Quiet Please
Painted in 2018
Old age is wonderful, I now get exercise walking upstairs, forgetting what I’d gone up for, come back down only to remember what it was I wanted, and have to go back upstairs again….. But I guess it saves me paying for a Gym membership.
So my memory isn’t brilliant, and sometimes – when I’ve painted and photographed a model, thrown all the box and paperwork away ( because, heck, who would even need that information again Adrian ? ) – I cannot recall who made the figure, who I got it off, and in this case which show I even bought it at.
I do suspect it might have been at SMC in 2016…… but beyond that, I’m stumped.
Never mind. It’s a lovely little 40mm figure, and having found it languishing in a box of kits I was searching through ( searching for something else, I might add ), I decided to paint it.
Photo #1 shows one of the pictures that came with it – I took that prior to clean-up, and the figure appears to be lifting some kind of grid or grille.
I’m not quite sure if she’s supposed to be under water, or sneaking into a space installation, the helmet and backpack certainly look like they’re for use in space, but the bare leg and boots suggest some sort of atmosphere……
Oh, lets not get all bothered about bare skin exposed to vacuum conditions in space Adrian !
Putting that aside, it’s a nicely moulded, multi part kit, the arms and backpack are separated from the main casting of the body, head and legs.
Putting that aside, it’s a nicely moulded, multi part kit, the arms and backpack are separated from the main casting of the body, head and legs.
There didn’t seem to be any tubes to connect the backpack to the helmet, so I added those from some coiled wire – Photo #2 – along with painting the bare leg section to represent some kind of skin-tight space suit.
The glazing on the front of the helmet was painted with Molotow Chrome Ink, then coated with some Tamiya Orange Lacquer thinned with a little water. It took several coats to build up the colour to how it’s shown in this shot.
The legs, body and textile section of the helmet were painted grey, and a faded red line added to the top of the helmet section. The backpack was painted grey too, but with a slightly darker mix, and a blue band of colour added horizontally about two thirds of the way up. The small gas bottle on the top was painted a slightly brighter red than the stripe on the helmet, just to make it stand out a bit.
The grille that came with the kit, that she’s supposed to be lifting, was deformed, and rather than trying to correct it, I decided to discard it completely and build a base for her to kneel on.
This is seen in photo #3, and began life as the turret of a Panther tank, removing a portion of the front of the turret and replacing it with a piece of plasticard and using a couple of spare fan vents from the engine deck of a panther ( possibly spares from the same kit as the turret ).
A side hatch was added and an upper hatch too that the figure is about to lift up.
With a communications antennae and some wheel hubs glued onto the top and side respectively, plus a few other bits rifled from the spares box, it still looked like a panther turret, but I was happy enough with the effect that was taking place.
Photo #4 shows the turret painted grey and with some work markings sprayed through home-made masks added.
It still looked like a Panther Turret though…..
Plastic Coffee Cups !
And the same to you !
Oh, sorry, yes, plastic coffee cups. Two of these ( for rigidity ) were pressed into use for a pedestal to set the turret on – photo #5. I did have the thought to build an inverted “L” shape to mould the cups and turret to, so they hung upside-down, with the figure then being inverted too, but didn’t get around to it.
It would’ve looked cooler though in hindsight.
The cups were painted to match the turret, with the blue markings added to break up the shape.
The finished shots show an all-round view of the piece mounted on one of Steve Crisp’s very cool looking plinths – a mix of swirly coloured resin and very nice wood, turned and polished to perfection.
Final words.
I so with I could remember which company produced this little figure, it’s such a cool pose, with just the amount of humour imbued into the “shhh” motion that does tend to give the viewer a chuckle.
The scratch-built base possibly isn’t my best effort, but it was just a quick project that saved a figure from eternal exile to the Grey Army.
Glad I painted it.
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