The idea for this figure came from Anthony Beevor's book, The Fall of Berlin 1945. The German sector of the Oderbruch front had a sniper who supposedly dressed up in an undertaker's top hat and tailcoat to which he pinned his German Cross in Gold. A "real crazy type" as he was described whose eccentricities were tolerated because he had 130 kills. I used the Alpine Miniatures German officer #35055. Basically all I needed to do was sculpt the top hat, some hair, and the German Cross in Gold. he was painted in oils over an acrylic base.

Cheers, John

One more pic

Another view.

Looks very nice(the story is interesting,I have the book).Any closer front photos?
christos

Man, I thought I had seen every possible representation of the Reich's soldaten. Excellent! What a unique and well executed piece, and what great history. Thanks for sharing!

COOL, John !!!!!

Hi John !
VERY NICELY done, if I say so myself !!!!!! Cheers !
Kenneth .

Hi John,

Well done mate, that's a very creepy looking figure. He has a touch of Clockwork Orange about him.

Very true !!
Wonderfull piece! I never heard of the story but there should be more of these stories! Do you happen to know his name? Oh yes; please a bigger front pic !
I always wondered if I should buy the book.

Hi John,

just as others said, excellent in all aspects! A figure is whole lot different case with such a story behind!

Thanks for sharing
Denes

John,
Just can only echo the others. Excellent work.

marc

Excellent figure with great groundwork!

Marcel.

Very fun piece. As Steve mentioned, it's refreshing to see a twist on the standard subject. Nice ascott as well!

Jay H.
OKC

Awesome and really creative figure! The only negative thing about this figure is, that you always have to tell the story behind it ;-)
yours

Score another one for creativity, John - what a unique presentation !

Cheers,

Brian

One of the best figure ideas ive seen for a long time and so well executed,fantastic job.
He reminds me of the caracter Porta in the Svenn Hassell books,he also wore a top hat.

Steve

Many thanks to all of you for the kind comments. He was alot of fun to work on. I decided to do the groundwork in muted tones with very little colour so to speak. I'll try and get some close-ups as I'm still figuring out my new camera!

Well done for ferreting out a really original and quirky idea, and doing a great job with it.
I know what Tony means about Clockwork Orange but for me it's Alexis Kanner in the TV series the prisoner.
regards
Derek

Hello

Great, fantastic, amazing...

Regards
Pedro

Still want to know he that guy was in real life

John,
Excellent figure as always. Cool story too
Cheers,
A.

Great, great job