Bought this guy and thought I'd try to change his pose a bit.
Originally the GPMG was over his shoulder but I thought, being a Para, he might strike a pose in front of a lens!
I think it looks ok the weapon will be away from his helmet and he must have wrists of steel to hold it that way but I reckon It will seem natural enough. Just need to work a wee bit on the cuffs at the wrist.
I painted European theatre DPm on two of the front pouches to break the desert cammo up a bit. the shirt, Osprey body armour and pouches all have different tonal variations (not noticable on the pics) to break up the uniformity. He still needs some attatchments and the prr radio finished. I haven't weathered the guy yet (only the green dpm pouches have been dry brushed dust), so he will look more grimy and dusty. (Thats my 1/35 armour background coming out again).
Comments welcome

Beautiful painting Grant !!

cheers

stefano

TY

Thanks Stefano.
That means a lot coming from such a great painter such as yourself.

Grant i like what you have done with the painting and the use of the DPM on the puches is a great idea to break up all that desert cam, like you i had to think up ways to get away from a monotone colour sceme, i also notice you went for a 3 Para option by his DZ patch.
As for the Gimpy being held in that position it would be feesable if the right arm was bent with the forearm vertical so it could take the weight off the wrist, the Gimpy comes in at around 25lb in weight from what i remember and i for one cant ever remember trying to hold it in that position so i cant say for certain wether it would work or not.
I do like your thoughts on making the bust more unique and to your own making though.

I will follow this one with interest mate

All the best,

Steve

Ty

Hi Steve,
I went for 3 Para after reading the book of the same name.
Yup. 25lbs is about bang on for this bad boy. I was given an LMG on my first exercise in Denmark being the junior member, even that weighed some. I hadn't even been trained on it and I didn't know the 12 magazines of 30 bullets each were to be distributed amongst the section. I sweated buckets that night till I blatted them all off at my section crossing the wrong side of the bridge I was covering.(That'll teach them.)
I crapped myself just altering the hand. My sculpting skills rank somewhere between a four and 5 year olds' so althought the forearm alteration is tempting it's way out of my league.
Many thanks for all your help with this guy. I really appreciate it.
Grant

Cool piece Grant, I like it a lot!!! Weldone!!!!

Ray

Awesome work

Howdy,
Awesome work. Where can you buy one of these busts? Any info would be great. Ryan

TY

Hi Ryan thanks for that.
The bust can be bought here:
http://www.120mini.com/index.php?p=1_2_Products

They also have a 1:10 BUST BRITISH L129A1 (Marksman Weapon) OPERATOR AFGHANISTAN OPERATION MOSHTARAK coming soon which I will probably buy.
Regards,
Grant

Hi Grant:

I looked at your images and really like the idea that you were willing to try
a conversion, altering the figure, re the position of the weapon. I've tried
minor conversions, and realize it isn't easy. Experience is the best teacher;
i.e. we do learn BEST, by doing. Your painting of the camo pattern and the
details are really well done. And I'm writing basically to encourage you to
continue converting figures. To me it is always more interesting to see
a modeler take a more creative approach, and yes there are difficulties and
problem areas doing that. But your continuing work at conversions will
pay off. Well done,

Jayhawk

Hi Grant,

Fantastic painting mate. You've really nailed the DPM.

In reference to the position of the GPMG, I have to agree with Steve's comments.

It's not just the weight of the gun that would make it difficult to hold steady in that position, but the weight is mainly in the barrel which makes the gun very barrell-heavy, and even harder to hold steady in this way.

I spent quite a long time carrying an M60 around, and although the GPMG is roughly the same weight, I still couldn't hold an M60 in this way, without damaging my wrist. Machine gunners don't generally hold their weapons in this way. They hold their gun in the most comfortable position they can, or they put it down on the ground.

Ty

Yes I see what you guys mean about the position of the mg being better. The forearm section would be better being abit more vertical also. Unfortunately the skill level of turning his hand and cutting/bending the hand is about my limit.
But maybe next time I'll do a bit more!