For 4 years now the Danish Army has been fighting in Afghanistan as a part of ISAF. For the Danish Army this is the hardest battle it has fought since the 1864 war with Prussia. In fact The Danish Army has had the most severe casualty rates, compared to deployment, among all forces in Afghanistan. It is therefore as a tribute to all those who have fought there I make this figure of a Danish Grunt from Afghanistan.

The base for the figure is Dragons kit no 1610 Delta Force. I like his pose, as it tends to give an impression of a grunt in the mist of a fire fight. He seems to be pointing out a direction from which his unit is taking fire, a situation, which is all too familiar for, grunts there. The figure’s uniform gives a good basic to model a Danish version, as does the weapon.






I started by sanding down the upper part of the figure and his left leg. After that I model his flak jacket and his left leg. Around his left knee I made a knee protector, which seems to be common on one knee or even sometime on both.

It’s not than I’ve done much so fare, but as this to be a build blog this is only the beginning. I hope anyone will comment through this project. Though not my first attempt I am more experienced in making AFVs than modelling figures.

Good to see more modern figures and especially the other countries putting their troops in harms way.

To represent the C7 can you just cut off the carrying handle? Can't wait to see you tackle the camo pattern.

Paul

To represent the C7 can you just cut off the carrying handle? Can't wait to see you tackle the camo pattern.

No I have to make some addition to it. We use a British sight as a standard. Additionally the C7s in Afghanistan have a laser sight/pointer under the barrel and some kind of a handle in front of the magazine (I think to operate the laser). See at this link:

http://haeren.smugmug.com/gallery/4678857_wAhyU#276614036_xWQqW-XL-LB

Kenneth

Great stuff Kenneth ! There´s a book by Patrick Bishop called 3 PARA which I have just finished reading which gives a good account of summer 2006 where the Danes gave a worthy performance,amongst them was a woman that was soon named "combat Barbie" by the paras. Have you done any vehicle that the Recce unit were using at that time?

Hi, I'm also working on a Danish soldier (converted from Verlindens Saw gunner). I've just stripped all the paint off him ready for a second attempt at danish camo. I'm having a few problems with the rifle trying to make the correct sights (elcan?) using the Tamiya model as the starting point. Good luck with this.

The interest for this figure was sparked by two things, a 4 part series showed on Danish national TV (DR) and a book called I morgen angriber vi igen, Tomorrow we will attack again, by Kim Hundevad. Naturally the nation is informed when soldiers are hurt or killed in Afghanistan but little has been told about the condition of war there to the public. I think that most of us had our eyes focused on Iraq. The casualties in Afghanistan were often told as results if IEDs and therefore many of us had no idea of the intensity of the fights.

3 weeks ago out national Television Corporation showed a series that followed Hold 4, no 4 team, during their time in Afghanistan. The series showed intense fighting and severe battles in which the Danes participated. A month or so before Kim Hundevad’s book came and it safe to say that the general perception of the condition for our lads has changed dramatically.


Mike I haven’t read the book you mention but I’ll try to get. About the recce vehicles – no I haven’t done them yet. The recce forces use two kind of AFVs. The Mowag Eagle armoured car and a special purposed Danish rebuilded Mercedes G270CDI called GD eskortekøretøj escort vehicle. Both of them are thoroughly photographed and researched but not made yet. But with my new found interest for Afghanistan they are pressing on.

Callmehobbes Nice to know that I’m not the only one. Any chance of some pictures? I wonder if you know the following web site : http://camo.henrikc.dk/details.asp?autono=10
They have good pictures of the patterns of the Danish camouflage

I have come a little further in my project now. The combat vest (if that’s the right term for it?) has been started, and the legs are more or less finished.

Before going into detail I’ll explain that in general the sculpting is done with Magic Sculp, MS, using ISDs, Improvised Sculpting Devices, such as costume adjusted paint brush handles and sanded tooth picks. To strengthen the ISDs they are dipped in Loctite super glue and sanded to a smooth finish. For futher detail I’ll refer to Kim Jones’ Modelling Military Miniatures.



The right leg has had it’s pocket added. This is sculptured in two turns. First the pocket and then the flap (?) over it. I use my oven at 50 degrees to shorten drying time. For the pocket it was done in two steps. First I sculptured the pocket not taking the borders into consideration nor adding the fine detail. After 15 min in the oven I added the detail and trimmed the borders. The flap was done the same way. The right leg has had Magic Sculp added to thickening the leg.



The combat vest was a rather more challenging task to do. The first problem to overcome was the perforated fabric that makes out the back. I took some fine metal mesh originally for a kitchen fan and powdered it thoroughly with Talcum powder. I then rolled out a piece of MS over this mesh and thereby got a print of it in the MS. This was glued to his back and baked for 15 min, trimmed and rebaked another 20 min. The vest is held together in the sides by strings; I made these out of plastic card and .3mm fishing string. When finished it was glued to figure and the rest of the vest was sculptured in 4 further steps.

By the way, my picture account is running out of space, does anyone know how to delete pictures from ones account?

Great sculpting on the vest. Especially the texture.

No idea how to delete pictures.

Paul

Nice work on the figure

I’ve been working on his C7 this week. There are a lot of small changes to be made here. First I replaced the magazine. I don’t know why the version the Danish army use is different but I haven’t seen it used by any other army? The magazine is made of 1,5mm plastic card with strings of stretch sprue. Next came the laser site. As fare as I’ve been told this is a modification that the individual soldier make AND PAYS FOR. I found a company that claims that they sell this sight for many going to Afghanistan so I made it from pictures from their web site. The only thing remaining was the Elcan sight. It’s made of leftovers from my scratch box (the big green part fx, is a German vw2 1/35 gasmask container).

Hi, The rifle looks great! I did the same thing for the elcan with the gasmask case but it doesn't look half as good as this. I'll post a pic later.

Hej Kenneth

All frontline units are issued with a tactical light and laser, M/04; and have been so for a number
of years. Who told you we have to buy them

As for the magazine, the metal one is ok to use. Since team 5, they have been standard issue. And before that, most people used them anyway, as they are more robust
than the plastic ones.

If you scroll down on this page, then you can see the M6X :http://www.capsicumdanmark.dk/default.asp?kID=28&p=0&shmenu=kat

It is used by the infantry, exept section cmdr etc. They have the M/07 :http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u85/CHSTUINF/?action=view¤t=CIMG2408.jpg

HTH

I’m glad to stand corrected on this it would be such an embarrassment for the nation if you had to buy your own gear. I was informed of this, incorrectly as it appears to be, by a second lieutenant who is at HBU, Aalborg Kaserner. He directed me to the mentioned web site, which I email and was confirmed by.

I am happy about your reference to the actual laser too, and will correct this immediately. I hope you will put forward any other errors you notice. My aim is to make as close a replica of a Danish grunt as my skills allows.

Perhaps you could inform me about the sling for the riffle? I seem to see two different kinds?

Just an update. The vest is pretty much completed. Only a few straps here and there is missing. The radio is probably a little over sized, but it’ll have to do. I am getting close to the fun part now – PAINTING!!!!!!

Looking good so far, can't wait to see this with paint on ! Done a very good job on the Elcan site unit and the laser pointer as well.

I have had these photos in my computer for a while now but havn’t got around to upload ’em until now.
As can be told I have finish the sculpting of the figure. I had a small set back as I discovered that the Camel Bag wasn’t carried on the vest rather inside the vest in a pocket on the back. Besides this I have made all the small attachments strings there are scattered around the vest on the front and the back.
The head has been finished too. Most pictures shows soldiers with beard so mine has that too. I have given him a headset as he is suppose to be a section commander.

Great sculpting work! Before I read this thread, I didn't even know the Danish Army was in Afghanistan.

Lars

Nice work mate, some great detail in there.

Hej Kenneth

You can use almost any kind of sling for the rifle. Some uses a 2 point sling, and some prefer a 1 point sling.
Try and look here : http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/Tactical-Slings-Mounts-s/22.htm

HTH

The Brits and Danes have done a lot of work together over there. There's a great display at the British Army Museum in London showing our forces together. It even shows our lads wearing Danish body armour which many prefered to our own.

That's interesting - do you know why they prefer our body armour?

At some pictures of danish grunts they seem to be wearing british vests?

The vests you have seen are probably eagle ciras or similar.

I can only remember two from our coy who used osprey body armour.

HTH

stick to modeling we dont want to hear your poltical B.S
kenneth ,i like your figure alot it really shows you've done alot

So I finally made it to the end of the project.



The Danish uniform is a bit of a challenge, but it helps if you investigate some facts about it. A couple of years ago I talked with a man who works at the factory that makes the fabric for the Army uniforms. The basic cloth is light tan and the spots are printed on. He told med that they are made with a series of inking rollers of different diameters (he told me that in theory it’ll actually take some 10km of fabric to find an identical pattern). Some of the brown is printed first, the green next and then the rest of the brownt. This has some consequences for the uniform when it fades. Although the spots all will fade with time, not all of the brown spots fade to the same degree.
With this in mind I started by spraying the entire model with a mix of Tamiya White and Tan. When this had dried I painted the brown spots in different solution of Humbrol 113 to simulating different degrees of fading. After this the green spots were done in the same way with Humbrol 86. This was left over night to dry and then sprayed with a very thinly diluted mix of Tamiya white and tan, only this time with more white to it. This over spray serves both to fade the spots - AND showing the basic fabric through the ink, and to blend all together.





One of the most difficult things to achieve with a camouflage uniform is shades and highlights. I use a glaze method for this. First I spray the entire model in floor polish to get a smooth surface and to protect the base coats. Then I make a mix of black and raw umber oil paint and thin it with mineral spirit. With this mix I gradually make the shades in the figure. It’s a point where one has to be patience - really patience, almost unbearably patience. But slowly the shades eventually build up. The high lights are done more traditionally with a mix of Humbrol tan and some flake with oil paint carefully painted at selected areas.



The rest of the figure was painted like every body else does it. When the entire figure was painted I, again, give it an overspray of thinned Tamiya tan. I also add MIG pigments to give a dusty impression.





Well, that’s about it then. Thank you for following this build log and please, please do comment.