James O'Leary's "Charlie Don'T Surf" projects

[JamesOLeary]

I decided to use the squad leader figure from the Resupply Day Shenanigans diorama to be the platoon leader figure who is going to be writing some stuff down on a notepad. He's not completed yet, but hopefully he will be this weekend. So far I have the jungle fatigues and boots painted, the face and arms, and the government issue ink pen painted. I still have to paint the boonie hat and dirty up the uniform and boots.

With magnification from the cropping of the photos, the left eye looks kind of jacked up, but at normal viewing distance at the figure's actual 1/35th scale size it looks OK. It's weird how it works out that way.

I realized that there is a slight gap between the head and the t-shirt. I filled that in last night and will paint over the putty tonight.

This first photo is of the figure before I finished painting the arms and hands.

 

[jknaus]

Looks cool. I know what you mean by the camera seeing things we dont. Could you take a pic or 2 from further away to give more of an idea at what you see? I still havent got shadowing and highlighting down yet and although it looks good to my eyes seems washed out to others. You have a strong shadowing and I'd like to see it as you would. I might be able to pick up some tips from that. Thanks, and again very cool.
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

The platoon sergeant figure is based off of the new Bravo 6 release of kit 35040 of the Green Beret Colonel. The first pattern jungle fatigues are beautifully rendered. I replaced the head with a Hornet head. I cut off the left forearm and repositioned the upper arm from how it was originally intended in the kit. I added the pointing left arm from the SSG Barnes figure from Bravo 6 as well as using the right arm from that same kit with the flash suppressor changed out to make an XM177E2. I used the boonie hat and claymore mine bag from the Rah figure from Bravo 6 in addition to some gear from Hobby Fan. The boonie hat and right arm are not attached yet as they will be after painting of the main body is completed. They are just positioned to give an idea as to what the figure will look like.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Other figures will include this guy that is the one trying to get away from the water buffalo. He is based on a Hobby Fan figure. The green putty on his left arm is for the 9th Infantry Division patch. he will be carrying an M16 in his left hand.

The RTO from Bravo 6 will be the RTO for this diorama. The water buffalo is a converted Doug's Original. This diorama will include several Vietnamese children and an adult or two. I think this will be a very fun diorama to build.

Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

Neat idea!! Looks well thought out James.

 

[shawngehling]

James,
It's really coming together Bro...
Looks great.
Shawn

 

[JamesOLeary]

Looks cool. I know what you mean by the camera seeing things we dont. Could you take a pic or 2 from further away to give more of an idea at what you see? I still havent got shadowing and highlighting down yet and although it looks good to my eyes seems washed out to others. You have a strong shadowing and I'd like to see it as you would. I might be able to pick up some tips from that. Thanks, and again very cool.
James

James,
I'll have to give that a try. What I have been doing is taking a picture about a foot away, but then I crop it so the picture file isn't so large which results in a picture that looks like a close up. I'll try taking them from further back and see what happens when I crop them. In the diorama concept photo, the figures look like they do when viewed in real life.

Thanks for the comments Shawn and Moon Puppy. We'll see how it turns out.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

This past weekend I was able to get alot of painting done in a short amount of time. I finished the Platoon Leader figure minus the dirt that will be added when connected to the base. Pretty uch the only thing I had to paint to complete him was the locally manufactured boonie hat.

 

[Sharkmouth]

Excellent figure work.

If I may, how would you handle sweat stains? I have a figure in mind for an in action Egyptian AMX-13/75 turreted M4A4/A2 Hybrid and the crewman inside is sweating up a storm. After all, he is facing the IDF!

Regards,

 

[JamesOLeary]

Next, I was also able to complete a figure of a Vietnamese boy which is a conversion of the Iraqi kid from the Masterbox Iraq Kit 2. The head is from the Verlinden kit of the two kids riding an elephant. A smile was carved into the face. In the 2d picture I noticed two spots of the khaki color on the left side of the face where my brush must have accidentally touched the face. After seeing that, I corrected it by painting it over with flesh tones. Something I noticed about painting the civilian figures is that they don't seem to take as long to paint because I'm not trying to obtain a particular shade of color nor do I have to paint equipment. I knocked out the painting of this figure in one day. Military figures usually take at least four days for me to complete.

 

[JamesOLeary]

And finally from this past weekend is the figure of the Vietnamese boy in the water with the water buffalo. The figure's torso, head (with hair added with putty), and arms are from the Verlinden kit of the kids riding the elephant. The bottom part is from the Verlinden Vietnamese Civilians kit. The pictures of the front of the figure did not come out well, so here are the best two. The figure is only about 80% finished, but will probably be finished over the next several evenings so I can paint some other figures this upcoming weekend.

Well, that's all I have for now.
Take care and happy modeling!
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

Excellent figure work.

If I may, how would you handle sweat stains? I have a figure in mind for an in action Egyptian AMX-13/75 turreted M4A4/A2 Hybrid and the crewman inside is sweating up a storm. After all, he is facing the IDF!

Regards,

What I do is paint, shade, and highlight the figure as normal, then with a very dilluted wash of one of the mid shadow colors, apply the wash to the areas where the sweat needs to be. For my "Hot Chow" vignette I was using enamels but now I use acrylics and have found them to be easier to use for such effects. You might have to apply the wash a few times to get the right look for whatever color you may be using. I'd be seating up a storm too if I were an Egyptian facing the IDF.

 

[Jogy]

Good work on the figures, the extra sculpting gives it a beter interaction. Nice to follow.

Grtz

 

[JamesOLeary]

I got some painting this past weekend. I worked on the Platoon Sergeant figure. I wanted to depict that he had taken cover during a previous contact with the enemy an hour or so prior to the scene in the diorama taking place, so I added some drying mud colors to his uniform and equipment while applying darker, wet mud to his boots. I still have some more painting to do such as the boonie hat, the canteen caps, the arms, the XM177E2, and toning down the seams of the uniform. In the first picture, the figure is shown without mud on the boots. The rest are with mud.

Cheers,
James

 

[MrT]

Really great work James.

Terry

 

[moon puppy]

Great expression on his face James, well done!

 

[shawngehling]

James,
Amazing as always Bro...
Shawn

 

[jknaus]

I echo the comments. Very nicely done.
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Well, I have this figure pretty much completed. There may be a few things that I will touch up after I get the figure mounted to the base, but this is what he looks like now.

I wanted to make this figure look like he had been in a firefight in a muddy area earlier that day. I think he turned out fairly convincing in regards to what my current abilities are. Notice how he has dried mud onthe front of his uniform and partially on the sides, his elbows are dirty as well as the inside of his left hand. The fore stock on his XM177E2 is muddy where he had placed his left hand and there is some dirt on the buttstock. There is also a muddy spot where the buttstock had been in his shoulder. His boots are still dark in places as that mud is thicker from walking around and hasn't quite dried due to the wetter ground. To get this effect, I looked at old pictures of my dad in Vietnam after being in firefights in the mud as well as old pictures of me in the Marines and the Army after being muddy.

 

[JamesOLeary]

And here is a picture showing the contrast between a figure prior to the mud treatment and after.

I doubt that the clean figure will receive quite as much mud as I really hate to impact that finish. But I'll have to see what I decide once I get to that part of the project.

Cheers,
James