Imperial Gallery 120mm Falklands Gurkha

[Guest]

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Once again I have been the lucky recipient of a generous gift from Richard Pearce; this figure and no less than five busts! Needless to say words just can't thank him enough. I will try to do justice to his thoughtfulness.

First up is this 120mm kit by The Imperial Gallery of a Gurkha during the Falklands conflict of 1982. He's depicted wearing an Argentine(?) parka, so there isn't too much of the dreaded DPM camo to paint. The box contains this lot:

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Loads of parts, mostly in grey resin, but with a few white metal pieces thrown in as well, all well cast and very nicely modelled.

Ayo Gurkhali!

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[Richard48]

Hi Peter.
First in this time,The coat chappie is wearing is a reversible waterproof,White one side and green other side,Bit like a long kagool with velcro closures on front and cuffs i believe.
Pip pip onk onk.
Richard.

[Guest]

Cheers Richard - at least the coat is plain green!

He's ready for paint:



A fairly straight forward build. It was quite tricky positioning the arms so that the rifle and hands fitted, and I've never had a kit yet where they line up perfectly, and though the left hand was a couple of mm out it should be OK.

[Guest]

A head:

[Guest]

Looks great Peter :smiling3:.

[Guest]

Cheers Ralph.

However, I've had a change of mind - you knew I would folks!

I wasn't happy with the head at all, so I've decided to change it:

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The problem was that I didn't have a suitable Far-Eastern head, nor a helmet. Instead I've adapted a German fur cap to represent the DPM fleece:

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I've given him a western head. though I'm not sure whether to try and depict a Gurkha with Eurasian features, like this chap:

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which may work with the right colouring, or to assume he's a European officer, or to simply ditch the kukri and depict a European soldier - apart from the kukri I don't think there's anything about the uniform and equipment that isn't fairly standard, though did other units tape straw to their rifles? Advice would be appreciated.

If I do depict an Gurkha officer, though they are not issued with kukris they are often given them as a mark of respect by their men (Prince Harry is an example, and carried one on his pack).

[Richard48]

The hat could be a Cold weather hat with flap at front.My 1.10th range has one.
Rich.[ATTACH]385684[/ATTACH][ATTACH]385684[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Thanks Richard. I think mine will do. There seem to be several patterns, some with fur under the peak and others not.

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

You changed out the grumpy Gurkha for another head, Shock, horror, LOL

Your back story for the new head seems plausible, and with the right palette doesn't seem too much of a stretch, certainly not after the African Queen.

The references seem to show camo under the Argentinian parka, or will you stick with olive green?

Looks grey today but another heatwave to come?

According to the BBC!

Have a good day painting your new head

Regards

Steve H

[Guest]

Morning Steve

I'll just paint the head and see what happens. I'm beginning to favour the story that he's a young English lieutenant of a Gurkha rifle company, honorary kukri and all that. Camo wise, I'll go with the box art, which has a DPM jacket under the parka.

[Richard48]

Argggggh Dpm he says.Im sure he will turn out splendid.Practice for when my 1.10th version is ready.
Rich.

[Guest]

DPM ain't the easiest Richard, but I'll give it a go.

In the meantime, here's the new head:



Much better. Young English officer he is then.

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Definitely a young English officer not long out of Sandhurst. Mater and Pater would be so proud.
Jim

[Guest]

Hi Jim - If he reads like that, I'm happy. Thanks.

I've got the head done:



Bit of a change of plan re the DPM camo on the cap. I did paint it that way first, but felt that it really detracted from the face, making the whole thing look looking too busy:



So instead he's wearing a captured Argentine one:



Sometimes you have to make up these stories!

[Guest]

Bloody eck Peter it's like the multi coloured swap shop :tears-of-joy:.