Hi all,

Having a go myself at that really cool 1/10 bust of a British Chindit from Scale Collectables.

Like others here on pF, I’m hoping to depict this guy as a bit beaten up and jungle-worn. I started with a couple of tweaks to the head underneath that awesome bush hat.

Using Apoxie Sculpt, I added some straggles of sweaty hair plastered to this guy’s forehead. I also beefed up the beard on my version, extending his luxuriant growth down his neck (you hipsters weren’t the first ones to sport “neckbeards” ):



I checked the look of the hair by sticking the hat on while the putty was damp - I may need to fair the hair into the hat with more putty later when I permanently attach the hat:

A bit of an experiment here; I wanted to bring a bit more emphasis to the eyes and decided to try beefing up the eyebrows a bit. I used Apoxie Sculpt again, using a dental pick, a sharpened toothpick and a damp brush to shape and texture the brows:



Effect with the hat on:



Not sure whether I’m sold on the brows - perhaps they just seem too overdone because of the light-coloured putty. When they’re dry, I’ll do a quick paint over them with a matching grey to better judge the look.

Nice conversion work, I really like the hair on his forehead, that is something I thought should have been on the original. Are you adding to the back of his head too?
I am not sure about the beard, but you have modelled it very well, they were common on soldiers in the Chindit columns so it is a realistic thing to see.

Certainly going to make for a different look to the figure.

Nice to see you add to the character of this bust.
Looks great so far.

Malc

Thanks Rob - good idea on the neck/ back of the head - I’ll see what I can rig up.

Nice start and nice to see the personalisation on what seems to be a popular bust, looking forward to see it progress


Cheers Simon

This looks ace! I’m really looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Decided to ditch the eyebrows - will try to get a decent effect with paint when the time comes:



Also pushed some more putty around and added some additional hair, especially to the back of the head:



I think that’ll be it for the putty pushing; I’m more of a painter than a sculptor.

More later.

He looks great, very much an "end of the march" look. Will be interesting to see how you make his uniform match the time on the line necessary to grow a beard like that.
You are certainly taking this bust in the direction I was thinking it should go. I will be following what you do.

Yes I like how he's progressed, the hair sweat plastered to his head, never very comfortable.

Cheers Simon

Thanks, Kev - your advice and observations are always appreciated.

I think I’ll let the paint work do the job of weathering the hat; kinda afeared of doing anything too radical to it and ruining the thing. I’ve seen enough hats that haven’t completely lost their shape in my research that I’m comfortable leaving it as is and letting the paint do the work.

Thanks for looking in.

Brian

He's looking good and scruffy, Brian!

Well, the putty pushing looks pretty good to me.

Malc

Applied a couple coats of primer and we’re ready for paint:

Looking good.
We're all looking forward to the paint too.

Malc

hi I'm looking forward to it (I've already started mine) and yes ,another one!
he looks good Brian, with a full beard

hans

Guess the putty pushing wasn’t quite over - I added a bandolier of ammunition for his Lee Enfield, again from Apoxie Sculpt. I’ll try to refine it a little more once the putty has set up: