Got a brand new compressor today to replace the one that died ( big thumbs up to Mitre 10 Westgate ) so back to the M21 tomorrow.

In the meantime decided to make a start on the crew.

This is what I had in the way of US figures to choose from as well as a set of MasterBox figures ( and a box of a few hundred assorted arms, legs, torsos, heads etc ). They're mostly old Tamiya figures that came in the same box the M21 came in, plus a set of Dragon figures I got with a Sherman at some point.



And this is the roughed out first figure, the mortarman. Dragon legs and body, unknown head ( plastic one from some figure set or other ), also arms from the spares box.



And where he is at the moment. Tidied up a bit, added hair, redid the left sleeve and gave him an undercoat to see how he looks. Need to detail his bootlaces and replace the left webbing strap with one that doesn't conform to the body like the moulded one does. Other than that pretty happy with him other than a little fine-tune sanding here and there.



He'll be holding a mortar shell so at the moment his hands are being done seperately so I can conform them to the shell properly.

Looks real good. It was great to be able to follow the whole build. The only thing is there should be an ammo can for the 50cal. 22 years in the army I never saw a 50cal without an ammo can for fedding it.
Tom

I may still add one yet. I had one there originally but removed it to show the belt off more ( partly just to do something different, partly to be able to put a little colour into the interior ). It's only a 30 round belt so I figure it could be explained away as the final length of a belt from a previous box awaiting attachment to a full box.