"US soldier in the WW2" by
Mr. Hiroyuki Ishii

One day I took a whim to build a bust figure of US soldier in the WW2. I could not, however, find a good kit that I wanted. The less you can get a kit of something that you want to build, the more you want to build it. That is a dilemma that I think most modelers has ever plunged into. Then I decided to resolve the problem with the help from the kit out of my junk box.

I chose “US soldier in the WW2” of WARRIOR as a base. The reason why I chose the kit is because it was sculpted by John Rosengrant, a master modeler in the US. His realistic and convincing design made me feel hesitated to remove his excellent kit’s mould. However, Alea iacta est!

I started to remove the whole mould of the body, but I left the neck untouched for the guiding line of the future collar.

The original kit is a three-quarter statue and so it covers until the waste part. According to my plan, however, the waste is not necessary. So I cut the unwanted part using a saw. I think it is important to get rid of unwanted part from the beginning in order to make our work more efficient.

As I wanted to give the finished figure an elegant appearance, I cut the body part in order to give body’s and arm’s cut line a slight curve. I decided to create an overcoat for the winter season for the clothing. I used Milliput to create its mould.

I divided the work process into four to carry on my job: frontal part, back part, arm and collar.

As for the overcoat, it has thick cloth, so I carefully tried to create shallow creases instead of deep ones.

As for the button, since the real overcoat has a unique relief on it, I decided to reproduce it using styrene board. I duplicated four buttons. The suspender belt and the spring belt of the rifle were scratchbuilt with the thin sheet of lead. The metal parts of the belt were created with using styrene sheet.

As for the face, I only added beard on it because the original face was excellent. Beard could be represented only by painting. But with this large scale figure, adding the mould will give better results. I diluted Lacquer Putty of Tamiya with thinner, pasting it with a fine brush to create the beard. When half-dried, I traced on it with the back of knife.

As for the helmet, which is a symbol of GI, I used junk parts ( maybe it is WARRIOR’s) adding details by the use of lead sheet, styrene sheet and lead wire.

Then moving on to the stage of building M1 Garand rifle. I built the barrel with two brass pipes and glued styrene sheet around them. When dried out, I sanded it and made it round to build the wooden stock of rifle. I applied styrene sheet to create the details of the rifle.

PAINTING

I started the process of painting from the face. I basecoated the entire figure with acrylic paints at first. Brushing oil paints on it, I represented a rough tone on it. As I wanted to make his facial expression a bit tired, matching his stubble, I used more brown in the process of shading. As for his eyes, I highlighted the contrast between the white and black of his eyes in order to gain robustness. I brushed Raw Umber of oil paints on beard and highlighted it with Raw Umber and Yellow Ochre. I painted Sand Brown as over coat. Then I repeated washing, using Burnt Umber oil paints until I got a tone that I wished. I mixed Yellow Ochre, White and a small amount of Burnt Sienna for highlighting. Painting dark shade in Sepia carefully generated contrast effect.

As for the scarf, I used Sand as the base color, I toned it by using Raw Umber and then used Burnt Umber for dark shade. As for the suspender, I used Light Sand as the base color, Burnt Umber for washing and mixed Yellow Ochre and White for highlighting and painting the line of ruck.

As for the wooden stock of rifle, I used sand for the base color, Burnt Sienna for overpainting, Burnt Umber for shadow and Sepia for the woodgrain pattern. As for the helmet, I used Sand for the base color, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber for the inner surface of the helmet and I mixed some oil paints to gain dark olive for the outer surface of the helmet.

I drybushed the highlight color and a small amount of silver to gain a metallic impression.

The reason why I used the same kind color for the base color is to take advantage of the transparency of the color in order to obtain the harmonious impression of the tone.

Finished

And now my problem is resolved. I am satisfied with the finished figure.

The conversion that I have introduced now may look easy to do, but it is somewhat difficult to fill the feeling of gap between the original kit and newly scratched parts. So, I believe it is useful to enhance your techniques of creating figures.