First foray into this part of the forum. :)

Introducing Tamiya's 1/25 WWII US Infantryman. I think this kit is almost 30 years old. I wanted something to try out a little bit of figure painting and unfortunately, I had chosen this one as a test subject. :lol:

Since this is a very old kit, the details are extremely soft and the proportions are all out of shape. OOB, the head's to big, arm's too short, torso's too small, etc. Kind of like a Super Deformed version of a human minus the kawaii (cute-cute). :lol:



This is the original kit pose and proportions OOB. His arms are down the front holding the gun. The white stuff on his face is re-constructive surgery. I modified his face a little since he came out of the box looking like a skeletal idiot – sunken eyes, gawping mouth, no jaw line, etc.. Sorry, no pics of the face before surgery took place but trust me, you’re better off not seeing it. Might give you nightmares for weeks… not that he's any better off after Dr. Bondo's 25 minute surgery. :lol:


Look ma! I'm one of those Super-Deformed-Robot-Thingies...well, almost..kinda... :P


If he had shaggy hair and a leather loin cloth, he'd look positively neanderthal...



Having put myself into trouble for troubling myself with this kit (that make any sense? :lol:) I had to fix his proportions and pose. Using some bondite epoxy putty, I added some girth and height to his torso. Note the change in arm position as opposed to the original pose. His arms at this stage are merely blue tacked into place as a guide to judge how to bulk up his shoulders and under arms.


Left side view


Rear view


Right side view

Having more or less decided on the pose (that is, running helter skelter for shelter :lol: ), I puttied his arms into position with bondite. I had also removed his hood which I felt was too far out of position down his back. I rebuilt the hood around his shoulder and back of the neck with putty. I also repositioned his left wrist to seem as if he is holding his helmet down by its edge. The outcome of these changes can be seen in the following pics:-



His head has a slight off center tilt to give him sense of movement.








His boots were plain and featureless, so I scribed in the joint lines at the sides.




And the result after priming:-





Sometimes, I don't know whether he wants to be a German or American. His helmet looks kinda Germanish at times...

Let there be Technicolour :)


I used Tamiyas flat flesh, red, yellow & earth to paint his face. The colours were built up layer by layer and blended as best I could with Tamiya paints.






The helmet is painted in.






And here’s where take a break for now... :)

Thanks for looking in.

As usual, comments & questions welcome.

Cheers and happy modelling :)

Hi Pooh Bear

I think his right armpit is kinda bulky and could do with more folds.

sllim

(but me no figure maker wor.....)

Dr. FrankenPooh at work. :D Just kidding. Pretty good work and some nice progress since I last saw him. Now that he has some color on his face I would say you did good work resculpting his face. The jaw line came out well and thanks to you he actually has features.

I like what you did with the overall dynamic stance and pose. The twist of the head is a nice touch. This is definitely not an easy fig to rework. First he has hardly any detail to shout about, his boots being living proof and some of the folds are in the wrong places. Personally I wouldn't worry about re-doing to many of the folds. Besides he's just painting practice. The most I would add is a bit of dents on his helmet for detail. Just a thought.

The face tones came out fairly well albeit a tiny, wee bit on the tanned side. May just be the photos though. Easily remedied enough by giving him more highlights on the upper cheeks and just underneath the eyes leading to the bridge of the nose. Some highlights to the nose and the chin just underneath the lower lip will give the face more definition. Thin layers of just flesh with the last few highlights having a tinge of white should do it.

Definitely off to a very good start and pushing the limits of this figure.

wait.... you said 1/25..interesting, I don't even know Mr T have such a scale... good work so far, Looking forward for more update.

sllim, CK, masterqq - thanks for the helpful comments, guys. Definitely things to consider when working on this guy. :)

Thomas - yup, 1/25 is what it says on the box. Mr.T came out with a whole series of it back in the late 70's / early 80's - US Infantryman, German Infantryman, General Patton etc. to name a few. Think they're all long time OOP though.


cheers :)

Poohbear you brave boy!

To start with figure painting ,you had to choose such an awful figure. Seriously you're doing quite okay. You saved the face. Everything else has to be re-worked, which you have started, even the helmet is of the wrong shape.

Details on a good sculpted figure are a dream to paint. The sharpness in the ridges and folds help in the seperation of colors from one item to another.

The molding 30 years ago didn't provide such sharpness that's why your guys tunic, belts and all seem to merge into one another. One way is to sand away all detail and re-work just as CPTan did with his figures or to deepen the details on the existing figure. You've decided to add on where neccessary, also a good idea but be careful with the build up or he'll be ready for winter. Whew! Lots of work, that's why I says you damn brave.

Judging by what you've done with the face and progress together with the comical comments, you're enjoying it and that's good. Most spoilt modelers nowadays want everything perfect or else they won't build.

Soon you'll be called Mr Versatile who builds all genres. :D

Great work,
Richard.

Thanks for the kind words, Richard :)

I tried to add some sharpness by carving out some undercuts (eg the tunic flare, wrist cuffs, inner collar, etc.) and fold recesses on his pants calfs. For his parka, since his body was undersized to begin with, I just bondite'd the whole thing and build up a few folds on top of that.

Yes, this guy is actually lots of fun to do. Gaining a lot of experience from the effort. :)

BTW, does anyone know if his parka is suitable for winter use? Or is it only good for keeping the rain out?
Sorry, I'm not familiar with US army uniforms...

cheers and thanks again. :)

Jason I'm not familiar with US uniforms in WWII but best I can make out your creation is wearing a M1943 jacket which had a provision for a hood. It can be lined for winter wear.
M1943 Field Jacket

Ooops...had to edit my earlier description as I noticed the additional set of 2 pockets below the waist.

Thanks for the info CK. :)

Bear-bear,

Be carefull... U're stepping into figure sculpting now :D

Now U know how much fun doing re-posing, new face, detailing figure heheheh....

By the way, the figure posing came out very good :lol:


CPTan

Thanks for the kind words CP :)

I can see why you guys are really into figures and modding - interesting and challenging at the same time.

cheers and happy modelling :)

Nice! Quite a fair bit of progress since I last saw it at Cineleisure. I have an even older Tamiya 1/25 figure. It's metal so it'll be a b*tch to re-pose or 'sharpen' the details. :lol:

Thanks Adrian. :)

Is your 1/25 metal figure of the German Infantryman? They had him in plastic too and I think the molding on that one is a little better than on this US infantryman.

cheers :)

Heyyy...

Wadda yer know.... We have a new figure sculptor in town !!!

Like the new dynamic pose u gave to the figure. Looking forward to yr postings.

Keep it up, PoohBear.

:D :D :D

Just small timer only, Sonny. hehe

Thanks for the kind words. :)

Little bit of progress and update...


Painted in the hands, belt and inner shirt.


Painted in the jacket with base and basic shadow / highlight.


Same as above from different angle.


Added deeper shadows and highlight to the jacket.










Low angle for a view of the face.


Here comes the X-men! :D The suspender straps are from Tamiya tape.




Note the chin strap. I added this for fun and from memory. More on the chin strap later. :P


Itsy bitsy suspender strap buckles.


The suspender straps are painted in.






Side profile with a clear view of the chin strap. Remember I mentioned there's more about the chin strap? Well, I found (the trouble with references :lol:) it looked a little different than what my imagination brought about earlier which leads to...


...redoing the straps on the helmet. Added the 'A' strap to the left side. The strap buckle is made from thin fuse wire. The front and rear straps are added in too.


For the right side, I reconstructed the A-strap, shortened the original chin strap and re-attached it to the newly made A strap.


The helmet details are painted in.


The helmet detail on the left side gets painted too.


Low angle view.


Here come the screaming eagles.





To be continued...

Thanks for viewing.

Comments / questions welcome.

Cheers and happy modelling :)

Yup, with all this detailing Tamiya may just ask for your fig as a master for a significantly improved retool of their original, horribly molded kit. :) Just make sure they pay you in $$$ and not model kits, although their new Zero isn't too bad.

The screaming eagles patch is a decal, right? Nooooo.....don't tell me you painted it. If you did I'll have to say them are one, mighty pair of steady hands. :D The straps are well done although the left one did not quite sit as well on the top shoulder as it molded itself over a fold. Very minor though.

Its probably the photos closeup but do the A-straps look a wee bit broad. All in all well done for breathing some life into this old and what was a poorly sculpted fig to begin with.

I doubt that very much... :lol:

I wouldn't mind a Zero at all :D

The screaming eagle patch is painted on. I don't have any decals for this guy. :P

Thanks for the constructive comments.

Cheers :)

Typical of me to do things the hard way, I added the ammo pouches and carry bag after the paint job :lol:

The recent additions were made from epoxy putty.








Thanks for looking in.

Cheers & happy modelling :)

Looking at the pouch and I'm sure CP will agree with me as well if he sees it that you have a hidden talent for sculpting. For that matter anyone who can paint a screaming eagles patch has a very steady pair of hands ideal for fig painting.

No exaggerations, no greasing but the pouch is well done. My first forays into sculpting started with pouches but they never look anywhere as good as yours. Something to consider coz you have a talent worth developing.

Haha CK, thanks for the kind words. No talent involved really. You'd agree if you saw how I went about doing it. :lol:

Probably one advantage to this guy is that he is big and so is somewhat easier to add stuff on.

Cheers :)

Hey, I've been away for a few days and Mr. Bear-bear shows up with his hidden talent in sculpting.... Heheheh

Seriously Bear, U are meant to be a figure modeller lar.... As Beach said, my first sculpting attempt also start with additional pouches on large scale figure, and they look super "eeeeaaack" compare to yours.

Personally I'd say it's good to start figure sculpting practice on a "medium" scale (to me: below 35 is small, 25 - 20 is medium, 16 and above are BIG lar), especually getting started with conversion as what U're doing now. At the end of the day, the progress and result (converted pose) will be amazing fun.

So Bear-bear, pls continue Ur interest in figures.... be it sculpting (or conversion) or painting... I can see U've talent in this area ;)

Lastly, I envy U having a pair of super steady hand to paint the screming eagle patch...


Regards,
CPTan

Thanks for the kind words CP. :)

Actually, it's more of laying on the detail rather than sculpt it. Unless that counts as sculpting? hehe...

With you guys inspiring work, I'm sure there'll be more figures to come. ;)

Thanks again.

Cheers and happy modelling :)

Mmmmm... yummy, my hundred acre woods resident.
I have to agree that the pouch looks absolutely good. Seem to have a lot of spare time on your hand have you? Strap rings in EPOXY!

Strap rings in epoxy ain't so bad. :D

Doing rings with wire is fun too...


...added grenade pull ring.


The grenade is mounted on. Note the shoulder strap rings in metal. Proof that I don't use epoxy only for strap rings. :lol: :D


New addition of strap ring on the pouch side in this and the pic above.

Thanks for viewing.

Cheers & happy modelling :)

:blink: :blink: WOW!

love the ammo pouches

Thanks modelstarter :)

Small update:-

Here's the M1 all done up. The swivel and buckle are from thin wire and the strap is from tamiya masking tape.


Ammo pouches and carry bag are painted in. The rifle is glued on too.


And here's some yummy chocolate ice-cream cake for the base :lol:


Thanks for looking in.

Cheers :)

Nice update, Bear bear.

Did CK have a chance to tell about the wooden base I'm offering? It's the same size that I've us efor Tok Janggut... I think it suits Ur figure nicely.


CPTan

Thanks, CP.

Nope, haven't heard from CK about your offer. What's it about, then? :D

cheers :)

Mmm... brownies :lol: .

Great work on the figure, Poohbear. Love the details you've added.

Thanks for the kind words, Harman. :)

wow... love those microscopic details man... especially the ring for the grenade...

Thanks, Koo :)

Cheers and happy modelling :)

Eh...Master Pooh you've started the chocolate cake without me. :) and I was looking forward to baking again as its been sometime since my last one.

All in all coming along well. The offer to bake is still open though.

Many thanks for the offer, CK :D

Figured that I'll have to bake cakes sooner or later. And now's probably a good time as any to start. Besides, this trooper wannabe isn't yummy enough to serve as topping for Beachbum's famous flavoured ice-cream shortcake. ;)

I'll take your offer if my cake falls short, okay? B)

cheers :)

...and with a sprinkle of icing on the cake, he's done. :)



Hope you enjoyed this build and thanks for all the encouragement and advise.

More pics in this thread

Cheers and happy modelling :)