Hi folks.
New release from Mookies Miniatures

1/12th scale

Glider pilot Arnhem 1944.

Sculpted by Steve Leadley and cast by Rob Simpson.

To aid the painter decals will be included for the glidee pilot shoulder titles,Made by Steve Leadley.

Available from us at £14 including postage in u.k.Overseas at cost.

Not listed on our website yet but anybody who is interested can contact me on e.mail below.

richard.pearce91@yahoo.com

Cheers from Richard

Great bust!!

Thank you Kevin,I did 2 box art versions,Got Peter to do one to lift him after having Covid 19.
Richard

Yes the guys did a good job indeed,Steves always does his bases for his bust creations i believe,Unique and a nice idea.
Rich.

The Africa Star ribbon would be a good one for a 1st Airborne Div pilot, Kev.

1st Airborne's first actions were in Tunisia against Fallschirmjager troops (see Osprey MAA German Airborne Troops by Bruce Quarrie for details, sure you've got that one in your library), & then jumped over Sicily in 1943 - that's why the Staffords & King's Own Border were allowed to wear the Glider flash, as 2/South Staffords & 1/Border were the glider troops in the Division, so an Italy Star ribbon might be appropriate too.

HTH,
Chris

Kev,

Got one for you - Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork DFM. He was decorated for landing the first glider on the DZ at Pegasus Bridge, Normandy in the early hours of 6th June 1944 carrying troops of The Ox & Bucks Light Infantry to take the bridge.

His first attempt at landing ripped the undercarriage off his Horsa glider, so he pulled up & went round again, this time deploying a parachute to slow the glider down for a second attempt. This was successful, but the glider was wrecked in the process & Wallwork & his co-pilot were injured. But the glider came to rest within yards of the bridge, & the infantrymen they carried were able to rush the target & take it by surprise. Wallwork was awarded the DFM for this outstanding feat of flying skill, which the RAF had not thought was possible.

Once on the ground at Pegasus Bridge, Wallwork & his co-pilot carried ammunition for the Ox & Bucks LI until the bridge was relieved. He went on to fly a glider into Arnhem in September 1944, where he fought as an infantryman after landing, & the Rhine Crossing in March 1945. He had also taken part in the first British glider assault in Sicily in 1943, so was entitled to wear the ribbons of all the major European campaign medals & the Africa Star. One of the photos available of Wallwork shows him wearing his glider pilot's wings on his battledress blouse, plus the Africa Star ribbon by itself so presumably this was taken before D-Day.

I suppose technically you could paint the bust as being of Wallwork (the facial features do look very similar), & have him wearing both the DFM & Africa Star ribbons & maybe the France & Germany Star too, but I'm going to settle for the Africa Star by itself on mine - Richard tells me he's put the bust in the post to me today, looking forward to seeing it!

HTH,
Chris

In full camo, when sitting on a cane chair, you don't see hiù

I remember my grandad telling me that he didn't actually receive the medals he was due (39-45 Star, Defence Medal, France and Germany Star and the War Medal), until after the war, once he'd been demobbed. Not sure if this was the case for all servicemen..?

My Dad never received his either, & he wasn't demobbed until 1946. He never bothered to apply for them after the war, I suppose most people just wanted to get home & forget all about what they'd experienced. He was 2/5th Sherwood Foresters & Royal Signals, remustered out of the infantry after being medically downgraded in late 1942/early 1943 & retrained as a R Sigs telegraphist & posted to West Africa (he only had one eye, had been blind in his right eye since birth but they never bothered about this at his conscription medical & passed him fit for infantry service. When 2/5th Foresters were about to embark for North Africa as part of the Operation Torch landings with 1st Army, his embarkation medical was a bit more thorough & he was downgraded).

Dad finished his war in NW Europe with the Royal Signals detachment of 8th AGRA (Army Group Royal Artillery) which was an artillery brigade of 2 Medium & 1 Heavy Regiment at the disposal of HQ 21st Army Group for fire support to Corps/Divisions as required. His war ended at Neumunster in Northern Germany on VE Day, but he had to soldier on until 1946 & finally ended up as acting Foreman of Signals in a signals security unit in Minden.

Around 1982 when I was serving in the Army myself, I asked him why he'd never claimed his medals & he said it had never occurred to him to do it. I applied to the Army Medal Office at Droitwich on his behalf, & they told me he was entitled to the Defence Medal & 1939-45 War Medal so they were duly sent to me. I always felt he'd been unfairly treated because I thought he should have received the France & Germany Star as well, having served in Belgium & Northern Germany in 1944-45, but maybe his service record hadn't been amended somewhere along the way. I was going to have the medals court mounted for him, but he still wasn't that bothered about having them so I donated them to a WO2 in the RRF (I was attached to 3RRF in Belfast at the time) who was a medal collector, & Dad was quite happy with this arrangement.
Neither of the medals were worth that much, because WW2 medals weren't engraved with the name, rank & service number of the recipient unlike WW1 & post-WW2 issued ones.

Sorry to have rambled on a bit here, but I felt it was an appropriate & relevant memory to add to your post above, Steve. KTF!

This a 3D sculpt of a 1/12 meaning = to a 150mm toes to nose
The painting is done as if it was a 2D comic strip of the 60ies Buffet style or Russian propaganda art Stalin period
So I can absoluty not see any quality of sculpting expected at this size, it's completely concealed by the 2D rendering
Better to show an unpainted piece

My mistake
the application of large brushed lines on the shirt is like seing a straw chair ( not cane chair )

Richard & Steve,

My bust arrived this morning, just unwrapped it & what a super piece it is! Great sculpting & casting - I particularly like the Horsa glider plinth base, & the decals are crisply printed. I like the inclusion of 2 sets of decals in case one gets messed up, nice touch that. Superbly packed as well, lovely box art photo & the whole package was very competitively priced. I'll certainly be ordering from you again - Highly Recommended!

I ordered this piece (plus a few other items as well...…) for myself, as it's my 60th birthday on Monday 8th June, & I have to say it's one of the nicest birthday presents I've received. Thanks a lot for your great service Richard, & thanks also to Steve for his outstanding sculpting skills; this will be a pleasure to paint & I'm really looking forward to it.

Cheers & KTF,
Chris

Our pleasure Chris.Glad you like the bust which is a combined effort from Steve,Peter,Richard at Oakwood.
Be great to see your painted version.
Enjoy the painting.
Richard and Helen.