Hi,

So ive been working on a few old figures which were pretty basic. These are 15 plus years old and before I knew armorama and about cutting seams, priming and painting etc so theyre pretty bad but I was happy with them.
Ive been away from the hobby for about 8 years now and now as Im back Ive been trawling the site and coming up with ideas on what I want to do.
So, I found an old figure, Tamiya I think and hes in such an awkward position, I think he was operating a field gun at one stage? Anyway I stripped him of his paint with oven cleaner and wondered what I could do with him.



Initially I thought I could pass him off as praying maybe but then came up with the idea that maybe I could convert him to look like he's surrendering?
This week I'd just had my first ever delivery of a pin vice and Kneadite (don't know how I ever managed without these before!!) so I thought have a go at a conversion.
So heres what Ive done so far,













Still a bit to go, trimming, sanding, maybe a bit more packing out in the front of the arms with kneadite, equipment and then priming and painting.

I realise that he is leaning forward so im thinking at this stage he'll be positioned on a hill surrendering, holding his rifle in his right hand.

Thoughts, opinions, tips and tricks welcomed.

Thanks

I appreciate your courage working with one of these dinosaurs. Even these old figs can look good though if one is willing to put in the time!! It certainly is cheap,which is why I like using the older figs! LOL
If you want to show him surrendering I would leave his rifle on the ground though. Enemy troops don't like to see a weapon in hand! It then becomes shoot first,question later?
J

Leave no figure behind!

I like the surrendering pose; it's looking good.

—mike

Using those older figures to get a feel for what you need to do for future conversions is a great place to start as they are cheaper like Jerry mentioned and there is the potential for you to place more detail on the figure.

I will also echo what Jerry mentioned about leaving the rifle on the ground. To someone who has just been shot at from the area where that German Soldier is located, him raising up with his rifle in one hand might look like the German is about to throw a grenade and he would most likely be shot. You might want to find another hand that is open and cut off the current one and replace it with the open hand.

Make sense?

When I do figure conversions, I try to place myself doing what the figure is doing, sometimes even posing in front of a mirror to see how the folds in the clothing fall and to see if the pose is plausible. If you have the actual equipment the figure is wearing, or something similar, you can also see how the equipment will fit in that pose and what folds and creases are caused by the equipment.

Good luck with this first one. Once you see that it really isn't all that difficult you will wonder why you hadn't tried converting figures earlier.

Cheers,
James

Thanks for the advise. I hadn5 thought about repkacing the hand, Id just thought of what I could do to explain the grip. But it definitely makes sense to book him in for more surgery.
Cheers guys.