Ivan and Boris: Assembly and Priming

I assembled the two Russian tanker figures, officer and crewman, and attached them to plastic bottle caps with CA adhesive for ease of handling during painting. As a fan of all things Vallejo, I filled the seams with Vallejo Plastic Putty (70400) and then set both aside to dry.

I used the point of a #11 blade to clean up the seams and then gave each figure several light coats of Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer from the ol' rattle can.

In addition to highlighting any areas that need further cleaning, the white primer brings out the details in the figures and gives a nice base for the application of the finish colors.

Comrade!

Needing a crew for my 35th scale T-34, I dove into my "parts and figures" box and found the Tank figure set, "Russian AFV Crew, 1941." I also have a couple of Alpine sets but I think I'll save them for future builds, unless the Tank set doesn't work out. Given the pose of the figure in the hatch, I'll do some initial construction on the turret to see how he will work.

Here's a photo of the figures themselves prior to clean-up, construction, and painting:

"Over the Top" - The Kit

I saw this kit on planetFigure a few weeks ago and just had to get it. Even though I haven't done a figure/bust in years, this one really caught my attention.

It's a 1/9th scale bust of a Captain of the 2/5th Bn. Gloucestershire Regiment, 61st Div., 1916. Sculpted by Carl Reid for Model Cellar, it depicts the good captain counting down to "zero hour", pistol and walking stick in-hand and whistle ready to blow to sound the attack. The plinth depicts the empty trench section a few seconds later after he and his men have gone "over the top."

Once my M8 is finished, this just might be next up!

The French Have Arrived!

Well, at least the new MiniArt set has. Their set (no. 35105) arrived yesterday from Great Models Webstore. The newness of the set is reflected in the workmanship exhibited by the figures.

The figures are molded in two sprues of grey plastic. All parts appear to be well-cast and, while not up to par with resin figures such as Alpine's, detail is excellent. Clothing folds are well-done and all five faces can actually be recognized as being different. Even moustaches are finely molded on a couple of them.

Except for the de Gaulle-like figure, all have the potential for fitting in well in the diorama I am planning for my M8. Time will tell which of the four work best with the partisans already on my workbench.

The Maquis

The Maquis were predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance during World War II. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labor for Germany. In an effort to avoid capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized. Initially fighting only to remain free, these bands eventually became active resistance groups. (Wikipedia)

Master Box Ltd. has produced a set of five figures (MB 3551) depicting four Maquis (three male, one female) and a captured German soldier. I have added the numbers in the box art photo above to show the three that I am contemplating using in a vignette for my M8 Greyhound build. Yes, I've finally decided to model an M8 from the 2nd Free French Armored Division, France, 1944. At this point I plan to use two or three of the Maquis figures shown above along with figures from the forthcoming MiniArt set of French Tankers (35105). If they are not available in time, my fallback position is to use Hornet French tanker heads on U.S. tanker figures from the appropriate time period.