Hi everyone, i'm back

At Euro this year i was very pleased to buy this lovely figure from the Black Sheep Miniatures stall

after clean-up and undercoating I went back over the fig and tidied it up and filled the eye holes as i want to paint eyes on this chap!

i've never painted a Dennison smock so any comments and help will be appreciated...

also this is my 23 figure using Acrylics, which i tried for the first time one year ago! I gotta say the transition from enamels and oil was suprisingly painless and i like how acrylics perform.

anyhoo here's a pic of our fellow before i primed.

tommorow i will start the eyes and head, with that bowler to follow


:_|

thanks Carl!

it was the bowler and brolly that just made this figure for me

Mark

Mark, looking forward to following this thread, great figure.
How about removing the gun and painting him as a modern day Banker sneaking off to work and he's so ashamed he tells everyone he works on a building site
Cheers Ken

What a unique figure Mark. Presumably it is inspired by that memorable scene of the Para officer on Arnhem Bridge in "A Bridge Too Far"?? Was that based on an actual event or just a bit of Hollywood make believe?

You're off to a good start. I'll be following your progress with interest.

cool figure Mark, love the bowler hat

Thanks Carl this is much needed by me as I have the 1/16 Black Watch Sniper
to paint and the heads up will do me a lot of good as reference. RobH.

Re: Arnhem Para Officer

The officer with the brolly did actually exist, he wasn't just a character created for the film. His name was Major Digby Tatham-Warter, & he gets quite a few mentions in Cornelius Ryan's "A Bridge Too Far" on which the film was based - this was the classic account of Arnhem until more recent books like "It Never Snows in September" by Robert Kershaw provided more recently-researched information.
A photo of Tatham-Warter appears in "A Bridge Too Far" & his exploits are described in detail; it's a long time since I last read the book, but IIRC he didn't wear a bowler hat. He certainly carried the brolly during the battle though, as stated in the film it was a personal recognition sign so his troops would be able to identify him. A great British eccentric!

Cheers,
Chris

Hi Mark,

What a great figure, is the sculptor Stuart Hale?

Chris is right, the character in the film was meant to be Major Digby Tatham-Warter, but what you see in the film is only the half of it! You can read a short biography of him on the Pegasus Archive here:

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/tatham_warter.htm

...of particular note is the way he disabled an armoured car with his umbrella by thrusting it through the vision slit and incapacitating the driver! And although for most of the battle he wore his red beret, he did indeed find and wear a bowler hat!

Cheers,
Jon.

Hi everybody,
Glad you like the figure and that the link is there to show that he did wear the bowler hat.
Once I read the article all other projects were stopped and full steam ahead for its euro release,under the black sheep range it is only available at shows.

cheers
stuart

What a great looking figure! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Okay...I want one!

Who can tell me how or where to get one of these figures?

Thanks,
Steve

engeee@aol.com

Ken .... cheers banker indeed

Carl ....

Tony ... many thanks, and see the other replies as to our fellow

Rob ... thanks and it was the bowler that decided me on this figure.

Chris ... cheers for the info

Jon. ... thanks for more info

Stuart ... thanks for sculpting him

Brent ... many thanks

Steve ... see carls post

Carl ... hello again

thanks for all the comments and input everyone




so i've got the face about 2/3 of the way to finished and it's blu tacked on to check context and general look, with the neck stretched out like that it was hard to tell if it was ok.

Mark,
Great start on this funny looking figure!

Cheers,
Marcel.

The figure is looking good. What an an amazing man. His story would make a wonderful film.

Did I misunderstand?

Carl,
It was my understanding that this version included the Brolley and Battle Bowler???
I've seen the "Para" version available many places, but no where with the alt. details.

Did I misunderstand? Was this a conversion done by the one and only "gothicgeek" or is it available in kit form with the hat and umbrella?

Now I'm really confused...

Steve

Re: Arnhem Para Officer

Mark,

Great work so far, you've captured the face of a man who'd spent a few too many days at John Frost Bridge so well! One other detail on the figure I like a lot - just noticed the shell dressing hanging from his left epaulette, you see this in many Arnhem photos. Superb figure, let's see more!

Cheers,
Chris