Saddam’s Brolly

[Road of Bones]

...continued...

Time to put it all together then! Here it is in weathered form:





Next instalment will start the diorama setting...
Thanks for looking chaps,
Alistair☠️

[scottie3158]

Bones,
Hats off Sir, that is a cracking build.

[Guest]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Mike.

[Road of Bones]

Scottie, Mike- thanks awfully chaps! Means a great deal to get such support from mogglers of your calibre

Ok then, having spent a few months building the “Brolly”, it was time to give her some context. I decided on a side street in Baghdad, being guarded by a US Marine, having been abandoned by Militia as the US Forces occupied the city. First off was a small base, which I coated in tile grout, primed and then painted in various toast-shades of oil paint:

The cinderblock wall was made out of a polystyrene pizza base, as were the kerbstones. Next up, I decided on an olive tree to lurk behind the wall, made from a bit of tree root and sea foam foliage:

Whenever I see footage of the Iraq War, I am always struck by how much filth is strewn about. I appreciate that public services were probably somewhat disrupted during the war though. I decided I fancied including a rubbish heap in the corner of the scene, and collated some resin rubbish, a Meng dumpster and a bit of homemade crap:


It becomes obvious why someone would throw away a mattress here:

The figure was an old one from Mig Productions, and depicts a Marine in a MOPP suit (Method of Protective Posture, a frankly idiotic mnemonic), the US version of NBC gear, which the advance forces were ordered to wear in case Saddam deployed his arsenal of WMDs (ha!). By all accounts it was hideous to wear in the Iraqi heat. Of course, they were in forest camouflage, not desert.

His arms didn’t fit all that well, and he was missing the tips of his finger & thumb, so I made good with green stuff. His M16 needed a new barrel & a strap too:

Next instalment: painting the little man!
Alistair☠️

[Guest]

MOPP suit (Method of Protective Posture, a frankly idiotic mnemonic)

Slight correction: Mission Oriented Protective Posture, which is not any less idiotic, though. They make decent raincoats if you want one with moderate insulation and don’t mind the rain running down your neck and into the coat.

Will this Marine be wearing the old type of woodland or the newer MARPAT? I’m not sure which they used early on in Iraq.

[Steven000]

Very nice progress Alistair! :thumb2: :thumb2: :thumb2:
Steven

[Road of Bones]

Slight correction: Mission Oriented Protective Posture, which is not any less idiotic, though. They make decent raincoats if you want one with moderate insulation and don’t mind the rain running down your neck and into the coat.

Will this Marine be wearing the old type of woodland or the newer MARPAT? I’m not sure which they used early on in Iraq.

Cheers Jakko- I wondered if I had the mnemonic correct (too lazy to check:flushed. I was copying the camo in the TV show “Generation Kill”, so couldn’t say which pattern it was.

[Guest]

This one?

[ATTACH]372308[/ATTACH]

That’s old-style woodland on the jackets. MARPAT is this (woodland and desert patterns):



Though in the flesh, the desert pattern is much more sand-coloured than the very grey appearance of this photo (I could take pictures of the ones I own, but can’t be bothered to get them out of the wardrobe ).

[Steve Jones]

Wow!! What a an absolute stunner. Its been a privilege to see this vehicle come together. Now your spoiling us with figures and bases. Your just to kind.

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
That vehicle is superb. Very neatly built, excellent detail, great paintjob and the icing on the cake, for me, is the weathering. Love the dio idea and you're right in saying that 'crap' and rubbish is all too common. Conflict is a nasty business for those caught up in it.
Jim

[Road of Bones]

Jakko- that’s the one! :thumb2: :nerd:
Steve- keep watching sir...
Jim- that’s one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever had about my efforts:flushed:

When it came to painting my Marine, I decided to go “off-piste” and use only oil paints. I fancied seeing if I could mix all the colours I needed using my W&N paints.

Blocking in the basic woodland camo and the flak jacket

The gas-mask case & camel back were picked out here.

Working on the head further:


And his helmet- this was the only area where I used acrylics, to paint the lenses of his goggles. You can see the different camo pattern I used here:

... continued...

[Road of Bones]

...continued...

I used a slightly “fresher“ mix of colours for his flak jacket:


Here is where I gave his uniform a filter of undiluted Naples Yellow to give the impression of fading and 3 weeks of dust. I also dry brushed him to accent the folds in his suit.

Time to put him together then:

I gave him a final dust with pigments to complete the “tour of duty” look:



Next instalment: bringing it all together!
Alistair☠️

[Guest]

Camo looks convincing, my observation is that it’s often darker on the NBC gear than on regular uniforms, and you seem to have gotten that effect here too

[Road of Bones]

Thanks Jakko!

Ok then, time to bring this build revisit to it’s conclusion. I used scraps of cigarette papers to make more litter, added some tufts of scrub grass, and dusted up the rubbish pile and brought all the elements together:





(one wag on the other forum suggested I make 1/35 scale flies )

So, there you have it: “Saddam’s Brolly, Baghdad 2003”. A most enjoyable conversion and build, and one of my more satisfying results.

Thanks for indulging my re-blog of this, and for all your great comments- back to the Chariot then!

Alistair☠️

[Jim R]

Hi Alistair
Up there with the most impressive dios I've seen and yet it is actually quite a simple scene. The realistic little details and the weathering are superb.
Jim