1:35 Grant Tank Crew - MiniArt / Preiser / Tamiya / Hornet Mashup

[clive_t]

Hi all, my first Figure WIP thread - probably my last, given the amazing stuff being shown on this forum already.

 

This is meant to be a companion thread to my current 'Armour WIP' (here) and ultimately will (hopefully) join with the tank itself into a diorama - thread yet to be started!

 

The basic raw materials for the figures will be the 'MiniArt' British Tank Crew set (supplied with the Academy Grant 'El Alamein' kit). In addition, I hope to incorporate relevant parts from the Preiser 'Adam' set. Technically these are slightly over-scale at 1:32, but it shouldn't be too obvious - I hope!

 

No actual progress thus far, apart from I have spray-primed the MiniArt sprue with basic grey acrylic rattle-can primer:

 

 

Today I received through the post the Preiser 'Adam' set:

 

 

As you can see, it's called the 'Adam' set for a reason!

 

Hopefully I shall be able to report some progress soon, if I can work out the nitty gritty of how I am going to pose them!

 

Thanks for watching

 

[Billydick]

Good luck with this ! 

 

BillyD

 

[clive_t]

Thanks Billy D, I think I am going to need it 

[clive_t]

OK so this afternoon, the opening shots were fired in my battle with the tank crew. I picked a pair of legs and a torso:

 

 

In my mind's eye I saw a trooper sat on a small box, leaning against the side of the tank, maybe writing a few lines to his family. To do that, the legs needed to be 'persuaded' to adopt a slightly different pose. Don't worry, trooper, this won't hurt... me ... :

 

 

The leg was cut at the knee and the ankle - which to be fair will probably hurt in the morning. Some of the plastic was pared away to allow the leg to be slightly more bent, past 90-degrees. Some crafting wire was then used to form a bendable joint so as to allow fine-positioning of the leg. Foolishly, the holes I drilled for the wire were slightly too big, however to see how the bits fit together I used some 'Blu-Tak'.  Not too shabby:

 

 

It was at this point I had a change of heart, and decided that rather than sitting, the figure would be crouching down on one knee, attending to something, e.g. a 'Benghazi burner' - obviously a brew-up is therefore on the cards. Slightly less hacking around of the body, which will no doubt come as some relief to the client:

 

 

So this is how the two legs looked, before being joined together:

 

 

Finally for now, I mixed a small lump of Milliput, and filled the gaps between the plastic bits to secure the pose and hide the wire joints:

 

 

Thanks for watching

[clive_t]

Some more progress today. I added the torso, and sorted out the upper limbs from the MiniArt set that best fit the intended pose. Neither of them had hands fitted, so I had a look at the Preiser set to see what my options were. For the right arm, I envisage this resting on the extended right leg, with the hand just hanging down:

 

 

It looks a little over-sized to be honest, but I pursued the idea to see how it would look with the other arm, including another Preiser hand:

 

 

Whereas the right arm was a good fit, and therefore not needing to be pinned, the left arm needed to be cut and shaped to angle it more to the mid-line of the body. So more drilling and pinning:

 

 

A bit of Milliput to fill the gaps, as well as the head - another Prieser part:

 

 

I'm not sure if it's the white plastic of the head on the grey body, but the head definitely looked over-sized. So, I sprayed the whole thing with more primer:

 

 

 

The head looks a little more in proportion, but the right hand still bothers me. I think I will try and elongate the sleeve to maybe disguise it somewhat.

 

Thanks for watching, comments welcome!

 

 

[Murdo]

Fascinating stuff!

 

 

 

[clive_t]

On 16/05/2017 at 10:21 PM, Murdo said:

Fascinating stuff!

 

 

 

Thanks Murdo, much appreciated.

 

Some more progress today. The addition of a side-arm from the MiniArt set, and a tank-man's beret made from Grey Stuff:

 

 

I then re-sprayed it in preparation for painting, however as an afterthought I felt the man needed a decent moustache. This was made from a tiny amount of Milliput:

 

 

Thanks for watching

[clive_t]

You know how you can look at something for ages and ages, and no matter how hard you try to see it in a good light it just doesn't happen?

 

That was me with this figure. The head and hands are just too big! So, I got a small set of Tamiya 1:35 figures (British army patrol set)  and used some bits from that to give something more in proportion:

 

 

It was painful to have to do it, but having done it I feel a lot happier. Once that's set I will rebuild the rest of the head with Milliput, and of course a new beret.

[Bullbasket]

Clive, by far and away the best route for figure building, is to invest in a couple of sets from Hornet. They do heads by the dozen and a few sets of hands as well. IMO, nothing comes anywhere near their quality. And it you want cap badges, Chris Meddings of Inside the Armour does several in etched brass.

 

John.  

[clive_t]

11 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

Clive, by far and away the best route for figure building, is to invest in a couple of sets from Hornet. They do heads by the dozen and a few sets of hands as well. IMO, nothing comes anywhere near their quality. And it you want cap badges, Chris Meddings of Inside the Armour does several in etched brass.

 

John.  

Thanks John, I will look into those when I get a chance

[Bullbasket]

3 hours ago, clive_t said:

Thanks John, I will look into those when I get a chance

Historex carries the full range and they're all illustrated on that site.

 

John.

[clive_t]

Whilst I ponder what to do about the heads, today I made up my second figure. This was made up of the legs and (possibly temporary) head from the MiniArt set, and the torso and arms from the Preiser set  (suitably pared back to try and reduce the size to a something more appropriate):

 

 

The body and the legs are just dry-fitted at the moment, aided by a blob of Blu-tak. I think I will end up painting the top half before fitting it to the bottom half, to hopefully make life a little easier - it will also make it easier to add the sling that the poor unfortunate man will be wearing on his right arm, when I get around to it.

[Badder]

Hi Clive,

Firstly, it's great to hear that you are making a diorama! Secondly, I noticed this thread because I was puzzled by the 'Grant Tank Crew' heading and the 'MiniArt' tag. Now I see that you are using MiniArt's British Tank Crew set as a starting point.  And that's great, because I have the same in the stash waiting to appear in my current diorama.

I may very well be adapting the poses of my figures as well. So, I'm going to follow your progress (whether you like it or not)

and see if I can pick up any tips. (Because figure work is my weakest 'skill')

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[clive_t]

15 minutes ago, Badder said:

Hi Clive,

Firstly, it's great to hear that you are making a diorama! Secondly, I noticed this thread because I was puzzled by the 'Grant Tank Crew' heading and the 'MiniArt' tag. Now I see that you are using MiniArt's British Tank Crew set as a starting point.  And that's great, because I have the same in the stash waiting to appear in my current diorama.

I may very well be adapting the poses of my figures as well. So, I'm going to follow your progress (whether you like it or not)

and see if I can pick up any tips. (Because figure work is my weakest 'skill')

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Greetings Mr Badder, you're of course most welcome to follow along. The MiniArt crew was included with the Acadamy Grant I am building. The whole thing will be combined into a diorama hopefully in time for September 1st. That date is rapidly looming large in my sights, I will soon be seeing the whites of its eyes!

 

 

[Badder]

Just now, clive_t said:

Greetings Mr Badder, you're of course most welcome to follow along. The MiniArt crew was included with the Acadamy Grant I am building. The whole thing will be combined into a diorama hopefully in time for September 1st. That date is rapidly looming large in my sights, I will soon be seeing the whites of its eyes!

 

 

Clive, Just to let you know....I did place a big smiley face after the (whether you like it or not) comment, but I must have deleted it accidentally.  < So there it is. Oh no! I deleted that one as well!

 

I assume you are talking about a GB when you mention Sept 1st? Good luck and enjoy!

 

Unfortunately I was completely unaware of the GB so I have left it far too late to participate. I started my 'ever evolving' diorama back in November and gave myself 2 years to get it finished. It's possible that I might be able to kill two birds with one stone at a later date though!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

[clive_t]

22 minutes ago, Badder said:

Clive, Just to let you know....I did place a big smiley face after the (whether you like it or not) comment, but I must have deleted it accidentally.  < So there it is. Oh no! I deleted that one as well!

 

I assume you are talking about a GB when you mention Sept 1st? Good luck and enjoy!

 

Unfortunately I was completely unaware of the GB so I have left it far too late to participate. I started my 'ever evolving' diorama back in November and gave myself 2 years to get it finished. It's possible that I might be able to kill two birds with one stone at a later date though!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

No worries Mr Badder, I mentally inserted a smiley myself

 

Not a group build, it is instead a personal goal. September 1st will be the 75th anniversary of my father being wounded in action, during the Battle of Alam Halfa. I am making the diorama mark the event.

[clive_t]

Quick update - thanks to John aka Mr @Bullbasket I have this evening shelled out for a couple of sets of Hornet heads, one set with berets and one set completely bald - I figured I could add head gear or hair as necessary with those.

 

Thanks for the "heads up" *  John!

 

 

 

* see what I did there?

[clive_t]

Not bad service at all from Mr Historex - the heads arrived in good order today:

 

 

I did mess up slightly in that rather than purchase a set of bald heads, I purchased a set of 'bare' heads - ie no hats   Ah well, my mistake.

 

I couldn't resist a quick visual inspection of one of them:

 

 

I am impressed! I think this will end up being the face of my 'walking wounded' figure!

 

 

[Hewy]

 These are Very nice figures clive, i didn't know about these, must get some, imagine my surprise after seeing the package, i mean the box, sorry, when in the next photo he's fully clothed,really  good work on them  clive, if you dont mind where did you aquire them clive

Glynn

[clive_t]

2 minutes ago, Hewy said:

 These are Very nice figures clive, i didn't know about these, must get some, imagine my surprise after seeing the package, i mean the box, sorry, when in the next photo he's fully clothed,really  good work on them  clive, if you dont mind where did you aquire them clive

Glynn

Thanks Glynn, if you're referring to the 'Adam' set they are made by Preiser, and they do them in larger scales also (1:24, 1:22.5). You can get them from most model railway related shops; I got mine from Engine Shed/Gaugemaster near Bognor, they have a fine online presence and pretty good mail order service.   www.gaugemaster.com

[clive_t]

Some more progress today. I started filling gaps in the 'Adam' body and the MiniArt legs - Milliput is my filler of choice for this, as used previously. The legs:

 

 

... and the upper body (minus head for the time being):

 

 

 

Whilst I was doing this, I was also waiting for some flesh-tone paint to dry:

 

 

This was by way of an experiment with trying to achieve a feasible looking face painting - not my strong suit, it must be said.

 

Once the base tone had dried, I applied a small amount of sepia wash in the 'darker recesses' of the face:

 

 

I'll let the wash dry and see how it looks. This is not the head that will be used with the 'walking wounded' figure, but it serves as a good practice piece for when I get round to doing the chosen head for that. It will likely, however, end up on another body if it passes muster, seeing as I have no less than six figures to produce!

 

Thanks for watching!

 

 

[Old Man]

This customizing work you are doing is most impressive, Sir.

 

By the way, is there an 'Eve' set to go with the 'Adam'?

 

Asking for a friend....

[clive_t]

9 hours ago, Old Man said:

This customizing work you are doing is most impressive, Sir.

 

By the way, is there an 'Eve' set to go with the 'Adam'?

 

Asking for a friend....

Thanks OM

 

Yes there is. My advice to you, sorry my advice to your friend is to do an online search for 'Preiser Eve set'. And a lot of fun they are to put together too.

 

Apparently.

 

[clive_t]

A bit of a gap since my last update, but some progress has been made - albeit not as much as I would like... I am finding it very difficult to come up with any kind of technique for painting faces. The test piece in the post above has been through several incarnations, each less realistic than its predecessor it seems. I would like to appeal to anyone reading this who has any kind of skill in painting faces properly, to please advise how it should be done! Please!

 

In desperation I reverted back to a simple technique that I've used before - just a simple dark flesh tone, followed by several layers of sepia wash. I tried it on one of the Hornet 'bare' heads, and whilst it could not avoid being called dull, neither does it look outright foolish:

 

 

I applied the same idea to the 'topless' torso that will end up being the walking wounded crew member:

 

 

I then had a go at painting the kneeling figure. I also did the overalls, using an air-brush with some Tamiya Desert Yellow:

 

 

I then made a start on another figure - the commander. At least I think it is, he's the only one wearing what looks like a leather waistcoat! Once again, I wanted something a bit different to the 'out of the box' look, so I decided to portray him arms folded. Once the torso and the legs had been glued together, two holes were drilled in the shoulders for some lengths of brass wire to be inserted. The wire was then bent to shape:

 

 

The folded arms were then made using Milliput:

 

 

Finally for now, because I had some paint left over from the air-brushing of the kneeling figure's overalls, I sprayed the commander's legs:

 

 

Thanks for watching!

 

[clive_t]

A bit more progress on the kneeling figure, apologies for the poor photo it's a mobile, under some very white LED lighting:

 

 

Also the arms-folded commander:

 

 

... followed by a liberal dusting with the Sahara's finest:

 

 

I also selected the head for the commander, from a set of Hornet 'older' heads - again ordered via the Historex Agents' site. I added a tanker's beret and a 'tache from Milliput:

 

 

Thanks again for watching!