Dad's Guys: May 2018

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Truck Drivers

While prepping a big batch of Armenian/Azerbaijani crewmen and their heavy weapons I decided to paint up a few drivers for some trucks I'm working on. These four went quick as I only painted the bits that would show. They are done in colors that are suitable for all post-Soviet conflicts I'm interested. I hope to paint up all vehicles I can in a way that they can be used for many conflicts. I think I may have to lower the seats of two of them to get them to fit right. It sure is difficult to fit such guys in plastic model cabs.

RH Models HDBDRIV; MULTBHTRUCK

RH Models MULTBHTRUCK; *DRIV with head swap

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Truck Riders

Some time ago I convert a pack of RH Model's mujahedin tank riders to make them more of a multi-purpose pack by swapping our their bearded heads with different bare heads and Soviet headgear. Recently I got around to expanding this bunch with another pack and converted some sitting figures Rolf puts out to give me even more variation. Some of these conversions are the most extensive I've done yet. It sure was fun and I'm very happy with the results. I plan on using them to model Armenian soldiers riding in the back of army trucks. The thought is that with some precisely cut, thin steel plates I can create different load-outs for trucks I plan to build and paint. One type of load-out I hope to make is a one with dudes like these.

RH Models MUJ25 with head swaps

For the figures below I had to do more than swap heads. The figures in camouflage hooded suits originally had bases which I removed with my Dremel, a hobby knife and a file. The middle two figures originally had different heads on them, binoculars and hands holding the binoculars. I changed them to be holding their heads up. The new hands were done with green stuff. The last two figures were cast as gunners for Soviet AA. For these I chopped off one head, the left arm, right hand and chair back on both, put a Moison-Nagant rifle on their laps and sculpted new arms and hands to support the gun.

RH Models RUSHMGH with head swap; RUSHMGH; RUSAGSH with head swap; MULT20ZPU4 with head swap; MULT20ZPU4

These pictures give an idea of the look I'm going for with these figures:

Armenians during operations in the Martakert District near the Sarsa. (~7/1992)

Armenians during operations in the Martakert District. (July 12th, 1992)

Armenians during operations in the Martakert District. (~7/1992)

Friday, May 4, 2018

Azerbaijani Fighters

Last weekend I finished this big batch of figures (26 might be too many to do at once, sure slows one down). They are meant to represent Fall/Winter Azerbaijani forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. To prep these I did a whole bunch of head swaps, some jacket extensions and some big collars. I painted them with my darker flesh tone, some mustaches, mostly a whole range of khaki and three new Azerbaijan only camouflage patterns. I did the bases with the usual bricks, cinder blocks and trash as well as grass, bushes and some rocks (courtesy of the nearby middle school). In the near future I'll have to do a 2nd batch like these with more RMR figures (older kit), a couple more Azeri-only camouflage patterns and a whole lot more khaki. First, however, I'm half through a batch of Armenian tank/truck riders.

Lately I've been busy reading a big pile of books concerning modeling and painting models. All these figures need vehicles! I've got a big stash of plastic, resin and metal kits waiting for me to get working on them - and a couple of die-casts I might repaint. I haven't bought an airbrush, but soon will do so.

RH Models RMRAKF with some green stuff jacket extensions