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| Here is a parachutist of the Ramcke Brigade Fallschirmjaeger detatchment sent to N. Africa in late 1942 to reinforce the line around El Alamein. They subsequently raised the roof and fought with honor and tenacity the likes of which surprised the entrenched British forces. The Ramcke Brigade exploits included capturing a British supply column to the man without firing a single shot. That's some impressive handy work. Anyway, on to the matter @ hand... The parts used are a hodge podge of assorted pieces to include: 21C-- helmet, belt/buckle, pistol & holster, MP40 pouch, trousers and boots, and the breadbag and accoutrements inlcuding the gasmaskcannister. Dragon--jump smock, map case. Cotswold--MP40 submachinegun, goggles. I originally painted the helmet using yellow ochre oil paint, but found that oils dry VERY slowly on certain mediums, in this case, the plastic that the helmet is made of. In the end I wiped off the undried coat of paint and was left with what you see here; sort of a dusted scale airbrushed appearance. Works for me so I'll move on.. The other points of interest involve the "webbing". I made the parachutist pattern web straps using an O jump ring as the junction point used 1.8 elastic for the back strap and tapered 1.4 inch elastic into the equipment hooks, stolen from a rubbery set of 21C "leather" braces. The left side is attatched to a homemade belt support loop behind the holster. |
| The other web straps for the belt (1.4) and the gas mask strap (1.8)were made from white elastic dyed to the color you see. I'll place this procedure (should you care to try it) on the "How To" section. The goggles are from Costwold Collectibles (Elite Brigade) and were touched up to include painting the "foam" frames to the off white color you see and the rims of the eye pieces were hit with aluminum metallic paint. The goggle strap is more of the dyed elastic. The goggles ship with completely 'silver' frames and eyepieces. Though the sculpt of the gogs is pretty accurate, the color scheme leaves alot to be desired! So if you do purchase some of these from Cots be ready to whip them into shape upon arrival. On a side note, once painted these gogs very much resemble their real-life counterparts. Anyhoo... The belt buckle is standard, only having been painted then weathered. I attempted to detail the white stitching pattern on the MP40 pouch but that didn't work too well as you can clearly see! The messkit was also hit with the oil colors and subsequently wiped of excess. Finally, the scarf was cut from material provided to me by my partner in crime, MJ. |