Hello All,

Here is a figure vignette I did right before I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012. It depicts a Soldier from the 9th Infantry Division shortly after a firefight where a few VC were killed. The Soldier is signalling a thumbs up to his squad leader to indicate that he is OK and is also letting him now that "He got one" of the enemy Soldiers. The US Infantryman is a conversion of Bravo 6 figures. Acrylics were used to paint the figure as well as the "wedgie" of the dead VC. The ERDL camouflage pattern on the boonie hat was copied exactly using one that my dad brought back from Vietnam as the guide. The ejection port cover of the M16 is still open indicating that rounds were fired.

Sorry about the quality of the photos. They were the best I could do at the time.



























Cheers,
James

Very nice painting and great scenery.how did you make the plants?

Nice work, love the concept, only suggestion I would make is perhaps some darker shading of the back of the VC shirt to signify blood loss as looking at the wound size, you would think these would be exit wonds which are usually a fair size bigger than the entry wounds. - Just a thought.
But still, I love it well done.

Thanks for the comments Ralph and Marty.

Ralph, the plants are a mixture of preserved plants and paper plants from J's Model Works that came pre-colored. The tree type preserved plants came from a wreath I had bought at a Ben Frankin's store in Fairbanks, AK when I was stationed up there. I saw it with those plants and thought they would make good model foliage. I only bought one at the time and a couple weeks later had more money and went back to get the rest of them but they were all sold. I kept going back every so often until my assignment there was over and they never carried that kind of wreath with that particular type of plant ever again. Bummer, because I really like them.

Marty, how would you darken the shading of black if I already used the darkest black from the Vallejo Black Paint Set? There wouldn't be too much more of a blood stain on his back than there already is since he is face down and the blood is pretty much flowing from his chest, but a slightly larger dark stain would make it look better if I can make it work. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers,
James

To be honest James Im not sure, Im sure some one with far more experience than I could offer more suggestions but possibly by using an oil or enamel or even a different brand of acrylic?
But then again, I don't think its really worth worrying about, its still an excellent piece as it is.

Hello Marty,

I will probably leave this one as it is for now. However, I will keep using an oil or enamel in mind during future projects.

Cheers,
James

Very cool

Nice work James!

Great little scene there.


Cheer's,
Jeff.

Thanks Adrian and Jeff.

I am glad you like this vignette.

Cheers,
James

A very nice scene and very jungle like. Well done.
Cheers
John