Hi All,
Fiddling around with the Tammy M1025 crewmen. What I've done is shave off the pocket and shoulder detail from their body armour and gave them a liberal coating of liquid cement. This has softened any remaining detail and tomorrow I'm going to try adding the 'staps' to the front and back. Not sure what to use. Might try plastic strips and then blend them down with some more liquid poly. Any thoughts?
Tom

Tom
I use lead foil to make straps.
This is a photo of 2 Verlinden US troops I'm making into Canadians.



I had to take off the single back and double front US down straps and add lead foil to make the CDN ones.

Hope this helps some.

Jim

Jim,

Your figures are looking great. They look ready for a Peacekeeping tour on Cyprus.

Are you going to remove the leg strap that is used for the U.S. style gas mask bag?

Well, that's exactly what I did in converting an old Tamiya modern U.S. army figure to one with the most current body armor. So far so good. Here is the photo of what I've done to it so far:

Looks pretty good. Need to remove the big collar though. IBA has no collar. There is a detachable mandarin-style collar that most soldiers leave off since it irritates the throat and neck. It is tight around the throat and straight up, not laid out like the old PAGST collar on your figure.

By the way, wouldn't it be easier to buy a set of either Trumpeter or DML modern USMC figures and use them, and/or switch out the torsos on them?

I am doing the same thing for an M1025 for the MP campaign. Tom, seems fine to me. Maybe some pictures to help us see how you have come before you proceed.

What I did is shave off all the details to the torso except for the main "flap" of the left side as it crosses the right side; this I sanded to make it less noticable since for an IBA its placement is not quite accurate. I added the IBA straps with very thin strips of Evergreen. I left off the armored collar, even though I have seen many photos with guys wearing them - but most were infantrymen. I can understand why a Humvee driver might not want to wear it.

Since I know from previous experience that not much of the driver, if enclosed completely in the vehicle, will be seen - mainly the head, helmet, left side (torso up), and some of the right side from the passenger seat. Other than that, the legs can't really be seen, and definitely not the feet, nor the back.

I also know that the 3-tone, if done strategically, can hide any inaccuracies that come from the scratchbuilding.

As to your comment Gino, I thought about the same thing, because like Tom, I, too, am doing the same thing. But, alas, I am broke/trying to save money, and buying things isn't helping, and personally, I made my conversion over a total of a few hours, including painting.

Jeff

Thanks for the info, Gino. Regarding buying new sets of figures for conversion, I have way too many unused figures that have old PAGST vests. I don't want to throw them away when I can convert them to acceptable updated figures in a short period of time like Jeff pointed out. It's kind of fun converting! =)