There is a first for everything, and this is basically my first figure conversion so have patience, I'm not very good at this.
I have resently brought down a couple of kits from "the wall of shame" (A Leo 2A4NO and a NM 198 C2I vehicle) which have been up there for too long and planning to put them in a small diorama when finished. Crew for Norwegian armoured vehicles are pretty easy to do since we basically have tanker gear which look a lot like American gear. Infantry "boots on the ground" is a different matter...

To start with I used Dragons kit # 3020 US Tank Crew as a base for the conversion. I switched the head for a Verlinden one wearing a PRR headset and made the load bearing west from Tamiya tape, 3M tape and Milliput. Some details as a knife came from another Dragon figure kit. The uniform is not a problem since ours are a copy of the US BDU with a different camoflage pattern. I checked the boots against one of my issued pairs and they look close enough.

The rifle is another issue. We are currently in the process of switching from G3 rifles to the new HK 416, and during this process a lot of new kit has turned up. G3 rifles have got new sights, tac light, AN/PEC-2 and other usefull stuff. Since nobody makes a "updated" G3 I had to chop up one of Blasts beautiful M-16 rifles to get an Acog sight, vertical grip and a tac light.

So this is basically where I am right now. I still have a lot of work left on this figure, but personally I'm pretty happy with the progress so far.

Erik


Some pictures

Nice job on the figure conversion Erik, like the look of the G3, and the camelback.....nice touch.

Question, what kinf of wire did you use to make the rifle? looks pretty thin

Cheers

It was something I found in my scrap box Klaus. I think it is originally from Accurate Armours Warrior update kit.

Erik

The figure looks pretty good. The vest came out real nice!

An update: I have added all straps and covers for the pouches on the load bearing west and made the sling for the G3 rifle. Straps for the Camel Back have been added and the conversion is pretty much done. What's left is changing the Camel Back tube for a thinner material, forming the rifle sling better, some sanding and adding a mic for the headset. I'm also considering converting a helmet, but we will see... Here are some pics

Cool! You just gave me an idea to make my own slings for the HK 33E rifles used by the Chilean Marines that are going to be part of my Haiti diorama.

Looking forward to see it painted, great job! and thanks for the previous answer BTW

cheers

Glad you liked him Klaus. Rifle slings are pretty easy to make from strips of Tamiya tape.

Erik

Well, I did some more work. Since every Norwegian have a Glock in addition to his rifle I found a Bianchi holster in my scrap box and mounted it as a legholster. Most guys these days use a Safariland legholster, but occationally you see some of the guys with the Bianchi. I also made a helmet out of a Verlinden US helmet. Sanded it into the right shape and covered it with silkpaper to simulate the helmet cover. Helmet bands were made of tape strips. Goggels are from the same kit as the figure.

That's coming along nicely. Good to see something different from the usual.

What set does that head come from? Is the camo pattern as complex as the vehicle splinter pattern?

Paul

The head is from Verlinden # 2177 Figure conversion parts Iraq/A-stan. The camo pattern on the uniform looks like this:

Very nice Erik! Very nice!

He is allmost ready for some paint. Here are some pics of the more or less finished figure with some primer on.

Erik

Finally got around to paint a bit. Still a lot of work left. I'm afraid I'm a better builder than painter, but practice makes perfect somebody told me...

Looks impressive!
Where did you get the head with clansman radio headgear? That looks very usefull...

The slings and straps really add to the figure. Is that an exclusive Norwegian camo pattern?

Paul

If I remember correctly the head is from Verlinden.




Yep, only Norwegian forces use it.

Erik

Very impressive and nicely done Erik.
It's good to see models and figures out of the ordinary bulk of M1s or Panzers.

I'd like to have your skills at making figures to give some life to my tanks and AFVs !
Congrats
Olivier

Thanks Olivier, but it was really not that hard. Some putty, tape and foil from a champagne bottle was all I used.

Erik

The paint looks great, nice you were able to work on it again

Congrats Erik, keep it coming

Cheers