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

[JamesOLeary]

Shawn,

I can't thank you enough for turning me on to this site. I've been on a few others over the years and this one is by far the best overall.

It's a good thing that things were kind of slow today at work as I spent alot of time filling up this thread and looking at others. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to look at everything.

Pick my brain anytime. I'll be glad to explain how I do things. Some may work for others and some may not.

Don't worry, the wife isn't mad at you for getting me motivated into starting the hobby up again. She enjoys going to the shows with me, and since we have one coming up in October, she is quite happy about it. Plus, this hobby is slightly cheaper than the ammo I had been going through keeping those skills sharp.

I just may do some "how to's" when I have some time to do so.

Have a good one!
James

 

[moon puppy]

Great looking stuff James. Now these are completed figures that you had done in the past. That big'o stack of stuff you posted earlier, that for the "Charlie Don't Surf" Group Build?

 

[JamesOLeary]

These figures are in the stack of stuff in the opening picture. The platoon sergeant figure started out as that New World Miniatures Special Forces guy on the top of the stack and the Boonie Rat started out as one of the Bravo 6 "Jungle Make Up" guys on the bottom of the stack. Shawn had told me about the build and that you have to have a picture of stuff showing the date when you started, so I had taken that picture and started building before I got around to becoming a member. I was on leave and tried to build and paint as much as I could. I have very slow dial up where I live, so I figured it was best to spend my time at home on modeling and do the internet stuff when I got back to work where the internet was faster. I'm doing a collection of "The Vietnam Experience in Miniature", so there are going to be more figures and vignettes as the months go on.

 

[modelguru]

Hoooo Raaaahhhhh Those figs look amazing they are more like a real person than a miniature.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks, Modelguru.

I try to come up with figure ideas and poses that are as realistic as posible. Before I briefly left the hobby to go to sandy places like Iraq, I had started sculpting some of my own figures (minus the heads - I still haven't gotten the hang of that yet) because the manufactured figures just didn't fit into what I wanted to portray or they didn't have the details of the actual uniforms and equipment quite right. Now that Bravo 6 is on the market, I will probably be doing more conversions than sculpting because the Bravo 6 figures are so well done. It helps that I have all of the uniforms and equipment for references and have served in Reconnaissance and Infantry units over the past 22 years so I know what it is like to hump heavy rucks up and down hills and in a multitude of environments to get that right "look" for the scenes.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Here are the next two figures that I plan on starting. One is going to be a conversion of the Bravo 6 AFV crewman being made into a 9th Infantry Division MP directing traffic on the "Thunder Road" and the other will be of one of my friends who was an Australian Infantry Scout in 1971.

Hopefully I'll get more involved in getting these two figures completed within the next couple of weeks. They are just in the planning and gathering of parts stage right now.

 

[shawngehling]

James,
The two new guys look pretty sweet the way they are, I can't wait to see
that you are going to do with them.
Shawn

 

[JamesOLeary]

Shawn,
You're right. They are sweet figures if they were built as they were intended. But since I don't have very good vehicle building skills, I realy don't have a need for an AFV Crewman right now so he's being made into an MP.
The other was originally one of the 1st CAV guys from Hobby Fan, but I'm going to convert him into an Australian Infantryman.
You know me, I can't build anything as it was intended to be built. I always have to change something.
James

 

[shawngehling]

James,
And usually for the better... :laugh:
Shawn

 

[JamesOLeary]

An idea popped into my head this past weekend that I'm going to put into the form of a vignette or diorama. I really won't have anything to take a picture of to make this unless if it is a picture of putty, blocks of resin, and brass rod and a handfull of Hornet heads as the bodies of the figures and most accessories will have to be built from scratch to get the poses that I want.

The scene will be titled "Resupply Day Shenanigans" and will feature at least 4 figures. There will be one Soldier who is the squad leader or platoon sergeant loading his rucksack or dividing up supplies. He will be looking in the direction of the others with a smirk on his face. Another Soldier will be laughing and pointing. In the non-pointing hand, he will have a can of shaving cream. A second laughing Soldier will have a stick with a couple leaves on the end. The "victim" that is being laughed at will be laying on an air matress with a hand full of shaving cream in one hand and some of it on his face. It's a play on that practical joke where you find someone who is in a deep sleep and put some shaving cream into their hand. Then you use something to tickle the person's face or otherwise make them rub their face with the hand of shaving cream. That usually wakes the person up.

I'll have the scenery include details that one would find during a resupply day. There will be a poncho hootch built over the sleeping Soldier. C-ration boxes, c-ration cans, Soda and Beer boxes, rucksacks, clothing drying, etc. will be placed in realistic locations in relation to the scene.

I probably won't get a chance to start on this until November, but I'm eager to get started. I think it should turn out quite well.

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Well, I finally started to work on the "Resupply Day Shenanigans" diorama this past weekend. The work mainly consisted of posing the figures that I'm going to be using.

While in the posing stage, I did decide on some changes from the original idea, and I'm sure I'll be making changes up until the projects completion. Instead of having the Soldier awaken and have the shaving cream on his face and people pointing and laughing, I'm going to model the Soldier asleep with one Soldier spraying shaving cream into one of his hands and another Soldier getting ready to use a stick with leaves on it to tickle his nose. The two Soldiers playing the joke will be kneeling beside the poncho hootch that the sleeping Solider is under. There will be some Soldiers watching the scene unfold while conducting various resupply day activities.

So far I have 3 standing figures, the two kneeling jokesters, and the sleeping Soldier posed out. I just need to add in the details and place the sleeping Soldier onto an air mattress once I am finsihed with the detail work on him. I am planning on addind a few more spectators. I took some preliminary photos, but I haven't downloaded them yet to see if they turned out good or not.

Hopefully I will have some photos up pretty soon.

 

[Jenny Croft]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Hi James , those figures look magnificent , Wow , great work . I am so sorry I have not replied earlier , with so many builds going on , occasionally a thread gets inadvertently looked over by me . I really am impressed by your high quality conversions .

Jenny :kiss:

 

[JamesOLeary]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Hi James , those figures look magnificent , Wow , great work . I am so sorry I have not replied earlier , with so many builds going on , occasionally a thread gets inadvertently looked over by me . I really am impressed by your high quality conversions .

Jenny :kiss:

Hello Jenny,

Thanks for your positive comments. With all of the threads showing off the collective talent of the members of this forum, I can see how easy it is to overlook a thread on occasion. I'm still looking for enough time to go through all of the threads and see all the great work that the forum members are showing and the new techniques that are out there to learn.

Hopefully, this next project, "Resuppy Day Shenanigans" will turn out well. It will show a lighter side to the conflict and how Soldiers sometimes deal with the boredom we experience between the moments of horrific action of combat.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Well, I have a few photos of the beginnings of this project. Like most of my figures and dioramas, I come up with an idea and then try to figure out if I have any figures that might be close to some of the poses I want. I go to my vast collection of figure parts and try to piece things together to minimize the amount of sculpting that I will need to do yet still have some good animation in the poses. Here is a picture that is an example of what I mean (in reality, it encompassed our dining room table while I searched for the right parts...and I'm still making changes as I find better arms, etc.) by going through the figures and parts that I have to try to come up with poses that will work for the scene. Based on this photo, there will be some parts that I will use for this project and others that I won't. As far as the figures go, I may cut them to pieces to convert them to something totally different that what they were originally attended for when they were in kit form. This will become more apparent as this build progresses

I just happened to find a figure body that is going to work for one of the figures I plan on having in this diorama. The torso and legs are from the Hobby Fan 81mm Mortar Crew kit. The arm is from a Hobby Fan kit that was in the parts box. The head is from Hornet. The hand holding the can is from Verlinden.

In this photo, I have added a right arm to the figure (from the Hobby Fan 173rd Airborne Recon Attack kit) and have used Squadron Green Putty to fill in the gaps and air holes in the resin. Another figure that will be in the background of the diorama is from Armand Bayardi of a GI urinating. I added some detail to the top slanted pockets and will be sculpting the proper cargo pockets. I changed out the boots of the kit with some from Legend or Coree that contained more detail to them. The head is going to be a converted Hornet head.

This next photo is going to be the Soldier who the prank is being pulled upon. He is made up of all kinds of parts. His legs are from the Bravo 6 figure of SGT O'Neil which was in the lower left corner of the first photo. The torso is from teh Hobby Fan Mechanized Infantry kit, the head is from Hornet's sleeping heads, and the arms are from Hobby Fan kits. I still have to do the putty work and sculpting, but this gives me the pose that I want. A mound of shaving cream is going to be placed into the right hand of this figure and after I finish the sculpting of the uniform details, he will be placed on a air mattress that I will be fashioning out of Miliput.

In the following photo, I am planning out the placement of the figures around the sleeping Soldier. The legs are from some Hobby Fan figures (the figure kit of 5 Marines at Hue City) which I chose because they have the correct jungle boot sole for the time period I am depicting (1967). I'm actually going to place them in the opposite positions than shown in this photo. The guy on the left side of the picture is going to be spraying shaving cream into the sleeping Soldier's hand and the one on the right is ready with a branch with a leaf on it to tickle his face causing him to put a handfull of shaving cream into his face. The sleeping Soldier will be inside a poncho hootch, so the two jokesters will be half in and half out from under the poncho hootch. Everyone else in the diorama will be placed so they are conducting various resupply day activities, but are aware of the shenanigans that are about to occur.

I plan on most of the figures in this diorama to be laughing or at least smirking about the shenanigans being performed. Here are some of the Hornet heads that I may use. I'm going to paint all of them separate from the bodies and just choose the one's that turn out best.

Hopefully this diorama turns out well. We'll just have to wait and see how it progresses.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Here is an update to what I have done on the "Resupply Day Shenanigans" diorama. I have the majority of the figures chosen and posed. I built up some areas with Squadron White Putty to bulk areas up prior to using Kneadatite for clothing additions and details. This first picture is a view of how I envision the basic layout of the diorama. The guys that are attached to the blocks of wood are not meant to be higher in elevation than the other figures, they are just attached to the wood in preparation of final sculpting of details (pockets and pocket flaps) and the addition of hands. As you can see, there is the sleeping Soldier. The Soldier to the left is bent over and will be spraying shaving cream into the right hand of the guy sleeping. The other kneeling Soldier will have a stick with leaves on it in his hand, waiting for his turn to tickle the sleeping man's face so he wipes the shaving cream all over it. There will be a poncho hootch constructed over the sleeping Soldier. There is a guy urinating in the background. To the right of the events going on in the poncho hootch, a group of Soldiers are in the process of dividing up supplies and loading rucksacks, etc. There will probably be a few more guys added to this group. The ammo crates shown are just placed there to give a general idea of the area where the supplies are going to be. These crates are not going to be used for this diorama as this squad is only armed with rifles and grenade launchers. They are all looking in the direction of the shenanigans that are taking place.

The next couple of pictures are of the trio under the poncho hootch where the shenangans are taking place. There is some putty work that still needs to be done.

This next photo is an overview of the guys doing the resupply. They are going to be adjusted better to fit the scene, but this is just to give a visual of the concept.

The resupply guys at eye level.

And them looking towards the trio at the poncho hootch.

And here is a change to the Squad Leader. I took the right arm that I was originally going to use on this guy and placed it on the shaving cream guy. The Squad Leader will now either be placing c-rations into a sock (sock with a couple cans in it in his right hand, another can to be added to the sock in his left hand) or will be taking M16 bandoleers out of an ammo can.

Once a new batch of Kneadatite arrives in the mail, I will start filling in uniform details and adding hair to the heads.

Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Looks like a very lively scene coming, thanks James.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

This past weekend, I got the chance to work on this diorama a bit. The figures are still a little rough, but they are coming along. I hope to have them ready for painting by January.

This is what I got done this past weekend:

I added pocket flaps to the squad leader's jungle fatigue shirt. I also added hair to the bare head that is going to be used for this figure. While the boonie hat is not attached to the head yet, this is what it will look like when it is.

Next is one of the guys conducting resupply activities. The white putty has been placed to fill in gaps and still needs to be shaped so the bottom of the shirt and pocket details can be added. The hair has been placed on the bald head.

This figure received an afro hair style for the bald head. There is also putty filling gaps which will be shaped later with belt details added in.

The figure of the guy spraying the shaving cream into the sleeping guy's hand received some hair for the bald head and additional putty to build up the indention in his back and to fill the gap where the torso meets the legs. This will be shaped better later with some lower pocket details added.

The last figure I got to work on was the sleeping Soldier. He's still a little rough, but I should be able to get him ready to paint over the next few evenings. I placed hair upon the bald head, placed a gob of shaving cream into his right hand (I assure you it will look like shaving cream once I paint it), placed the bottom portion of the t-shirt onto the body, built up some areas, and placed him upon a scratch built air mattress like those issued during Vietnam. I still need to put the air valve on the air mattress, but that shouldn't take long.

Well, that's all I have right now. Hopefully I will have more updates over the next couple of weeks.
Cheers,
James

 

[Sharkmouth]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

I love it!

Regards,

 

[Jogy]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Great work James, looking good all those figures. Kneadite ... is it the same as Green Stuff?

Johanna

 

[JamesOLeary]

Re: "Resupply Day Shenanigans"

Thanks, Saul and Johanna.

Johanna, yes, Kneadatite is the same as Green Stuff. This latest batch that I got was in the tube rather than in tape form.

Cheers,
James