Just recently completed another bust from Young Miniatures,this one is the german fieldgendarme WW2.
Before starting the kit i had the idea of portraying him in front of some road signs,i recently saw a picture showing a fieldgendarme attached to an SS motorized division directing movements perhaps at a road junction.
I feel we modelers are very limited when displaying busts as you cant incorporate any ground features or buildings,however what i wanted to portray here was part of the wooden telegrapgh pole behind the bust with the road signs appearing above head height hopefully giving the impression that this is only part of the pole ,i'm getting confused trying to describe this,i will leave my fellow modelers to cast their judgement on this.
The road signs are from the Verlinden range and all i did with these was add some umber oil stains and micro balloons to simulate the snow.
As most of you will be aware by now i like to add some weathering to my subjects and i wanted add a light frosting of snow on the upper surfaces of the clothing and equipment where snow would fall and hold,this i added again with some micro balloons and titanium white oil paint,the photo i was working from showed this and i wanted to capture that moment,i cant show the photo because i've returned the book to my local library .
as for the helmet,alot of german soilders fighting in russia had their helmets white washed,after the wear and tear of campaign use the original helmet paintwork would start to show through,to accomplish this i undercoated the helmet in a steel grey colour followed by applications of white still allowing the steel colour to show through,once dry i applied applications of GW sepia / mud inks in thin washes,this was then followed by small applications of umber and sienna arround the helmet vents where dirty water would appear causing streaks,once this was completed and dry small applications of titanium white was added with small pieces of sponge applied with tweezers,i did add some microballoons to the top of the helmet as well.
All underpainting was done with acrylic paints and finished in oils.

Hope you like it,all critisism and coments most welcome.

Brian

Very clever and effective presentation. I like it a lot more than a lone bust. It wouoldn't work in every instance but it does here.....plus great snow effects!

Colin

Brian,

Very nice! I also like the snow!

Nick

Hi Brian, great weathering effects in the gendarme.
Particulary like very much the road signs behind, but I have a doubt, why you add an SS insignia in the helmet?

That looks really great brian and adds a new dimension to the bust with the road signs.
You may have set a precedent here ,figure looks great and the frost or harr on him works well.

Colin / Nick / Pedro - many thanks for your kind comentss.

Pedro - I saw this in a photograph and thats the only reason i added it,i looked this up on the internet because i thought they wer'e only attached to the wermacht but it seems some fieldgendarme,s wer'e attached to some SS divisions in russia and france,i will try to get hold of that book again and post the picture,i feel this may open a topic for disscussion

Brian

Thanks ron i'm glad you liked the signs i feel it adds something to the bust.

Great Brian, thanks!

Great work Brian a superb presentation of a great sculpt.

Regards

Ron

Ok pedro

Thanks ron,glad you liked it

Brian

Bloody brilliant Brian.....................end of!

Brilliant!!!
An excellent way to present a simple bust.
Adds depth to it effectively.

Cracking bust Brian and very different .


Cheers David

Brian, cracking idea, I thought of this for my recent bust duo but decided against ( I dont know why) I was going to attach the post directly to the bust's, as if they were leaning against it. You may have started something here, I think it gives the bust a story or theme. well done, Les

Great idea Brian and very well executed. Good to see you thinking outside the square and exploring the possibilities of posing busts with different backgrounds and props.

Several original idea in such a large scale.
I love this idea I can say excellent
Congatulation!!!

Alexandros

Excellent !! cool idea with the sign post stub.

Excellent! Looks like you've painted the bust and then you left a few hours in the freezer. The effect of frost is very real. It seems that winter continues over your workbench. I think the same as others, on the road signs, good idea.

http://www.mininet.tv/egminiatures.html

10/10 Brian , the road sign post looks the nuts !!
Sam B