Revell/ICM 1/35 WWI Tommies

[Neil Merryweather]

I finished the Spitfire and I still needed a break from the intensity of the Imperial Guard Grenadier so I found myself painting the next one of my Revell/ICM world war one Tommies -remember this guy from March 2019?

He is from this set, which I think is a fantastic bargain.

You get 12 very well sculpted figures and loads of extra equipment for around £9 at the moment. Considering each set of 4 is currently around £12 it’s an absolute steal, and it would be an ideal place for any beginner to start without breaking the bank.

Anyway, I wanted to try out my wet palette, which I’ve had for a while and been a bit afraid of for some reason. So I piled into this guy and before I knew it he was done!





I have to say I found the wet palette to be an absolute revelation!. It dealt with all my previous moans about using acrylic paints, and enabled me to make washes and filters which I’ve never managed before.
Now I’m not saying my painting has got to the standard I want it to but I now at least have a fighting chance of improving without giving up in despair at the limitations of the paint. I was seriously considering going back to Humbrol enamels after the last effort.
Last time I used the Life Color set for WW1 uniforms but I didn’t like the basic uniform colours, so this time I used Vallejo British Uniform as a basis, and I was much happier with the result. The first one is going to look a bit strange next to him, so I might have to repaint the first one, but now I feel a bit more confident that’s not such a terrifying prospect.

I really enjoy the modelling side of figures but I have always considered the painting part to be a necessary evil, but to my surprise I found I actually enjoyed this experience!

I was on a roll so I did another one in case I forgot how!
Thanks for looking in
Neil

[Dave Ward]

Neil,
as you say, those sets are a real bargain - aside from the figures, there are loads of equipment not relevant to 1914, Chauchat, Lewis etc. that can be used elsewhere. Have you tried out any of the German Infantry yet?
Dave

[Guest]

You enjoyed painting a figure! Whatever next Neil? I can can tell you enjoyed it because it's bloomin' good. Well done that man.

[Neil Merryweather]

Neil,
as you say, those sets are a real bargain - aside from the figures, there are loads of equipment not relevant to 1914, Chauchat, Lewis etc. that can be used elsewhere. Have you tried out any of the German Infantry yet?
Dave

Not yet ,Dave, but I think they will have to be next up.
I was looking at them to see what I could use as battlefield debris for these boys and to my amazement I had a double set of German equipment. RESULT!
I'm trying to resist buying another set simply because it's a bargain,but if I think of some conversion ideas I'm done for

[Neil Merryweather]

You enjoyed painting a figure! Whatever next Neil? I can can tell you enjoyed it because it's bloomin' good. Well done that man.

Ha ha, thank you ,Peter!
Yes, none of the usual bellyaching - whatever next?:tears-of-joy:

[Neil Merryweather]

I'm trying to resist buying another set simply because it's a bargain,but if I think of some conversion ideas I'm done for

Damn!
I just looked at Europa Militaria World War One Infantry in Colour Photographs and now I have of loads of ideas........still, 12 figures for £8.44., why not?

[Neil Merryweather]

Ok here's the next one.



I tried a different approach to the ink washes on this one. After the main painting I gave him a coat of Klear and then did the lining. It worked ok, and I might do it that way again
I still have to dirty them all .
I made all of these Out Of The Box because they were intended as painting practice, but I'm not wild about the poses, and I have to say that the faces are all quite similar.
When I do the others I will pay a bit more attention to those issues.
What IS useful is that all three sets in this package are clearly based on the Europa Militaria book which means the reference for painting is very clear.
Thanks for looking

[Guest]

Another great figure Neil.

[Guest]

Very nicely painted Neil :smiling3:.
I bought the AK Interactive wet pallete a few weeks ago from John and have found it to be fantastic,I wish I had bought one years ago.
(I thought they were a gimmick at the time).

[Neil Merryweather]

Thank you ,Peter and Ralph.
Here's the officer.
I had to do a little more research - especially as regards the cap and the (lack of) cuff decoration - as the officer's uniform is not in the book.
Having watched Downton Abbey I knew I needed a slightly different colour for the more expensive tunic so I went with Vallejo grey green, but that was too much so I added a filter of British Uniform.
I presume it's a Guards thing, but the cap is different from what I expected, with the black band and braid on the peak. I also thought the cuffs were wrong because I was expecting the whole braid thing there, but it seems the Guards just had the single cuff button, so the designer got it spot on. The thing i don't really like is the stick, but it's strictly OOTB so I bashed on with it.
Although they are Grenadier Guards I haven't done the red shoulder titles which they all should have because I have chickened out. Archer do a set of decals but it's a lot of money for something so tiny, and I won't use any of the others that come with them,so I'll have a practice on something and see if I can cope. It's one of those things I did as a teenager without thinking, but I'm more risk averse in my old age!





Looking at the pics on the screen I can see he needs a coat of matt lacquer-especially on the puttees.
So now I'm going to build a little base for them all, with green grass rather than mud because these are 1914 uniforms -Battle of the Marne, Retreat from Mons period- before the trenches.
And I have to address the difference in colour on the first figure I did.
thanks for looking in
Neil

[Guest]

A very fine rendition of an officer in his Saville Row uniform. Lovely work.

[Neil Merryweather]

Thank you Peter.
you are always very encouraging,thank you

[Neil Merryweather]

Here are the three Tommies together.


I accept that wartime conditions would have meant there were a variety of shades of uniform, but this is 1914 and these are the professional ‘Old Contemptibles’, so I doubt this would have been the case. Besides that, I don’t like it, and the photo doesn’t show the contrast as bad as it really is.

And don’t the two on the right look like brothers- if not even twins! Still, it was not unknown, was it?

I really couldn’t face doing all the shading and highlighting again, so being the lazy bug**er I am I stripped off the equipment- thank God I used PVA- and gave his uniform a very light wash of British Uniform

Bingo

Works for me!

I also made a start on the base. I’m using a jewellery display box I bought from evilbay.


I wanted to paint the bottom black and the lid is quite tight (it tapers more than is apparent in the pic) so I trimmed the sides down by 50% to allow for the thickness of the paint. I sprayed it black and gave it a coat of Klear, then I masked it and filled it with Sculptamold.



I mixed a lot of brown paint in with the Sculptamold (my son’s old Warhammer paints,still good after about ten years!) because it’s white. I will paint over it but I don’t want any white to show through. That said, it was quite chalky soil in certain parts of France and Belgium so a bit of white might not have been so wrong……

I want to have some battlefield debris and, inspired by Andy Belsey’s work, I made this set up from my extra BONUS set of German equipment .



I had to make the bread bag from an Airfix Multipose one and some lead foil as it's not included in the equipment set.

That’s all for now, thanks for looking in

Neil

[Andy Belsey]

Great work Neil!!
Andy

[Neil Merryweather]

Great work Neil!!
Andy

Thank you ,Oh Great One!