Hi Folks,

I've been fortunate to get my hands on a pre-production casting of this magnificent 1/6th scale bust by Naked Army of a Helicopter Crew from 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Vietnam.

The bust is flawlessly sculpted and meticulously researched by Naked Army and cast in white poly resin and comes in four pieces (main body, right hand, radio mouth piece and left arm).

I spent most of last weekend painting the base coats with Jo Sonja acrylics, and finished base coating last night which is where I decided to take some WIP pics.

The uniform colour is known as Sage Green, which is halfway between Olive Green and Grey. The highlights will be a paler version of the base coat. The mesh flight vest worn over the chest armour and flight suit was the hardest to paint, as each individual square hole in the mesh needed to be painted (still not entire sure I've got them all). With the helmet visor down there's virtually no face painting required, which is a pity, but he does look cool. The visor will be glossed.

The next step in the painting will be to do the mid range highlights and then the deepest shadows.

As I'm painting this bust for the box art, I'm not likely to customise the bust in any way, however if you wanted to you could go to town on the helmet by adding squadron insignia or some graffiti.

Looking awesome, Tony - congrats on your debut as a Box Artist!
That Sage Green colour of his flight suit is great. I can't make out - is that 'tache sculpted onto the figure, or have you just painted it on?

P.S. I've already said it, but the new camera was well worth it. Great pics

Cheers Nick,

Yes mate the moustache is sculpted on. A lovely big bushy 1970's porn star 'tache.

The bust is based an actual person Warrant Officer Class 2 Jones who served in South Vietnam with the RAAF as a door gunner on the Huey helicopters with 9 Squadron. 9 Squadron was based at an airstrip called Luscombe Field next door to the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base at Nui Dat in Phouc Thuy Province. Here's a photo of "Jonsey" that was sent to me for inspiration. H e looks like quite a character behind those twin M60's.

Looking great Tony....as Nick said that was a great idea to get the camera...

I like that background colour you chose too btw.

Hi Tony,
Congratulations for your promotion as Box Artist
Very impressive bust, looking forward the next steps of your paint job.
Cheers
Xavier

Looking good Tony , looking forward to seeing him complete , can't wait to see him weathered and highlighted
Cheers
Al

Thanks Mark, yes it was your great idea for me to get a new camera.

Thanks Xavier, I'll start the highlighting process tonight and post some more WIP pics in a few days.

Cheers Al, as you know this is a deceptively detailed bust. From a distance it looks pretty simple but once you see the level of intricate detail, you are blown away by it.

Good start on a great looking bust

Lookin' good Tony, hope to see it on Sunday!!!
Ben

Thanks Carl, its an impressive bust mate. You can get right up close and see so much detail that these pics just don't reveal.

Hi swralph, thanks for your comments. I'm hoping to provide some more WIP pics in a few days once I've done some more highlighting.

G'day Ben, I'm looking forward to bringing this bust (and the new Naked Army SAS Vietnam bust) along to your place on Sunday.

looking good so far - does the bust come with an option of the visor up?

Thanks for sharing, congrats on being picked to do the box art!!

Cheers

Jamie

Excellent as usual with you tony

Cheers Jamie, it doesn't come with a visor up version I'm afraid, but I think the visor down look is pretty cool.

Hi Francky, thanks for your comments.

Hi guys

Here are the latest WIP pics. There's still quite a bit of detail to work on, but I think you can see from these pics taken with the iPhone how it's going to look.

always been a big fan of the naked army stuff, brilliant lifelike and superb painting. That watch is fantastic although it is the wrong time.

Well done Tony on the start of some great art work big well done on the Box art job , really coming along ,I have one of those flight /survival vests and you deserve a mention in dispatches for getting that mesh right .
Well be following with interest ,these figures / busts really are the cracking .
Cheers Chris

Very Nice Bro like him alot look forward to seeing in the flesh very nice work on the details mate it is what makes it pop (i can even tell the time) ...I think that he will be a popular bust.
I got the sniper on the bench and I know what you mean about deceptive detail
Cheers
Chris W

Looking good Tony. Nice small details, like letters on vest.
Would have been neat to have a version with visor up too

Embarking on my own project shortly too.

Stay safe,
Mike

Ok, this is really coming along!!
the mesh is well done, the gloss on the visor captures the reflection quite well of you taking the photo,
and the little details like the watch, the stenciling on the little black bag on the back, the shading and tones on the puches, plus the zip colour, all coming together.

Cheers

Jamie