Bren Gunners, 8th Army North Africa, 1942.

[dennis]

Hello all

Here are two British Bren Gunners in the 8th Army in 1942.

These figures are from the Russian firm Evolution Miniatures, who are rapidly becoming one of my favourite manufacturers. These are in 1/32nd (54mm) scale and are produced in resin. I have built them straight OOB apart from replacing the hemets with brass ones from SKP, as the kit helmets I felt were a bit small. My usual pallette of acrylic paints from Andrea, Vallejo and Scale 75 were used.

The Sandbags the gunner is sat upon come as part of the kit, the defence stores of wire supports were made from wire, and the mine tape is PTFA, the type plumbers use to in stoping leaking joints, though I might change this for a less taught tape.

These are great figures (apart from the helmet issue) hardly any flash, well engineered and well cast, I loved painting these and they are British Army which is a rare treat and always a bonus.

Please enjoy and thanks for popping by.
Dennis.

[dierk]

Very cool!

[jpc1968]

Superb

[Leon]

Fantastic work Dennis!

[vlpbruce]

Outstanding painting my friend (as usual).

[tobias5555]

A a great paintjob. Good work.

[captfue]

Sweet! great work...

[mrversatile]

Nice job

[nicusi]

Great work, Dennis, a real pleasure to look! Amazing flesh tones definition at the soldier sitting!
I noticed too these figurines, I hope try them one day.
A small question for me: how did you worked the scratch effects on the helmets?
Warm regards,
Nicolae

[dennis]

Thanks everyone for your support. Nicusi, for the helmets I borrowed a technique from tanks modellers called the "hair spray technique"; you paint on your base colour, in this case Vallejo Bronze Green, let it dry and then spray on Vallejo Matt Varnish, let this dry. The next stage involved spraying the helmets with ladies hair spray then let it dry. A top coat of a Desert shade was then airbrushed on. Then you dampen the helmet with water and carefully brush off the Desert colour in the areas you want to show wear, you can also using a cocktail stick scratch of the top cover to show realistic scratches. My next stage when I am happy with my effects is to spray on more Matt Varnish to seal the paint. The reason I choose to show the helmets in this condition was various reference pictures that shows this effect. I hope this helps mate.
Dennis.

[nicusi]

Warm thanks, Dennis. I knew about the technique, but not sure what you used. I noticed also the existence on the market of some new products dedicated (http://www.migjimenez.com/en/chipping-products/187-scratches-effects.html).
Cheers,
Nicolae

[desertrat]

nice subject, and brilliant paintjob, love it!!!

[Steve Zuleski]

Wow Dennis, great work on this pair, very well done!