Bill Speakman VC by Sarnia Miniatures

[Guest]

Peter Gillson's latest sculpt is this 1/10 bust of Bill Speakman VC. Speakman won his VC in Korea in 1951, holding off attacking Chinese forces with pocketfuls of grenades, rallying his comrades, and buying enough time, despite being wounded twice, for the company to make an orderly retreat. At one point, when the grenades ran out, he and his men resorted to throwing rocks, beer bottles and ration tins at the enemy.

Peter has depicted Bill in later life, wearing his Royal Hospital ceremonial uniform, complete with his impressive display of medals and awards.

[Guest]

Peters .
Brilliant work by both of you. Well worth a :thumb2::thumb2::thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:.
John.

[Peter Gillson]

Peter has pulled another great paint job out of the bag.

John glad you like it. It was a sculpt which was both fun and frustrating - the medal are version six or seven, I've lost count of how many times I threw away previous versions. To my knowledge it is the only bust of a Chelsea Pensioner available.

It will be available on my website from tomorrow evening, the website will also have a copy of his VC citation and details of all of the medals.

I am in the middle of painting my own version, but using Peter's tachnique rather than my normal oil over acrylic. I will post photo when it is finished.

Peter

[Jim R]

The two Peters have another brilliant result.
Jim

[Guest]

Great sculpt and paint by the Peter twins :smiling2:.
The medals look especially great.

[Wouter]

I must admit I was a bit confused when I read the text on the intro about this chap. The mixture of the uniform and the year 1951 made my brain go like 'say what?' But then I did a Google search and it all makes sense now :smiling2:. Great sculpt- and paintwork chaps!

[Guest]

Many thanks for looking in chaps/

Wouter - We know them better as Chelsea Pensioners. The Royal Hospital was founded in 1682 by Charles II. It still provides a home for around 300 armed forces veterans.

[Tim Marlow]

Great bust Peters .... well done both....
A little known fact regarding Chelsea pensioners is that as they die “in service” as it were, they can be buried under CWGC headstones and interred with their mates in a section of Brookwood CWGC cemetery.

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guy

Thank for all of the compliments.

Here is my attempt at painting the bust - reather than my normal technique of oil over acrylic I triedusing the tecniques Peter explained in his recent blog.

I must admit that when I read the size of brush Pete uses - 0000 - I was doubious, but having bought some of the same brushes. I am converted - they are really good brushes.

Having said that, the scarlet of the coat was airbrushed. Firstly I airbrushed black to put in the main shadows, and then airbrushed the scarlet.




If anybody wants to read his VC citation it is now live on my website.

Peter

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Another superb double Peter combination of sculpt and paint.

Unusual subject but well made and painted.

Well done Peters

Off to scrape the frost off the car!

Looks like a bright and brisk day today.

What next Peter?

Regards

Steve H

[Richard48]

Hi chaps.
A real bobby dazzler from Mr G and D.Really like this one,The medals are a great addition and kudos to Peter in sculpting these.
Great stuff guys.
Richard

[Steve Jones]

PDiddy - A stunning paint job. A real amount of character in the sculpt brought to life by your good self. The medals must have been fun to do

Peter G - In my humble opinion this is your best bust so far. I like it a lot and the story behind the character is wonderful

I hope this partnership continues to grow from strength to strength

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the support.

Stephen - the next bust will be a female bust, after that probably a German naval bust.
Richard :thumb2:
steve - thanks, I admit he is one of my favorites.

This week I came across this video of an interview with the man himself, not very long but interesting.

This evening its sculpting epaulettes time.

Peter

[Nap]

Hi Guys

As said a nice piece of artwork from Peter and a great release from ge other Peterb......I have had this on my bench doing a few tiny additions , it will be next up to complete

I must say that the Sarnia range is owning on well , very diverse and very good value

Nap

[Peter Gillson]

Nap

I m looking forward to seeing what your work on this bust.

I am glad you like the range. It is a bit of an eclectic mixture of subjects because I sculpt what takes my fancy rather than being focussed on what may be commercial. Looking forward I think I am going to try and alternate between VC holders and the more eclectic non-Vc holder.

As an example, here is a photo of one person I hope to produce as a bust by the end of this year - a Guernseyman, Sir Peter Le Cheminant who was an RAF pilot during WW2, being awarded the DFC and bar, raising to Air Chief Marshal and the Lt. Governor of Guernsey (the Queen's personal representative in the Island). Although he had a remarkable career, he is prettywell unknown outside the Island so I would not expect it to be that popular, but it would be a challenge, and fun to sculpt.

see this link:

https://www.rafa.org.uk/leicester/blog/sir-peter-le-cheminant-fighter-pilot-lieutenant-governor-guernsey-author

Peter