Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
U-Boat Captain
As always, the following text is from UAMHQ...
"It's been quite a while since I've 'bashed a VAM figure, so I thought I'd try my hand at another. Following on from some other great U-Boat Captain 'bashes on the forum, I was keen to have a go at one myself.
I recently acquired the original uncut version of 'Das Boot' on DVD (clocking in at a massive 4 hours and 42 minutes) which provided the inspiration. I was always a great fan of Otto Sander's portrayal of Kapitanleutnant Thomsen and thought the character would make a good 'bash.
The 1/6 scale reefer jacket was originally issued with the Harrison Ford K-19 Widowmaker figure. I modified it, adding fabric chest insignia, extra gold buttons, cuff stripes, etc. The captain's cap started life as a Dragon Luftwaffe cap which I modified by adding gold braid and a homemade Kriegsmarine badge as well as repositioning the smaller eagle badge. The cap was then weathered to make it look slightly more 'salt-worn'.
I chose to equip the figure with a Luftwaffe 640(b) pistol, rather than a Luger, etc. Whilst researching the 'bash, I discovered that quite a few airmen from the Luftwaffe actually transferred across to the Kriegsmarine during the course of the war, with many volunteering to serve on U-Boats. Interestingly, the 640(b) is essentially a carbon-copy of the Browning Hi-Power which was manufactured in Belgium (and used extensively by the Allies). When the Germans came to town, they took over the factory and started producing the 640's for the Luftwaffe. So that explains how my figure ended up with one!
The bottle of French wine started life as a 1/6 scale bottle of Japanese sake, which I reduced in height and finished off with a vintage label. The navigation chart and 'Die Kriegsmarine' magazine were scratch-built using images found on the net.
16 images to follow. Hope you enjoy!"
Photos to follow...
"It's been quite a while since I've 'bashed a VAM figure, so I thought I'd try my hand at another. Following on from some other great U-Boat Captain 'bashes on the forum, I was keen to have a go at one myself.
I recently acquired the original uncut version of 'Das Boot' on DVD (clocking in at a massive 4 hours and 42 minutes) which provided the inspiration. I was always a great fan of Otto Sander's portrayal of Kapitanleutnant Thomsen and thought the character would make a good 'bash.
The 1/6 scale reefer jacket was originally issued with the Harrison Ford K-19 Widowmaker figure. I modified it, adding fabric chest insignia, extra gold buttons, cuff stripes, etc. The captain's cap started life as a Dragon Luftwaffe cap which I modified by adding gold braid and a homemade Kriegsmarine badge as well as repositioning the smaller eagle badge. The cap was then weathered to make it look slightly more 'salt-worn'.
I chose to equip the figure with a Luftwaffe 640(b) pistol, rather than a Luger, etc. Whilst researching the 'bash, I discovered that quite a few airmen from the Luftwaffe actually transferred across to the Kriegsmarine during the course of the war, with many volunteering to serve on U-Boats. Interestingly, the 640(b) is essentially a carbon-copy of the Browning Hi-Power which was manufactured in Belgium (and used extensively by the Allies). When the Germans came to town, they took over the factory and started producing the 640's for the Luftwaffe. So that explains how my figure ended up with one!
The bottle of French wine started life as a 1/6 scale bottle of Japanese sake, which I reduced in height and finished off with a vintage label. The navigation chart and 'Die Kriegsmarine' magazine were scratch-built using images found on the net.
16 images to follow. Hope you enjoy!"
Photos to follow...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Update
Hi, just a quick update for those people that are interested! I'm still working on the Sherlock Holmes 221B project and it is progressing well - I've just slowed down a bit on it recently, as it is quite time-consuming. I've also decided to get back into kit-bashing VAM figures and have two/three projects on the drawing board. I'll post the results here (and on the UAMHQ forum) when the first one is complete. Cheers, Craig.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
221B Baker Street Project
I've decided to put the VAM box-sets on hold for a while. However, I have started work on a new VAM project, which will take up most of my spare time. I'm attempting to construct a 1/6 scale 221B Baker Street diorama (with VAM Holmes & Watson of course!). I'll be posting updates of the project on a regular basis at the AMHQ website - so tune in there if you want to see more! The link can be found on the right-hand-side of this page. When you get to the AMHQ site, just navigate through to the forums section. If you search the forums using '221B', you should be able to find the updates as they are posted. Cheers, Craig.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Indiana Jones
Finally finished my Indy project. The following text is from AMHQ.
"I’ve finally completed my Indiana Jones custom VAM project. Kudos to Starbuck for giving me the inspiration in the first place! I really enjoyed putting this one together…it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. Indy really is an iconic character and is perfectly suited to VAM.
The photos are fairly self-explanatory. However, I’ve provided a break-down of the clothes/accessories below:
Fedora (custom-made by Steve)
Leather Jacket (from the BBI ‘Relic Hunter’ figure)
Trousers (again, from the BBI ‘Relic Hunter’ figure)
Shirt (from my spares collection – dyed in boiling tea to give a vintage look…I seem to recall getting this idea from one of LFJ’s posts?)
Gas Mask Bag (obtained from Monkey Depot and modified. It was originally a French-style gas mask bag)
Boots (from Newline Miniatures, identical to the ones I used for my original Jackal project)
Holster/Belt/Webley Revolver (custom-made by Steve – he really makes some beautiful items)
Gold Fertility Idol (scratch-built with Sculpey and painted with gold leaf)
Idol Counter-weight (scratch-built)
Coiled Whip (scratch-built using leather strips)
Pocket-Knife (from my Dragon SOLDAT figure)
Temple Map (furnished using an image of the movie prop found on the internet)
Peru & Bolivia Map (furnished using an image from the internet)
Retail Packaging (scratch-built, with the exception of the actual box, which was pre-made)
I want to make special mention of Indy’s coiled whip, which was made by my wife. It’s constructed of three strands of thin, tapered leather, which my girl tirelessly plaited into the finished product. It might not be the most movie-accurate 1/6 scale Indy whip in existence, but the fact that it was made by my wife makes it pretty special!
I also wanted my retail packaging to include an exclusive Action Man/Indiana Jones mail-in competition. This time, ten lucky winners from 1983 get to be cast as an extra in the sequel (or more correctly, the prequel) to ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’."
Photos to follow.
"I’ve finally completed my Indiana Jones custom VAM project. Kudos to Starbuck for giving me the inspiration in the first place! I really enjoyed putting this one together…it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. Indy really is an iconic character and is perfectly suited to VAM.
The photos are fairly self-explanatory. However, I’ve provided a break-down of the clothes/accessories below:
Fedora (custom-made by Steve)
Leather Jacket (from the BBI ‘Relic Hunter’ figure)
Trousers (again, from the BBI ‘Relic Hunter’ figure)
Shirt (from my spares collection – dyed in boiling tea to give a vintage look…I seem to recall getting this idea from one of LFJ’s posts?)
Gas Mask Bag (obtained from Monkey Depot and modified. It was originally a French-style gas mask bag)
Boots (from Newline Miniatures, identical to the ones I used for my original Jackal project)
Holster/Belt/Webley Revolver (custom-made by Steve – he really makes some beautiful items)
Gold Fertility Idol (scratch-built with Sculpey and painted with gold leaf)
Idol Counter-weight (scratch-built)
Coiled Whip (scratch-built using leather strips)
Pocket-Knife (from my Dragon SOLDAT figure)
Temple Map (furnished using an image of the movie prop found on the internet)
Peru & Bolivia Map (furnished using an image from the internet)
Retail Packaging (scratch-built, with the exception of the actual box, which was pre-made)
I want to make special mention of Indy’s coiled whip, which was made by my wife. It’s constructed of three strands of thin, tapered leather, which my girl tirelessly plaited into the finished product. It might not be the most movie-accurate 1/6 scale Indy whip in existence, but the fact that it was made by my wife makes it pretty special!
I also wanted my retail packaging to include an exclusive Action Man/Indiana Jones mail-in competition. This time, ten lucky winners from 1983 get to be cast as an extra in the sequel (or more correctly, the prequel) to ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’."
Photos to follow.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Comments - Beware!
G'day! Just a quick warning - if you are viewing any of the comments on this blog, don't click on any suspicious looking links. You'll probably be redirected to spy-ware or malware sites. Some of the so-called 'people' leaving comments here are clearly spambots or similar! Cheers, Craig.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Indiana Jones Update
Greetings! Just a quick update regarding my Indy project. I've finished kitbashing the figure itself, now just working on the completion of accessories, box-art, etc. Have been hampered by bad weather lately, so I haven't started taking photos yet - hopefull will get this done in the next week or two. Cheers, Craig.
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