"Hootch Maid" Vietnam 1968

[JamesOLeary]

Since there is about a month left before the Tulsa Figure Show and I have only two projects completed and the M577 in progress, I figured that I would try to knock out a quick vignette that I had been planning on making for a while. It depicts a Vietnamese civilian woman who was hired to be a Hootch Maid sweeping huts and tents, cleaning uniforms, and cleaning and shining boots which is what she will be doing in this vignette. For a base I am using a base from Black Dog. The figure will be a converted one from Paracel Miniatures. I started on the base on Saturday - prepping and priming. Today I painted the base. It went more quickly than I thought it would which is good.

Here is the kit I used for the base and the basic layout of the vignette.



And this is what it looks like painted minus a few touch ups. Can anyone guess what may have been stored in the striped drum before it was filled with dirt and used as a protective barrier?



Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

 

[JamesOLeary]

Monday I painted the boots, some shined and others needing to be shined. Yesterday I glued them to the base.

 

[JamesOLeary]

This evening I attached the right arm onto the hootch maid after I sculpted the cloth wrapped around her first two fingers and hanging down. Those of you who are familiar with spit shining boots should appreciate this detail. I still need to make the can of shoe polish, buffing brush, and container of water.

 

[moon puppy]

I think it was 1985 I last did that...after that it was wipe it on the back of your pants leg to get the dust off, if that much!

Excellent James!

 

[centaur567]

Looking good and bringing back a lot of memories. Our last hootch maid was an older woman we called "Mama son". Real nice lady.Gary S.

 

[JamesOLeary]

I think it was 1985 I last did that...after that it was wipe it on the back of your pants leg to get the dust off, if that much!

Excellent James!

Most of the time if I shined my boots, it was just a brush shine. Then once we got the Desert boots I no longer had to do even that.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Looking good and bringing back a lot of memories. Our last hootch maid was an older woman we called "Mama son". Real nice lady.Gary S.

Thanks, Gary.

I hope they are the more pleasant type of memories that are coming back. I try to invoke the better memories through my work.

My dad told me about some of the hootch maids they had. At one time they had an older msmma san and her daughter who used to bring an iguana to work with her every day. One day after my dad had returned from flying out to pay units in the field, his First Sergeant actually cut him some slack and let him go to his hootch to take a nap before going on bunker guard. My dad woke up to the flicking tounge of the iguana that was on his chest and looking him in the face. He chased the girl and her iguana down the company street. She was laughing pretty hard because she thought it was funny.

 

[moon puppy]

She was laughing pretty hard because she thought it was funny.

She was right!

 

[sharkman]

This is looking great James!

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks, Saul.

I started painting the hootch maid, but I haven't taken any photos of her yet. Because of the way her arms are positioned, her face and the front of her blouse are going to be challenging to paint.

In order to make some progress I made an open can of Kiwi shoe polish that is painted to give the impression of a period correct can. The reason it is just an "impression" is because it is so small that there is no way I can paint any letters on that lid.



Now I just need to make the dauber and a brush. And finish painting the hootch maid. I hope to have this finished soon.

 

[moon puppy]

Nice, looks passible to me, if a judge can try to ding it for not being spelled out he can stuff it.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Tonight I finished painting the hootch maid. After looking at the photos, I might touch up the face, but she is done for the most part. Because of the positioning of the arms and boot it was pretty challenging to paint her face and the front of her blouse.



I also made the buffing brush and dauber. I will paint those tomorrow and will glue the figure and those final accessories onto the base.

 

[moon puppy]

Well done James, skin tones are excellent!

 

[Rhino]

Consistently stunning!

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks, guys.

I just completed the vignette a little while ago and took some preliminary photos to see what needs to be touched up. I will take better photos whenever I set up my portable photobooth.

Details to note would be the can and lid of Kiwi shoe polish, dauber, buffer brush, and C-ration can holding the water for spit shining.

 

[moon puppy]

The detail of her feet (no I don't have a thing) are something to note. Outstanding Steve!

 

[Rhino]

First, I applaud the attention to detail and authenticity. Second, I imagine most of the subjects you make come from personal recollection.
Third, you get a gold star for building in 1/35 instead of succumbing to the temptation of 1/16. I don't want to slobber all over your posts, but even the mundane becomes artwork for all of us to admire.
Do you enter these in contests? If so where? Seeing such a thing in person would be a treat for the eye-bobbers!
Well done, indeed!

Are we sure Bob doesn't have a foot fetish?

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks, guys.

Not sure if Bob has a foot fetish or not, but hopefully a judge at a show will. Lol.

Most of my subjects do usually have some elements of personal recollection associated with them. I try to match up events and situations that happened in Vietnam to people I know with similar events and situations that I experienced at some point during my 28 years in the military. I think that enables me to select just the right amount and types of details to each project without overdoing it and to give each piece a certain feel or life to it.

I am going to stick with 1/35 rather than getting swept away with the 1/16 trend that has started. Sure, one can have better detail with the larger scale, but larger stuff takes up more room and I would imagine would be much harder to transport to shows.

I do attend shows, but not as many as I used to due to my wife having Parkinson's and me having to take care of my mom who has dementia and the onset of Alzheimers which doesn't allow me to be away for more than several hours at a time. I used to go to the shows in San Antonio, Austin, Arlington, and Dallas, TX as well as the Tulsa Figure Show and the Oklahoma City AMPS/IPMS shows. Now, for the past few years I have only been able to attend the Tulsa Figure Show and the OKC Show as those are turn and burns. I would have liked to have been able to take Jim Rice's class of painting faces quickly the Thursday and Friday before the Tulsa Figure Show but there is no way I can be gone that long and bringing my mom anywhere outside of the local area is not feasible. I have been wanting to attend the Winterblitz show at College Station, TX for the past couple of years. Hopefully, if the weather is good enough next winter I might be able to attend that one, too.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

James, I am really sorry to hear about your mom and wife. I have some idea of how hard that is as years ago my wife had a stroke which disabled her in a weird way and then she ended up with cancer a few months later. Later on my dad ended up with Alzheimer's. He did very well up until about the last 9 months where my mom had to put him into a nursing facility. Hopefully you have friends and family that can help out at least a little. At some point I plan on moving back to Tulsa, and hopefully I will be able to make the regionals over there next April.