Crete Allied force I have been plodding on with over the last few years. As you may have noticed I have already converted one of the Boy's AT gunner's with a slouch hat from Revell's Australian Infantry set, and it was a perfect match much to my delight.
It also gave me a chance to get rid of a horrid surrender monkey contained in the Revell set, he's bad for morale you know! Cheers Al.
I boxed on with the Defiant, last night with a mixed bag of results, the disruptive pattern went on not too bad, although I was a little perplexed at the colour coming from the Humbrol tin.
After letting it dry, I removed the decals from the cover film and examined them, while being around 40 years old they looked alright. So still a little worried about the final outcome I took the plunge and cut them out and let them soak.
Fuselage roundels went on a treat, so I moved onto the wing roundels...slight ripping occurred here, but still not a real problem as they were large enough to join back together on the aircraft. At this stage I should have stopped and said enough, however being the fool that I am I decided to carry on. Tail colours went on next, hassle free I might add, so that left the Serial Number, Squadron codes and aircraft ID letter. It was here that the plan went down the glug hole.
That will have to do for the decaling as I have no RAF spares, but it looks the part which is the most important thing...sob, sob. I must say I enjoyed putting this together and will be looking for a Fairey Battle and Westland Lysander to balance my Air power out...No Spits for this Kiwi!
With the last few days being constant rain it has given me the opportunity to catch up on the Defiant. Work had stalled on it due to a winter cold snap that did not lend itself to the application of paint to a required degree. In other words the paint would not dry properly, in fact the black primer was still not dry after 72 hours...worrying myself to no small degree. But the rain brought the temperature up somewhat which was very welcome.
I decided to give the aircraft a Matt Black underside, such as aircraft of the RAF sometimes wore in the 39/40 period, I also think it gives the look of a more aggressive adversary.
I also took the time to paint in the canopy and turret framing. I think painting these in is very important to any aircraft model...casual hint Dave!
A plethora of shots from Dave of his ESCI Scots Greys.
Must be a couple of boxes in these shots.
When news of Napoleon's escape from Elba reached Britain. The Scots Greys, which had been reduced in size because of the end of the Peninsular War, were expanded. This time, there would be 10 troops of cavalry, a total of 946 officer and men, the largest the regiment had ever been to that time. Six of the ten troops were sent to the continent, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Inglis Hamilton, to join the army forming under the command of the Duke of Wellington. The Scots Greys, upon arrival in Ghent, were brigaded under the command of Major-General Ponsonby in the Union Brigade, with Royal Dragoons and the Inniskillings Dragoons.
As the rest of the British heavy cavalry advanced against the French infantry, just after 1:30 p.m., Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton witnessed Pack's brigade beginning to crumble, and the 92nd Highlanders falling back in disorder. On his initiative, Hamilton ordered his regiment forward at the walk. Because the ground was broken and uneven, thanks to the mud, crops, and the men of 92nd, the Scots Greys remained at the walk until they had passed through the Gordons. The arrival of the Scots Greys helped to rally the Gordons, who turned to attack the French. Even without attacking at a full gallop, the weight of the Scots Greys charge proved to be irresistible for the French column pressing Pack's Brigade.
As Captain Duthilt, who was present with de Marcognet's 3rd Division, wrote of the Scots Greys charge,
A lieutenant of the 92nd Highlanders who was present would later write, "the Scots Greys actually walked over this column..."
As Ponsonby tried to rally his men against the French cuirassers, he was attacked by Jaquinot's lancers and captured. However, a party of the Scots Greys were nearby saw the capture and attempted to rescue their brigade commander. However, the French soldier who had captured Ponsonby executed him and then killed three of the Scots Greys who had attempted to rescue him with his lance. By the time Ponsonby died, the momentum had entirely returned in favor of the French. Milhaud's and Jaquinot's cavalrymen drove the Union Brigade from the valley. The French artillery added to the Scots Greys misery.
Cheers Dave, a nicely painted and based set of figures.
I have a small window of opportunity tonight for the models, as I intend to watch the 1970 wartime drama, "The McKenzie Break". It's on Sky at 2030hrs on MGM if any kiwi's are reading this. From what I can remember the last line of the movie is a cracker!
Today's foray into the Internet deals with OliveKhakiGrey;Miniatures Gallery at http://wargames.spyz.org/index.html .
With the weather being to cold for major painting on the Defiant, I have been getting stuck into the Support Company of the 1st Battalion of my BEF 1940 force. Above the Command Stand, series one Airfix Commando converted and a Matchbox British Infantry Officer with the beret swapped for a helmet, along with a gasbag.
3 inch Mortar Stand, both Matchbox, I thought long and hard about upgrading the Matchbox Mortar to something better, but decided to go with the classic look of the 1970's version.
Recon Stand, a high number of Brens were in these units, but I could not be naffed using two on one stand so I added a Thompson instead. Airfix and Matchbox Commando conversions. 
This stand took a bit to figure out, AAMG's I think at this time were mainly Bren's, Lewis guns or old aircraft versions of the Vickers. Most Brens are posed firing horizontally, so they were out, no chance of Lewis guns or Vickers being fired in this possie either, if you could find them. I choose the Airfix Bren on the trot pose along with the Airfix Bofors Gun spotter. I am trying to keep this all this force Matchbox and Airfix after all.
Not really part of the Support Company as they were grouped into separate MG Battalions in British and Commonwealth Forces. I however decided to add these Matchbox MMG Vickers Stand into the Coy as quite often they were thrown into Battalion level Infantry units as a three gun Platoon.
Airfix for both of these figures in the Engineer/Pioneer Stand, LCM crew member on the left and series one Commando again with the new helmet. It took quite a bit longer than I thought to get this Company together but I am quietly chuffed with the results.