Hi guys

This is a "do over" figure. I painted him in oils several years ago, but for some reason never finished him.

I'm now re-painting him in acrylics and plan to pose him on the side of a steep jungle mountain side, covered in mud and sweat.

Any comments/ criticisms welcome.

Cheers

It's a great looking figure Tony.
A muddy Kokoda track setting will set it off beautifully.
Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

Hi Mark

Thanks for your comments. I'm looking forward to seeing how this figure finishes up too!

Cheers

Tony

I also look forward to you painting it in acrylics.
Andy

great figure

Full of character and very well painted, congratulations Tony on a job well done.

Stephen

Thanks mate, but I've only done the base coats so far. There's still much to do, but I'm glad you like him so far.

Cheers

Looking good sofar Tony!

Latest pics.

Building up the shadows on the flesh tones.

Cheers

i'll try to follow your way next week :
work hard on my sevastopol's dio

Seb.

Hi Tony,

looks great! The more contrast look better then the previous version, the shadows under his eyes give more life to it, also the line of dirt/suntan on his face under his hat is a nice touch!

Looking forward to see the progress
Denes

Latest Pics

Owen 9mm SMG added, plus scratchbuilt machete.

Cheers

Dog Tags

I've added some dog tags, made from thin fuse wire and lead foil.

Cheers

Only one month in 1943

Hi Tony,

potentially great looking vignette there. I looked up Kokoda on Wikipedia:

"The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought from July 1942 to January 1943..."

You may want to retitle the date to 1942 or was this digger grinning because it was the end of the long campaign?

Rgds Victor

Hi Victor,

The figure is representative of the 2nd Australian Imperial Forces fighting throughout New Guinea and the islands of the Coral Sea during 1942-43.

You are right about the Kokoda campaign being a series of small battles that finished in January 1943, however the fight on the Kokoda Track marked the turning point in the war in the Pacific. Before Kokoda, no allied army had defeated the Imperial Japanese Army on land. Just as Alamein marked the turning point in the allied war in North Africa, Kokoda and the numerous small battles that made up the New Guniea campaign saved Australia from Japanese invasion, and marked the "high water mark" for the Japanese in WW2. The defeat of the Japanese Army along the Kokoda track allowed the allies to eventually push the Japanese Army back, island by island, to Japan itself.

Victor, I will rename this figure "New Guinea 1943" to avoid any confusion. Thanks for your input, and for doing and sharing your research.

For those of you interested in Australia weapons, the Owen 9mm sub machine gun was a unique Australian designed and made infantry weapon that proved itself incredibly tough and reliable in the very worst tropical jungle conditions. It could be buried in mud and still fire at a high fire rate without a hitch. Australian soldiers were still using these weapons in the Vietnam War some 30 years after WW2. I remeber firing one on the range during basic training back in the 1980's.

Although the New Guinea campaign is a relatively unknown part of the great military campaigns of WW2, it played a decisive role in reversing the tide of the war in the Pacific, and along with the US naval victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea, saved Australia from invasion at a time when our northern cities were regularly being bombed, and Japanese submarines were sinking ships in Sydney Harbour.

Lest we forget.

Cheers