Completed IBG Polish Infantry 1939 (35048)

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Late to the party I'm afraid but a thoroughly enjoyable read, and good to see someone else doing this stuff. We plastic fans must keep the flag flying ,and personally I enjoy the modelling part more than the painting.
Neil
 
Hi Kimmo

You’ve got a great way of explaining the prep and steps taken with each figure , coming together nicely

Following with interest as always

Have fun at the bench

Nap
 
Cheers Simon, Nigel, Oda, Neil and Nap!

Nigel, after doing the first couple of umpteen sets of straps for various figures, I realised it is indeed prudent to do as much as possible before attaching gear, where practical, and then you get cases like this where the egg comes before the chicken. Or however that was supposed to go.

Neil, I agree that the fiddling about is more satisfying, if not extremely time consuming.



Been an off week for bench time so not much in the way of updates. Plenty of fiddly stuff taken care of and now things are just about done. Click on photos for full size.


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The straps have all been taken care of, even though some of them are hidden behind his arms. I made up two sets of swivel mounts for the rifle by twisting hoops on a drill bit from thin wire, then flattening the hoop and gluing it into a pre-drilled hole on the rifle. Polish Mausers had two sets of swivels, and two types. The normal style on the side and a parade set on the bottom. The front side swivel could be either of the molded type that is typical of German rifles or a swivel type. The butt swivel is molded so you don't have to do anything there unless you feel like scribing a gap under the retaining bar. The sling is pewter foil with a photo etch buckle. His left hand needed some work as the thumb had either snapped or was short shot. I ended up changing the orientation to run parallel and slightly tucked into the hand. I cut off the original part and replaced it with a slice of stretched sprue nub, the part where the sprue first thins out to form a cone and shaved and trimmed the thumb to shape.


The field cap and helmet were hollowed out, and a liner of sorts added to the helmet. A chin strap was glued onto the blanket to look like it passes under the blanket strap. I added a wee bit of a peak to the field cap to give me a bit more height for the cap badge which is still to be added. I have to say the caps are quite nice as is, and much better than the first versions with the artillery crew figures. I had to prime the inside of the helmet and some of the harder to reach areas now to make sure there is something there in case I can't reach these areas when everything is glued in place. Speaking of cap badges, I made one up from four tiny pieces of strip. Three half round and one straight, then picked, prodded, shaved and sliced my way to this



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The only things left to do are add ends to the blanket straps, the badge, glue his arms, head and the helmet in place. All this will have to wait until I get the other figures assembled and bases sorted out as I don't want stuff getting knocked off while moving things about. The next batch of figures should be quicker to deal with now that I know what needs to be done and how to go about it.

Kimmo
 
Cheers Simon and Nap!


Moving along, I got started on one of the standing chaps, Figure G. The first bit of work was a lot easier than Figure A because I knew that some straps had to go and his body is molded in one piece rather than three. This makes life easier, and more difficult. Click on photos for full size.


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The usual sharpening up of what straps remained, collar, hem line etc was done, along with scribing in seams. One set of seams are still needed on the tunic. The gear is dry fit, no problems here and doing this early on will help sort out how much clean up, filling and scribing is needed. You'll notice I'm trying out a pack without the blanket. It's a simple enough task to remove the blanket and then add seam detail and so on. More refining will be needed, along with details and maybe some putty work for the top of the flap. As mentioned, the body being molded in one piece means issues. The boots need a lot of work and then there is a major undercut needed at the tunic hem.


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This isn't a design or sculpting flaw, it's an engineering flaw. If the body had been broken down into three parts, that draft wouldn't have been there. You would still have some undercutting to do, but nothing this drastic. The other standing chap has an even larger amount of draft to deal with, all in due course.



Plenty of fun left.

Kimmo
 
Good on you with all the scribing, I always get cramp in my fingers if I do it for any length of time. It does though take these kinds of figures to a new level, plus all the straps etc, looking forward to seeing them painted.

Cheers Simon
 
These are looking really good now, you have elevated them from the basic figures into real miniatures.
 
Cheers Simon, Nap and Nigel!

Simon, I normally don't get cramping but have recently which may be sleep position/circulation related. Short sessions help, as does using sharp implements. The duller the blade, the more work you need to do, and the more you need to grip whatever it is you're working on which causes the fatigue.


A minor update today. Clean up continues with the gear and more scribing. The ammo pouches have been glued in place, the rest of the gear is just tacked in place to check fit. Click on photos for full size.



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The puttees have had small slices of sprue added to make the wrap ends. Sprue isn't just for stretching. These of course will be scraped down and some wrinkles added. The ammo pouches had the tabs removed to sit better. Even with positive keys, sometimes things just don't work properly so dry fitting is always recommended. I scribed two more seams in the tunic going up the sides, I may have to add these to the first figure. The kit bags have been cleaned up and seams were just scribed in on the edges this time. This is actually more true to life, but it doesn't have the same visual impact as what was done with the other figure. Somewhat ironically, getting a seam on an edge like this is a bit trickier and may not actually save you that much time. The neck has been hollowed out to get that going as well.

Still a fair amount of work left, but starting to get there. Next up we'll get the straps going.


Kimmo
 
Awesome work mate, circulation is often the cause of pins and needles in the hand, so if you get that as well it's time for blood thinners. Not good but it'll keep you going longer.

The seam on the edge of the bread bag/kit bag is easier in the painting stage I found as it only takes one slip to cock the scribing up. But you are far neater and precise than I ever was, this is looking great I'm really enjoying this thread.

Cheers Simon
 
Hi Kimmo

You are the king of scribes for sure , your elevating the figures to another level , webbings looking good

Happy reworking

Looking forward to seeing more

Nap
 
Cheers Simon and Nap!

Simon, no pins and needles just sort of numb. I think it is mainly from me sleeping on my arm. Maybe I need fluffier pillows...


Another minor update today. Before I get stuck in with the straps, I realised I should probably get the arms and rifle glued up so I don't accidentally destroy anything with the dry fitting and fumbling around. The backpack had some work done and the puttees were smoothed out. click on photos for full size.



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The backpack needed to be squared up at the top, and a couple of "wings" need to be added. The real deal is quite box like with stiffeners up the sides which means the flap sort of droops if not filled to the brim. Some putty work is still needed. I also removed most of the molded on creases and folds, they don't look all that good to me to be honest. The puttees are fairly straightforward shaving and sanding with a bit of burnishing using a round burr and chiseled toothpick.

The arms took a bit of head scratching to figure out how to dry fit the rifle. I ended up drilling and pinning the arms to get them to stay more or less in place, then checking the fit of the rifle. Hands gripping weapons seldom look right out of the box so it pays off to really spend some time and effort to make sure that hands actually grip what they're supposed to be gripping. You will usually have to do some light sanding or filing to have things sit nicely. Don't worry about gaps at first, get the rifle snug up against one set of fingers or a palm and go from there. I tacked the rifle to the right hand first, made sure it sat in the palm of the left and then added a few drops of super glue, then the same for the left hand. For added strength, I drilled and pinned into the rifle through his left hand. Once that was done I gently sliced into his right thumb and bent that down around the stock. I'll do more adjustments as needed later, for now I just wanted the geometry set and the fit at the shoulders more or less correct.


Maybe we'll get some straps going tomorrow.


Kimmo
 
That's really neat work on the hands, always a weak point on these figures. Are you pinning the arms with plastic rod? It would be easier to lend the end into the arm than paperclip wire.

Cheers Simon
 
Cheers Simon! I used plastic because I didn't want anything permanent just yet, a lot easier to flex on and off.


More progress over the last couple of days. I've gotten the hands fixed up, a head was sourced and the straps have been started on. Click on photos for full size.


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I tried a slightly different approach for the D rings and straps this time. I started off with strips of 5 thou and bits of stretched sprue to represent the fold/pocket instead of threading a strap through the hoops and pinching. The hoops were simply cut about 2/3 of the way up and plopped in place for the upper set. For the lower set, I wrapped lead foil around the hoop first, then cut the hoop at roughly the angle needed to sit properly. It worked reasonably well although I think it is probably better to do it the other way, even if it takes a bit more time. The thinking here is that working with plastic as much as possible might make life a little easier. I added a loop and a hint of a buckle to his belt, the previous figure's ammo pouches conveniently push in to the middle enough that neither would really be seen.


The backpack got a touch of filler, the head was trimmed and the helmet needed some thinning to get it to sit low enough to cover the tops of his ears. To help with fitting, I filled the helmet with blu-tack to keep it in place. Once everything looked good, a light bead of super glue was run around the inside using a bit of wire as an applicator with the blu-tack left in the helmet. Some hair will be scratched in or sculpted, and a chin strap needs to made.



The hands needed a bit of work to get them gripping properly. The left hand got a new thumb, and the right had some fingers bent around the grip to look more natural. It's fairly easy to slice in between the fingers and then make a light cut on the knuckles to help bend the fingers into place. Needless to say, you need a light touch and a sharp blade. Reshaping was done as needed by scraping and sanding, a touch of filler is needed here and there. Holes for the swivels have been drilled in as well.



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Still a couple of sessions needed, but almost there.


Kimmo
 
Another masterclass in plastic figures, very informative, I'll certainly be trying harder with hands from now on.

Cheers Simon
 
Cheers Simon!


A bit more progress this weekend, mainly getting the straps sorted out and a few details taken care of. Click on photos for full size.


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The boots have had laces added, the puttees buttons. The rifle now has swivels and a sling, a buckle is still needed, buttons were added to the cuffs as they were misshapen in the same way as the other figure. The backpack has been glued on and all the main straps/webbing are done, small extensions and buckles still to be done. Strap loops were added to the sides and top of the backpack, and the mess tin glued on, the handle was replaced with wire. I glued the entrenching tool carrier on as well. I scribed a thick line to represent the split straps, the bayonet haft still needs to be added.


Getting pretty close to moving on to our next chap, one more session should take care of the remaining details.


Kimmo
 
Another lovely build, the laces I assume are stretched sprue? You make much neater sling swivels than I do, I'm going to have to.make a tool for that job, rather than just grabbing the nearest part of tweezers!

Cheers Simon
 
Excellent work, especially on the hands. That will really lift these figures from the "cheapo 1/35 set" look.
 

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