Really excellent painting

Great looking bust so far Tony, the effects you have used are spot on mate.


Cheers David

Thanks once again for your comments guys. This bust is really starting to come together and I'm greatly encouraged by all your positive feedback.

I'm heading off to the Philippines for 2 weeks annual leave tomorrow so I will be "off the grid" until I return to Australia in mid June.

My wife and I are helping to rebuild a school on the island of Cebu that was destroyed during Cyclone Haiyan last November. The school is in the process of being rebuilt and now its time for the grand re-opening, complete with local dignitaries, not one but two roasted pigs, lots of rum and karaoke into the night.

Once that's over I intend to send the wife to the nearest shops for some retail therapy, find a fishing rod, a bottle of rum and a palm tree to sit under and spend a couple of weeks chilling out on the beach and working on my tan.

I've also learned that just up the road from the village we are staying at is the site of a mass grave of Japanese soldiers who fought a desperate rear guard action against a numerically superior unit of Filipino guerrilla fighters in 1945 to liberate their island. The locals don't go there because they believe the spirits of the Japanese soldiers haunt the jungle.

As you can see from the photo below, Cebu is a tropical paradise, so please don't feel sorry for me. It's the middle of winter in Australia right now and we are all wearing our winter shorts and t-shirts to stay warm.

Hi guys,

Just got back from the Philippines this weekend after a lovely 2 week holiday. Lots of fishing and run drinking and shopping. Sadly no hobby shops worth mentioning in Manila, but then again I was busy carrying SWMBO's bags of shoes around the malls most of the time anyway.

I've taken a quick look at this SASR bust and decided its done, and its time to move on to my next project.

Thanks to everyone who posted comments on this bust.

Glad you had a good holiday, Tony. Welcome back to Perth, mate!

Excellent job as usual!!! you're a master!!

Very nice painting and WIP sharing, Tony. Follow with interest.

Hi guys,

I've rebooted this 3 years old thread because my good mate Alan Mackie has inspired me to finish this bust.

As you will see on his thread, Alan has done a superb conversion of this bust and painted him in tiger stripe camouflage. I'm simply awestruck but his conversion.

Al's version inspired me to finally finish my original bust, which was left in a 95% completed state back in 2014. To be honest, I simply lost interest in the bust at the time, and, as you do when you have a large Grey Army, I got distracted by something new and shiny. This bust has been a shelf queen for almost 3 years, but now its coming out for a make over and the finishing touches it deserves

I've added the smoke grenade (the lettering is hand painted) and the ammo pouch on the lower left hip, redefined some of the shading on the ARVN backpack and tidied up a few rough bits which I rushed last time.

I've asked for and will act upon advice from Chris Roberts (ChrisR), who served in Vietnam with the Australian SAS and has been a very generous source of first-hand knowledge and has provided very valuable advice on this bust to both Alan and myself.

wow, so glad you rebooted the thread tony, it is a great piece of work and your informative descriptions are a great assistance to people like myself and other novices.

tony

This is an amazing paintwork. Camouflage uniforms is great... Dirt is also very successful. It all looks great!

Cheers Borek

Ah...Yes...I remember it well.Happy to see it resurrected....

Wayne

Great job Tony! Love the finished work.

Just commented on this on FB, these pictures here are so much better, superb job on painting.

Just seen this on FB left a comment there. the pictures here are so much better,
Superb paint work.

Well done Alan Mackie for getting this boy back on the table.
I thought that this was exceptional all the time ago but now it is really off of the scale.
You have hit on super small details from any and every angle that it is viewed from.
For me to comment on the bits I like would take me longer than it took you to paint it Tony.
Surface it to say you are one talented young man with a brush.
Best wishes Mate
Keith

Great stuff Tony
The face looks great.
Gordon

Looks brilliant Tony.Love the paint job on your trooper.The dirt added to his uniform adds to the effect.Must get round to my 20omm conversion begging to be finished.
Stellar work.
Richard

Stunning stuff mate, pleased you decided to finish him .
Cheers
Al

Thanks everyone for your very generous comments.