Greetings fellow modelers,just finished this Young Miniatures bust of a US Marine,this paticular theatre of war in the pacific is a bit alien to me but i've recently just finished watching the 10 part mini series of PACIFIC on satelite TV,having thourghly enjoyed the series i was eager to produce something relating to the series and the perfect choice was the bust produced by Young Miniatures of a US marine at the time of the IWO JIMA campaign.
I modeled the figure with a scratchbuilt pipe on the character called SLEDGEHAMMER,although he does not have a beard / stubble in the series i thought i would add this to lend a bit of character to the bust.
The piece was completed in my usual style of painting with underpainting completed in tamiya acrylic (this was airbrushed) and finishd in oils and printers ink where required.
Although i've listed the piece as completed i still have a small bit of work on the pedistal which i've depicted as the stars and stripes,i just need to add some stars to the blue and some final touch ups on the red and white stripes.
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as i did painting the piece,i look forward to any coments you may have good or bad,Happy Modeling to you all.

Brian,

The straps look excellent, nice work there. Also, I like the idea of the American Flag on the plinth, very original. If you dont mind an honest critique, the camo pattern on the helmet cover looks a bit off. I would maybe compare what you have to a good reference photo. Also, the beard area looks a bit heavily painted. This area should be a slightly cooler version of your skin tone to suggest stubble, but the skin tone should still be apparent. From the pics anyway, it looks almost straight gray (looks more like a beard). Hope you find these comments helpful, they are meant in the spirit of constructive criticism.

Jason

Hi Brian,

I would echo Jason's comments re the beard.

Great job on the herringbone and the eyes.

I like the addition of the corn cob pipe. An homage to Macarthur perhaps?

Hi Brian,
Very good job and clean colors and options that I represent on the miniatures
Bravo!!


Alexandros

Well done Brian, like the herringbone and weathered skin tone, the beard IMHO is a little strong.

Great painting, the face is super. Does the model have stubble sculpted on the face? The reason I think it looks a little off is the shading looks like a 2 week growth painted on a shaved face. I think you would see some skin tone through that thin grey stubble anyway.

I agree with the others about the beard, but for the rest very good work!

Cheers,
Marcel.

USMC

Thank you for your honest and helpful coments,i was'nt totaly satisfied with the beard myself,this morning i have gone back to the workbench to try and correct the mistake i made with the beard,i have added some new photos of the bust with the correction work complete which will hopefully now make the figure more pleasing on the eye.
Thats the beauty of having a figure forum like this,you can learn so much to help become a better miniature painter,thanks again guys for your help,i feel a bit better already with the changes i've made.
Happy Modeling

Much better!!! Nice work Brian and your right about the forum.

Roger.

The uniform is very impressive. This is the first time I look at a painted kit and actually associate it with the occasionally awesome Pacific series of HBO. The face certainly beneifts from dramatic variation in tone overall, except a tiny bit of overdoing on the right hand side (cheekbone).

Yeah buddy! That is just what he needed. Even though I like the idea of the plinth colors it is just a little distracting to me, but don't change it for that reason because I think it is a really neat idea. Really stellar work on that uniform I would love to know how you created that texture effect. Great job on this figure this one can sit next to your awesome Happy Jack as an equal.

Excellent paintjob, Brian! Congratulations, well done!
Eddy

Right on! The face looks MUCH better now.

Jason

Agreed. Huge improvement. Well done.

Nice work on this great bust and i think with the helpfull critique form others the second version is even better than the first.
I noticed from the image something colourfull in his pack under the rolled sheet, what is that ?

Steve

I really like the revised face painting!

great work!

Mark

I think it became finer for me.
A wonderful finish!!!!
By the way is a shaft between the figure and the base your original?
I like a metal shaft for my negative tastes...

Mitsutaka