101st Airborne 1944.

[Jason Crausby]

I’ve made a little progress but there so much detail on this bust that it’s taking me a while... lots of work done but collectively very little finished...The only thing that about done is the reserve parachute... still some tidying up to do on it but I’ve handled it that much doing the detail that parts need doing again...

Thanks
Jason

[Jason Crausby]

Hi all... much more progress than this made but again very few completed bits... however I’m pretty much calling the head and helmet done... the straps project forward because they rest on the shoulders of the figure but it looks a bit strange without the body... the lettering on the first aid pack was challenging but that’s about the best I can do as I didn’t want to revert to decals.... just 50 stars on the US flag shoulder patch to do next!

[Jason Crausby]

...whoops forgot the pics...

Thanks for looking in...
Jason

[tr1ckey66]

Very, very nice - awesome figure painting skills!
This will be special when finished.

Cheers
P

[Tim Marlow]

You’re good at this aren’t you
Excellent facial tones on this one....

[Jason Crausby]

Thanks Paul and Thanks Tim....
I’ve thought long and hard about how best to depict the 50 stars on the shoulder patch as I think not doing it right will let down the rest of the detail....so....
...the stars on the US flag are actually laid out in 6 vertical lines of 5 stars... interspersed with 5 vertical lines of 4 stars making the 50 stars....

So having done the stripes red on white I did the blue area as the base for the stars and then added my 6 vertical lines...

I then painted 4 horizontal blue lines across to create 5 white blocks in each line...

It was then just a case of putting a dot of white in between the original white lines at the point where each of the 4 blues lines crossed them.... that gave me 50 dots of fairly uneven size but after a bit of tidying up with a fine brush, I’ve finally got my 50 dots....

Ok, so they are not actually stars but that about as near as I’m going to get...I’ve seen quite a few online and even on the box art where dots have just been put on randomly but to be honest doing it this way was fairly simple and I’m happy to leave it like that!?
Thanks
Jason

[scottie3158]

Jason,
That looks great I would not of thought of that. i would have tried and failed to just paint them all free hand.

[Guest]

Brilliant work on the flag badge Jason - that's one steady hand you've got there.

[Tim Marlow]

Great work on the flag....it reads really well. Random dots would just look strange...

[Gary MacKenzie]

https://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/b3-life-preserver.html

https://www.paratrooper.fr/en/original/13041-life-preserver-b-4-1943-3000000122266.html

[Steve Brodie]

great way to create the flag, i did use a company on ebay to create some custom flag patches, so if you want a couple give me a shout - would have to check the sizes i have

[Steve Jones]

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but there were only 48 stars on the USA flag during WWII. It went up to 50 in the late 1950's. Soz

[Jason Crausby]

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but there were only 48 stars on the USA flag during WWII. It went up to 50 in the late 1950's. Soz

Arrrrgh.... Thanks for that Steve.... at least it’s not a big job dotting out a couple of them.... that’s what happens when you don’t do your research!

[Jason Crausby]

Anyway things are staring to come together with this although the head is just dry fitted at the moment and still some work to do on the multitude of straps...( not to mention 2 stars to delete!!....seriously I am glad you told me Steve!)
...but that’s it for today...



Thanks
Jason

[Jim R]

Hi Jason
Looking better and better. Reserve parachute looks excellent. Flag is great and such a clever way of doing it. I doubt many people would want to or be able to count the stars :tongue-out3:
Jim