1/10 Young Miniatures " USAAF Pilot 1944 " Corrected .

[sonofjim]

 

Hi all , I was asked by a Friend and fellow Flight equipment collector and historian to finish and paint this bust for him .

on Arrival the bust looks very nice nicely sculpted but with a few awkward historical accuracy issues centred around the headgear ..

The bust is advertised as "USAAF Pilot 1944" however the exact style of C type flying helmet he is wearing did not come into being until the final days of the War and is commonly

considered by Flight helmet collectors as being wholly Post War !

A bit of developmental history ...

The problem with the sculpt is with the back and left side of the helmet , the total of what look like four goggle straps, are actually two goggle straps (back of either earphone housing) and two small "Loom" tabs at the very back, in the war time production late C type the wiring was routed between the outer leather shell of the helmet and , the chamois lining.

This caused a great deal of discomfort for the wearer ,and so, in the final model the wiring was routed outside the helmet almost completely. And these two small tabs were there to hold it in position and stop the now external wiring from snagging . These were added in aprox May 1945 . 

The style of electrics or "Loom" and AM Earphones fitted to the Helmet are also an issue for an USAAF pilot. These are RAF only and would not have worked with the Type A-14 mask at all , RAF Mics were considerably different to American models and the A-14 mask carried either an ANB-M-C1 (carbon) or T-44 Electromagnetic . this was issued especially to work with RAF radios due to U.S. supply issues in field . which is what

the figure is depicted using ,however this will also not work with RAF wiring looms and connects only to USAAF HS-38 Helmet looms as well see later .

For a purist collector it was clear it would require some fixing .

first a shot of the box art and raw castings . I have placed coloured circles around the offending  detail inaccuracies .

I also mode some other improvements as I went along such as accurate chin strap attachment  instead of stitched on as sculpted (this should be a friction buckle ) and lengthening of the two remaining goggle straps. My friend also wanted this guy to have an "Stubby" winged 8TH AF patch instead of the generic USAAF star modelled in the castings.

So first the box and castings and I will go into more detail as I progress  .

  Thanks Jim .

 

 

 

 

Photos of the areas to be fixed , The Rear , note the small rear most "Loom" tabs that will need removing along with the wiring loom .

 The Rear of the earlier C type was also a little different in that it had a split for the wiring to enter ,these were stitched or glued up by the US Airman though .

Coloured circles indicate :

Red ,the small plug that needs to be removed this is RAF only and wouldn't be left on USAAF

Wiring ,

Purple, the Goggle straps that need lengthening .

Green , the chin strap on sculpt has stitch marks , C types never featured stitched on chin straps

so this needs removing also .

Yellow, the Goggle strap on the MKVIII Goggles as sculpted have a small leather section to re-inforce it this will need to be  added .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More shortly .... Thanks for looking Guys.

Jim .

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2016 by sonofjim

[sonofjim]

Offending areas are now being removed in preparation for initial bout of  Re-sculpting .

 

Back of the Helmet is now re-sculpted , as per the original sculpt/cast I replicated the stitch marks and correct seems

I also added the now empty pocket where the Microphone plug, (circled red ) was located this slit in the helmet was stretched by the RAF plug when fitted at factory level and would remain baggy and lightly open .

 

Here I have added the extensions to the Goggles straps and also added a rounded end profile as opposed to the incorrect squared tips .

I also added new press stud domes to them and new bases for the male press studs that did not survive the initial carving .

The chin strap buckle is 0.3 Copper wire with a tiny slider modelled on to replicate the correct friction buckle .

It was this buckle that was stitched into the C type helmets via a small tab of leather let into the leather shell ,not a strap stitched on .

I also added the leather reinforcing strip to the strap connector of the MKVIII Goggles and the missing correct "Butterfly" leather tabs to the goggle straps buckle .

 

 

That's all for now more soon !

 

Edited November 25, 2016 by sonofjim

[giemme]

Thanks for the interesting insight   Watching

 

Ciao

[sonofjim]

Thank you Sir !

[sonofjim]

First here an example of an original C type helmet modified for use by the USAAF Circa 1944 from my own collection .

As you can see the earphones are taped into the helmet , this is because the US receivers were the shape of a typical wedding cake , sort of tiered as opposed to the cylindrical shape of

Air Ministry issued earphones . This caused them to fall out unexpectedly so just in case they were secured with cloth tape .

 

                                                           

 

I decided to tackle this effect with Tri-foil using Cyano to secure it .

I also replaced the press studs that were eliminated by the initial work . 

 

 

Finally I added the Insignia to the arm of the A-2 Jacket .

All work was carried out using Magic sculp . It was very time consuming and intricate .

Finally I added the elasticated webbing chin strap for the helmet .

This was sculpted using Kneadatite Duro or "Greenstuff" and added a press stud from Procreate .

 

 

 

That's all for now , more later Thanks for looking Guys !

Jim .

[giemme]

Impressive scratch building - actually I should say sculpting!    

Ciao

[sonofjim]

Thank you !

[Mrs PlaStix]

Neat stuff!

[sonofjim]

Thanks very much Mrs PlaStix ! I was just looking at your awesome Dino's !

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by sonofjim
forgot part of message .

[sonofjim]

So cracking on with the build , I decided to get the Wiring looms  Oxygen mask corrections out of the way as these would be a fairly big job

involving the soldering iron ,

first I removed the moulded on microphone lead as this is far too thin to be the depicted T-44 and also the cast has it simply dropping down the front .

I added this with lead wire and re-routed it correctly around the back of the mask exhaled air vent .

I will also add the correct extended spout tot eh mic pocket on the front of the mask .

 

Now I got to work creating the Wiring for both the masks T-44 loom which will replace the fragile resin part and also the Helmets wiring loom

with jack plug , the Resin jack plugs included in the kit are far too big .

The thick T-44 loom for the mask was created using brass wire and brass tube simply slotted onto it and soldered to create the female jack plug, the branch point was soldered together and bent into shape

creating a more natural sag . I also drilled into the wire and added a tiny pin soldered in so it would be pinned to the mask securely .

 I Also drilled a small hole in the front of the mask so it could be pinned to the shoulder of the figure when complete .

 

 

 

Next I turned a brass replacement jack plug and formed the wiring loom for the helmet from copper wire which was twisted then soldered into the plug body .

 

 

And added the rear leather tab with press stud to secure it to the back of the helmet and the small loose hanging "Anchor" Cord that secure the wiring to the earphones on the real thing .

and then test fitted the assembly to the helmet/head cast .

 

 

All good I think. Soon time for paint !

Thanks for looking in .

Jim .

 

[sonofjim]

A quick update , I added a new Cigarette and test fitted him onto his base with the steel rod that will be his final attachment .

[giemme]

I never thought of super-detailing involved in bust painting; great job!

 

Can't wait to see some paint on him  

 

Ciao

[sonofjim]

Thanks giemme

Jim. 

[John_W]

I thought the detail was good, then I saw the picture with the thumb for scale, and realised it was incredible.

[sonofjim]

Thank you sir ! 

I really appreciate that .

Jim.

[John_W]

The devil is in the detail as they say.

My late Father used to get annoyed about brass buttons in war films.

He joined the RAF in 1945 and had bakelite buttons because brass was an essential metal.

My personal pet hate is badly shaped berets.

[sonofjim]

It's true mate I'm the same I get mad at war films all the time and I have the same pet peeves in modelling too ( like badly she'd berets ) I think if something is meant to depict a subject from a set time such as historical miniatures the film maker or in this instance the sculptor should make every effort to research the subject in question .

theres plenty of info out there 

I dont think modellers would remain silent if a Whermacht tank crew wore post war bundeswehr uniforms . I may have to have a discussion with you in the near future about berets  mate , I'm in the middles of sculpting a ww2 British airborne subject in 90mm scale for kit production in the near future so I'd value your input .

cheers , Jim.

 

[sonofjim]

Quote

 

OK So here the bust finished ! It was a fun project .

The bust was entirely brush painted with Vallejo and Andrea paints except a selective matt coat at the end by airbrush and a selective satin for the mask to simulate the kind of shiny rubber they were made of .

Hope you enjoyed the build and thanks for looking !

Jim.

 

 

[giemme]

Impressive! Very realistic!   I'd have loved to see a WIP about the painting too, but I know it takes a lot of time to do that  

 

Ciao

[sonofjim]

10 minutes ago, giemme said:

Impressive! Very realistic!   I'd have loved to see a WIP about the painting too, but I know it takes a lot of time to do that  

 

Ciao

Hi giemme, Thanks very much indeed sir !

I did take a lot of photos but my cameras SD card  somehow got damaged  the new one only arrived yesterday and I had to ship the completed but today .

I will maybe do a another sometime of a different subject for myself which will give me much more time and I can take lots more photos if you would like to see the painting process ?

thanks for your kind comments sir !

Jim .

[giemme]

As I said, I'd love to see that - I'm alwayas keen to learn more about figure painting, and I really like your style. It's very "real life" if you know what I mean, and it's something I try to do too  

 

Ciao

[sonofjim]

17 minutes ago, giemme said:

As I said, I'd love to see that - I'm alwayas keen to learn more about figure painting, and I really like your style. It's very "real life" if you know what I mean, and it's something I try to do too  

 

Ciao

Well thank you sir! 

I'll get something together and post another WIP with the whole process . Thank you for your kind words .

[Bigmick]

Dang near missed this one, I am seriously impressed, well researched, beautifully executed work sir.

Like John said, it's not till you get something to scale in the picture you realise how small 1/10 actually is.

Bravo.

 

 

Mick

[sonofjim]

Mick thank you for your kind words Sir ! I really appreciate it .

It had been a good few years actually since I was able to actually complete a figure . As a gift for friend I had to finish it and that gave me the push I needed I think . I've been looking at your fine work too sir awesome stuff 

cheers , Jim.

[Mrs PlaStix]

you'll have to make more for friends if they're that good! Fantastic paint job, shame about your sd card.- Mrs.P suffering from cold/cough and unable to get on with model building (feeling sorry for self too!)