Hi Guys,

Ive been enjoying my solitary day today and have made some progress on this one. I acquired this recently and have always liked it ever since I saw it in MM donkey's years ago, but I could never quite get to grips with the slightly caricatured appearance of the original, so I set about it with a saw!

I have replaced the head and boots with some from Steve Readdie that I had in my bits box and have sliced the figure at the waist and inserted a wire armature to bring the overall height up to the full 75mm, then resculpted the fillet and the front of the torso, as I felt it looked a little hollow-chested (IMO). The bottom of the trousers were also resculpted to blend them in and I added rolled socks to disguise the joint. The face had a moustache, hair and chinstrap added.

As you can probably tell, too, I have tried to reposition the figure, but am finding the kit base a bit limiting, so I am probably going to dispense with it and also the kit border sign, as they are a little basic in detail, but I want to keep the essence of the original pose. A new left hand will also be added.

The pack and waterbottle have cleaned up well and I have also sectioned and reduced the rifle to scale, as this was way oversize. I have added a new collar to the tunic and will add the collar tabs and stars, too, in time.

Thanks for looking in, I hope its not too sacrilegious cutting this up!!

Steve

Great job!
Another great figure by Valiant, and above all about the Great War!
It's great to honor these Italian soldiers too often forgotten.

Many think that these soldiers were "bad".
A huge mistake, this was perhaps the toughest front in the Great War.
Italian soldiers have never demerits, by against their generals were not the best.
Discipline was the hardest of the allied troops.
And it is with great courage these soldiers fought.
The Bersagliere as the "Alpini" were elite troops, (and still are).



XXI°C Bersaglieri :

A what about a bust ? Nap ?

Thanks for the kind words and references - very useful

very nice indeed good subject keep it up.

ian

www.elliesminiatures.com

This will be awesome when finished.

Oda.

I'm following too and it looks great so far.
Here are some refs. from my collection which might be of interest.

Nice work again Steve.

Paul.

There's some very interesting figures concerning WWI Italian Soldier :
ROMEO, AMIS


MMA


Metal Modeles


Italian Kits


And it is not and exhaustive list !

Thanks again for all the amazing references, guys - just goes to show what a great forum this is!

Yes, Nap, it started life as a Benassi. As the kit is now showing its age regarding some of the details, I thought I would try to "update" it a bit, with some new parts and a bit of putty! I certainly don't want to stray too far from the original concept, though, as it was that bit I always liked, especially as we visited that area a couple of years ago when we went to Italy.

I am currently making a new base and plinth for this, so I will post more pics as it progresses.

Cheers all

Looks like another very nice conversion.

Cheers,
Andrew

Cheers Andrew - probably more of a modification, than a true conversion, this one!

On a similar theme, I did this one for Model Cellar, released late last year, http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/w-w-i-italian-alpini-1-9-scale-model-cellar.74399/

Thanks again for taking the time to post, chaps

Hi Folks,

Here are some more pics of my Bersaglieri that Im working on. Ive re made the border sign from dowel, with a plasticard disc fastened to thin wood strip and with bolts made from pins. I have slightly repositioned the figures left hand, but need to resculpt the detail, repositioned the pickaxe so it looks more balanced. Because I have made the figure taller, the pick didnt reach the ground! I have also extended the original base, so that I can put the rifle with the pack and waterbottle on the ground, as I figured that I would not like to wield a pick with a slung rifle! I have had to cut and section the rifle as it was way too long and the sling has been removed to allow for final repositioning when painted.

Just some more small details to add, then it should be ready for painting!

Nice work Steve

I used to love these old Benassi figs when they came out first time 'round (Got the JB1 and 4 painted up in a box somewhere. Must dig them out soon)
Paul