RM1601 Resin, 4 figures plus groundwork. http://www.reedeesminiatures.co.uk/products/1-16-120mm







This excellent vignette, first in a series, was recently sculpted by Steve Reedees and is now available through his website. The historical photo below was used as his guide in creating this scene. It's not too often you find vignettes in 1/16 scale that are directly related to an actual photo and I think Steve pulled this one off superbly.







Using Steve's own words to describe the scene: " The first release is RM1601 which is taken from a photo taken 17 September 1944 during Operation Market Garden at Wolfheze Village. It shows a Bren gun section of R Company 1 Para taking cover in a Bomb crater during their advance along Amsterdamseweg (Leopard Route)."

"Corporal Alfred Reynolds, second from left, who commanded the Bren gun section was seriously wounded a few hours after the photo was taken, he fell into German hands a died from his injuries a day or two later."

The fate of the other three is unknown.

More historical data on this scene and the unit involved was posted on this forum by Martin Rohmann, a "fixture" over here at Planet Figure, known for his incredible ability to dig up historical information on battles and campaigns. Martin has found a Grave Registration Report Form and a photo of Corporal Reynolds' grave marker. Thank you Martin!







Personally, I think Steve did an incredible job honoring the memory of these Chaps and the unit involved with this vignette. Now I will attempt to do the same with this SBS and get to "sniffin paint and gluin my fingers together" in the process. This is my first go at British uniforms or camo patterns, so I'll be going through the learning curve as we go along. Buckle up, here we go...........





What's in the kit?

Here's what comes in the kit, four superbly sculpted figures in gray resin, and an excellent rendition of the crater seen in the historical photograph.






What I noticed right off was the clean mold work and the sparse amount of seams that requiring filing. These figures were molded with care and it shows. There's even "locking lugs/ keyways" on all the arms and torsos, as well as a lot of the equipment, which makes for some real easy assembly. Another note of importance is where the arms meet the torso, the uniform folds actually overlap areas of the torso. There really isn't much putty work to do when you have resin that locks together so cleanly. Pretty impressive.





First figure up, Corporal Reynolds!







Here we have the "Corporal Reynolds" figure completed. There wasn't much clean up to be had, really. There will always be some kind of mold lines visible in some locations, but very minor in this case. About the only real clean up for me was scrutinizing every little nook and cranny for any left over resin bits from the molding process. I used a dull dental pick to get any tiny bits that were found, but it wasn't much.







The rifle mold was incredibly clean as well, but you still need to be super careful around the rifle strap so you don't end up breaking it. It's a delicate area and I did have a small amount of slag to remove, but mostly it was just little "feathers" of resin reside. I did bore out each and every rifle muzzle like I always do. Take your time when doing this, it's a delicate area as well.

I added a strap for the Corporal's back pack as seen in the historical photo. I used a strip of pewter for this because it's just much easier to mold and shape than other materials. I dug out a bit of the resin on the pack for the strap ends and super glued them in place. Once the glue was set I formed the strap to a more natural appearance. I'll be readjusting that strap after the paint process, but for now, it's good to go.







And lastly, each figure will be mounted on scrap plywood for ease of handling during the painting process. I always drill deep into the boots and install a sewing pin which will remain for final mounting into the crater when we're all done. Corporal Reynolds is now ready for primer and paint.

One last note for all the figures in this vignette. I used Elmer's wood glue to attach the heads for easy removal after the initial priming. I always like to paint the heads separate from the figures and a lot of times any flesh areas as well, if they can be kept separate without much difficulty. Nothing worse than trying to twist a brush into a tight spot, right?



More to follow soon. Cheers, Ski.

Thank you for taking the time to post this info.

Outstanding work Steve. I still have your Robin Hood figure in my stash, ok it is my whole stash.

Youbetcha Stepa!

Capt, it makes it easy on the painter when the figs are well done. This is a fun set.

Thanks Nap. The credit goes to Steve's research and Martin's additions, they are the intel guys on this gig.

The Second Figure

As mentioned in the intro, we don't know the names of the remaining paratroopers, so we'll number them as we go along.



Figure two was a straight forward build with minor clean-up. I like to keep the parts in this plastic tub lid so I don't have them flying all over the bench when I'm working. I really am tired of the carpet monster eating my resin parts, so this lid works wonders, lol.

Once the figure was cleaned and assembled I mounted him on the plywood. He is now ready for priming and painting.



More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

Great start to this project Steve. Really impressive looking set and the quality looks really good. Looking forward to your progress on this.


Neal

Nice start there Steve - when I first saw the Cpl Reynolds figure with the small pack strap hanging down, I thought initially he was glider infantry (they wore their haversacks on the side due to cramped space inside a Horsa fuselage), but then I realised he probably had his rigged hanging down the front of his body for the jump & hadn't bothered to remove the strap when he landed..........the intricacies of '37 Pattern webbing!

Great stuff Steve

Thank you Neal, more coming up.

Thanks Chris. I'm no history buff on this subject, I'm just getting my feet wet. But, while I'm at it I might as well go head first, lol. The camo pattern will be a new on for me.

Yes Nap, the winner will love this set of figures. I will be going over the paint color chart when I start getting the brushes wet; stand by to stand by, lol.

Thanks Jed!

I have bought a couple of figures from Reedees Miniatures in the last few months and like you, I was totally impressed with the quality of the casts.
The fit of parts was excellent and as you say, there's hardly any clean-up to do on seam lines.
It's always nice to start a model without spending lots of time in correcting poor production quality.
Enjoy the painting, I look forward to seeing the results

You are spot on Dave. One of my buddies thought I was going too fast, lol. No, just clean resin t0 work with. Makes a big difference.

Cheers, Ski.

Great proyect...I want to see more.
Santi.

Beautiful set of figures!
Looking forward to the SBS.

As a side note, on my other major hobby, boardgaming, I'm now playing with Vassal a game called "Monty's Gamble: Market Garden", which, as the title shows, depicts this Operation Market Garden.
This is my 3rd game of MG:MG in a row, and always playing with the Allies. Lost the 2 first ones, this one we are near the end but I still don't know for sure who will win. Most probably the Germans, but there's a little chance the Allies might win this time.
It depends on the result of my final Assault on Nijmegen, with the bulk of the XXX Corps Armor & Mechanized strong units, that in the game have recently reached the suburbs of that crucial crossroad... Arnhem is for now Allied Controlled, but the XXX Corps won't be able to reach them, so they will have to fight alone and survive...

Very hard for the Allies to win the game. But at least there's a possibility of changing the disastrous historical outcome.

Watched again recently "A Bridge Too Far", to get on the mood... Some historical inaccuracies but still enjoyable to watch.


Cheers!

Wow that looks like a great set to have.

I hope to get my hands on them one day.

Santi, as you requested, more to follow.

I agree Dolf, "Bridge to Far" is a great flick, got it running in the background as I work, lol.

Hi VisjeMar, it's a great set, "get em while their hot", as the say!

Update within seconds, Gents

Third Figure in the Line-up

The third figure has been cleaned and is ready for assembly. As you can see, the " locking lugs/keyways " are visible on most any part needing to be attached. This really does make for ease of assembly. Steve says it doesn't take much more time to add these in the molding process and feels this little added bit makes a difference. I agree with that and I'm glad he's making the extra effort to add them into the process.



What I did not mention earlier is the use of Testors Grey Contour Putty. Why am I using this you ask? Experimenting with this I found that just a "very small" dab near the edges of the arms and gear will ooze out at any visible joint location. An example would be where the shoulders and arms meet. Such a small amount comes out and makes for easy, clean, joints without having to try to putty up any troubled areas. This also makes for a really solid firm adhesion of the joints and torsos. I used this for most of the gear attached to the figures and this also makes the transitions of straps easier to complete.



The molds are so clean on this set that there wasn't much putty work to be had, but this Testors Putty did the trick for me. "A little dab'll do ya", as they say, lol.

The first pic shows just how the uniform folds actually overlap the torso, right there above the armpit area, beauty! Also, this is how I add the Testors putty to the arms, third photo.



Notice the slight bit of oozing out of the putty in small areas like the shoulder and wrist. Once this stuff sets up it easy to wipe or scrape off leaving a smooth transition. So, why haven't I done this before, seems to work quite well.



Ok, figure numero tres es finito! He is now ready for a primer coat as well.



Here's the trio so far. One more figure to go, the Bren gunner.




More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

Very nice build review Steve, thanks for your effort.
Great to see the rifle slings are cast as well. I find slings can be quite time absorbing and consider this a big bonus of this set.
Looking forward to your paintwork.

Adrian

Thanks Adrian.

Yes, having those slings already there is no doubt a bonus, I agree. I'm tellin ya, this assembly is going fast, way faster than I was expecting. I've got paints on order, here stateside, hopefully they'll arrive quickly and I won't lose momentum. I'm having too much fun to slow down, lol. And, the snow has flown, so we are full time bunker, Bby!

Cheers, Ski.