I have always had a keen interest in the French Army throughout its history from Blenheim to Beirut. I am particularly interested in their involvement in SE Asia. I spotted this figure on Steve K's website and had to buy it. I had toyed with sculpting my own version but other stuff got in the way.
The figure is one by New Zealander Andrew Cairns, who does some excellent figures of less well-known subjects.
Here's the figure



The figure is based on a Mike Chappell painting in Osprey MAA 322 and represents a local Montagnard or Muong para from Marcel Bigeard's 6eme BCP on the Tu Le drop, where this unit parachuted in to block the progress of Giap's Viet Minh in what was technically a suicide operation. They succeeded in holding Giap and made a retreat march carrying their wounded with them.

This will be an interesting exercise as the guy is wearing typical mixed kit and clothing involving both US Jungle and British Windproof camouflage. These two books will be useful:


Should be under way by the end of the week. I'm looking forward to it.
Watch this space!

Phil

Andy cairns has some sweet stuff..I managed to find a few on Ozmods via Kiwi Mike..Mike Butler..

http://www.ozmods-kits.com/military-figures-120mm

Thanks John - I'll check him out

Not a subject I know anything about. Looks an interesting figure and quite a challenge.

Look forward to seeing your take on this one one Phil.

Thanks Bob. It is interesting as Andy has sculpted it with a mix of US and French webbing too, so different colours there, plus the USMC camo jacket and British Windproof trousers. I'll be bonkers by the end of it....

Phil

Thanks Graham and Kev. Graham, I've started the flat but will just post it as completed - it's fun!

Phil

I am thinking I might just post the flats as completed, I don’t think the WIPs are of any interest.

Hop, thanks for call out here - rare subjects &unique ANZACs always deserve mentioning.
A small correction mate on behalf of my Kiwi sculptor countrymen.
Andy did do this Viet French para & does do a range of unfamiliar subjects.
See “AC Models” on Facebook.

OzMods is marketer of Brisbane based miniature artist Phil Walden, our elder statesman of historical ANZAC modelling.
Phil is back in action & hoping some of his new creations will be released soon.
I’ve created a Facebook Showcase of Phil’s project - feel free to join if you’re on FB.

Trust this clarification helps.
MikeTheKiwi

Sorry Mike..my bad..

Nice one!
DJ

Afternoon Gents

I started looking seriously at this piece today - I only gave it a cursory look when it arrived just prior to Christmas. Suffice it to say it is going to test my abilities somewhat.
First job was to clean up the main pieces (head, torso, arms, legs) I had intended to use the head with beret but there are casting issues with it:

the guy's got two ears on the right and a second cap badge on his forehead, plus the back of the neck would need rebuilding. Fortunately the other (European) head is fine, so that's the one I will be using
I started by drilling and pinning the arms. My method of aligning pins uses blu-tack. I drill the smaller item, in this case the right arm:


I place a small patch of blu-tack on the other mating face and press the parts together in their correct position. Ease them apart and the blu-tack shows a tiny pimple corresponding to the hole location on the smaller part:


- that pimple is probed through with a sharp point, leaving a mark for the drill. A brass rod is mounted in the smaller part and the parts are mated:

In this case a small wipe of filler will be required to tidy the joint. The same method was used for the head, where a deal of fettling was necessary to get a nice fit.
Tomorrow I will start to paint the face. He could well be a North African as 6eme BCP had quite a few in its ranks. That'll be interesting

Thanks for looking in.

Phil

That's some serious mould slippage for him to end up with 2 ears on the same side of his head!
Seriously though Phil, great SBS so far & good tip about drilling & pinning - I'll make a note of that one. Thanks a lot

Thanks Chris, much appreciated. The blu-tack idea was something I came up with a long time ago. I used to have lots of issues lining up pin holes. I don't recall reading of it anywhere but I'd be loathe to say I "invented" it. I'm sure lots of others do something similar.

Phil

I like the Blu Tack idea will be trying that out. Looks like a challenging figure Phil but I am sure you will rise to that challenge

I have never seen an Andy Cairns figure, they do not usually cover my area of interest. However, I read complaint after complaint about his casting and I'm surprised he keeps going.

Bill

Afternoon everyone

Do you ever bite off more than you can chew? This project may fall into that category.

Today I started by fitting the legs to the torso, pinning them using the previously outlined technique. The fit was.....
....grim.

So, a wad of grey Miliput was mixed and the gaps were filled and wet-brushed smooth:

A bit of light fettling when dry and the joints should be decent.
Next the head. I wanted to paint it to look like a North African, many of whom served in the colonial para units. I airbrushed the head with two coats of Vallejo Game Air Dwarf Skin, which is a dark flesh. Using Scale 75 colours Pink Flesh, Arab Shade and a touch of Light Flesh I applied a base coat. Shadows were with Arab Flesh and a touch of Pink Flesh, with African Shadow for the deep shade . Light areas using Arab Shadow and Pale Flesh, top lights with Pink Flesh/Pale Flesh. Here's how it is starting to look;
and with helmet propped on:

The sculpt has one good eye and one not so good, so I have struggled to get them uniform. Dry fitting everything I have found that it will all need some level of intervention to get parts in place snugly. It ain't a Tamiya kit, that's for sure. Press on eh?,,,,,

Phil