Hello all,
Well, this is my first post in quite a whlie.
It serves notice that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.
I just haven't been able to make much progress on anything this summer.
Anyway, here are 2 of my latest attempts. Thery're both made by Mirage and are famous Polish officers from WWII.

The first is Stanislaw Skalski...


The head is loose to allow me to paint it and the oxygen mask and such on the body.

The second is Stanislaw Sosabowski...


I think the skintone is a bit too dark on this one. I'll have to see how it looks after I get some color on the beret, hair and uniform to decide if i need to rework it or not.
Can anyone help me with the proper color for the beret? The boxart shows it looking dark grey and I can't find any color pictures on line to show if it's grey or black or whatever. Thanks in advance for any help.


As always, any constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome.
thanks for looking.
Craig

Craig,
Great start! These are nice looking busts, are they 200mm? I know you will do them justice! Sorry, I'm no help on the berret!

Jay H.
OKC

Hi jay,
Thanks for the compliment.
These busts are listed as 1/9th scale by the manufacturer.
Craig

Craig, Nice to see some new stuff. It is hard to get work done during the Summer, what with the humidity and all.

The shade of the beret was described as POSTER GREY/PALE DOVE GREY. The picture should help you to arrive at a proper shade.

This beret and blouse belonged to a Lance Sergeant of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade.

Hi Gary,
Thanks so much for the picture and the color info. It's just what I needed.
Funny but I usually get more painting done in the summer. I think it's due to the rush I get from going to MFCA coupled with the Washington show being just 3 or 4 months later. Speaking of that, will you be going to D.C. this year?
Thanks again,
Craig

Badges and shoulder titles left to right.

Metal eagle The metal eagle replace embroidered ones in 1943.

Other ranks embroidered eagle Worn until June 1943.

Officier's embroidered eagle The last two officier's eagles are pre June 1943.

Shoulder titles Other ranks and officers.

I've seen both types of shoulder titles worn on offiicers uniforms and one photo of Sosabowski shows him wearing the white over red shoulder title.

Gary,
Wow...excellent info. Can't thank you enough for this.
Here's a picture of the boxart for the piece...

Your pictures really will help me out here.
Thanks again,
Craig

Looking good, Craig, keep up the good work. Good to see you back, we really thought you had fallen in the river!

Nice work! Nice busts as well. Specially capturing the 'Polock nose' on Skalski, a nose prominent on my father, uncles and cousins and absent on my handsome face due to the kindness of a Lithuanian mother's genes . Looking forward to the finished work.

HI !

Great start Craig ! Wery nice skin colours .
By the way :

Polish airborne patches

Polish airborne eagle.

Best regards my friend !

Jacek

Hi guys,
Charles and John...Thanks for the kind comments. I appreciate you taking the time to look at the pictures and to comment.
Jacek...It's good to hear from you again my friend. I hope that you like what I'm doing with your pieces here. I'm happy with the skintone on the Skalski bust but I'm just not too sure about the Sosabowski bust. I may need to redo it if I'm still not happy after I get more color around the face.
Thanks too for the pictures you posted for me. I didn't realise that the paretorrpers badge was silver (pewter?) with a gold wreath. It'll make a nice touch of detail to add to my version.
I'd like to ask you about the badges you posted. The 4 sides ones are those found on the collar tips, right? So they would be cloth and not metal then. In the picture that Gary posted, the collar tabs look either metal or just a subdued color. If you know, could you please tell me what they should look like on Sosabowski? And the 5 sided bages...I don't remember those on the on the bust. Am I correct about that?

Thanks again to you all for taking the time to comment and especially for the help you've given me with these pieces.
With luck I'll have more pictures to post soon
Craig

Very good fleshtones Craig!
looking forward to the final result
christos

Hi Craig !
I have a picture of original Gen. Sosabowski field uniform from Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. Now im try to find this picture .But im sure , the collar patches are gray with yellow ribbon , with oxided silver metal parachute and eagle .(Im post that when find)
At this moment im find only pictures of my bust :




And a little bonus : beret and collar patches from my friends web page http://www.arnhem1944.civ.pl/jdsosab44/umundurowanie/2.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=h2464oj.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1sbsberet1a5bh.jpg
http://www.arnhem1944.civ.pl/zdjecia/sklepik/patki.jpg
Web page http://www.arnhem1944.civ.pl/1.htm
(sorry , at this moment Polish version only )


All the best!
PS Colar patches and badges in my bust are a little to light ( special for clear boxart )
Jacek

EDIT :
Original Gen Sosabowski battledress uniform : http://www.arnhem1944.civ.pl/mono/tomaszow/DSC00664.jpg

Hello Christos and Jacek,

Christos, thanks for the kind comment

Jacek, Those are some wonderful photographs you'e posted. They're really going to help me with this piece. And thanks also for the great info on the badges.
You've really been a big help and I appreciate all that you've done for me here and elsewhere.
I painted the beret and hair last night. They seem to help counter the darkness of the skintone. One comment I got on Historicus Forma (old Armorama figure forum) was that it might be that the hollow of the cheek was a bit too dark. I may try to lighten it up a little and see if it helps.
Thanks again to you both
Craig

Hi, It is very nice to see those bust painted - I look forward to see it finished - great flesh tones! I wonder how the eye pupils will be painted .

Best Regards,
Piotr