A while ago when I bought the Osprey book on the German Mountain [= Gebirgsjäger] and Ski Troops 1939-45 [Elite Series # 63] I stumbled over the illustration on plate H2. It showed a German SS Unteroffizier [= NCO] covered in Zeltbahn. I felt that he looked quite enigmatic and I wanted to have a mini like him, so I started thinking about a conversion. [It is the one in the middle.]
So the first step was to pick a mini that could be turned into the one I wanted. And since I only want to use VFM minis I was limited to James Blands range. So the first step was to think about how I wanted to change the mini and how that would affect the basic choice. I thought about giving him chicken wire on the helmet, changing his hand so that all the fingers except for the index finger formed a fist [on the drawing his fingers are half open] and maybe not sculpt the stick grenades. All of this would not affect the general pose of the mini, so I disregarded them at this phase. But I wanted to have one of his legs slightly raised, resting on something as I felt that this would give him more life. While not a big change this had to be taken into consideration as well. In general he is wearing a helmet, standing slightly spread legged- with both arms straight, one of them stretched out the other hanging down his side. This eliminated all minis in running or walking poses, all the ones with non-helmet headgear and the ones that have their arms sculpted to the torso. My first choice was the Wehrmacht soldier throwing the stick grenade, but there is a lot of animation and power in that mini [the positioning of the torso and twist of the legs], which might carry on into the conversion and look disruptive in the end. And that was about all the choices I had. So the project was put on hold, until James released the German surrendering with helmet. He had all the wanted characteristics, lacked this inert power and as a plus was wearing gaiters like the one on the drawing, eliminating the need to sculpt them. So he was to be the one. And he had the choose hand feature, so I would not have much work there and could use the parts from one mini alone.
During the next step I marked where I had to make the cuts. I usually do not do that, but I felt, that since I wanted to do a step by step report, it would be good to show this step that usually takes place in my mind.
Next up came the cutting. For this I used the saw blade from a power tool simply following the marks. Two slight changes had to be made. First I realised that the left arm had to be removed as well as I would not bend the way I had expected. Second I had to make a cut straight up between his legs [Ouch!] to raise the left upper leg slightly. The strip of pewter that goes into the slot of the base was removed from the left foot, since it would be higher then the right foot. The strip was only shortened, because the saw blade had to cut there when I cut between his legs. The head was actually not cut off, but removed but drilling a chain of holes through his neck. This was mainly done because I feared that a slip with the saw blade would damage the helmet. And I made a cut with a scalpel between the index finger and the middle finger on the left hand. On these shots you can already see the parts bend into their final positions.
For the next step I needed to remove anything that might later show as bumps under the Zeltbahn when sculpting that. So I removed the belt, knapsack and pockets with a mill bit. One could leave that on, but it leaves less space to sculpt over. Also it might not be advisable to use a mill bit for that, but a file instead as it takes some experience to work this fine with a mill bit and slipping might cause much damage to the mini. Although it would hardly have mattered here, as the mini was basically ruined on intention- anyway. During this step I also removed the part of his chinstrap that was just hanging down loose. I also bend the finger back on the hand to give it that pointing look.
Next everything was glued together into the final positions. The head was left off for this part. All the drilling around the neck had left that ruined and there was nothing that I could glue the head to. That would have to wait for the next phase.
Now I also needed something to place his foot on. First I though about a rock (=pebble). But I was in no mood for drybrushing a pebble later and it would not fit the way I wanted to deco the base later. So I went for a Sherman road wheel that I had bought a while ago from Brent Dietrich. Since the wheel would have raised the foot higher then I would have wanted, I took off some of the pewter on one side. Later on this would look like it had sunken slightly into the ground. I also left his right foot slightly above the base with the intention of sculpting some ground around it. Again this was do to prevent his left foot from being raise too far. The right hand fitted pretty much the way I wanted it... I just had to bend the pin back a little and cut a slight groove into the hole in the arm with a scalpel.
Now it was time to get the Green Stuff out. I filled up all the wedges and cuts that had been created during the cutting and drilling. Most of this was done simply to give him a human shape that I could sculpt over later. The only exception to this was the left knee section as that would partly show from underneath the Zeltbahn later and the neck it self. These were done for effect and therefore already realistic. The part chinstrap that was now missing was sculpted a new around the chin. Pretty easy... I just slapped Green Stuff on the chin pushed it down to an appropriate thickness and then cut the excess off to form a small strip [= the missing part of the chin strap]. The Head was reattached to the body now. When I filled the section between the shoulders with Green Stuff the head was added with the Green Stuff acting as the bond. Some Green Stuff was used to build up some ground around his right foot.
Now began the real sculpting. First of all I began with the Zeltbahn. On the painting he is wearing the Zeltbahn with his head sticking through the flap in the middle, the large tip of the flap down his front and the two tips from the base coming fro his back and hanging around his legs. This was the way I applied the Green Stuff. I first flattened and smoothed it with a wet finger and then went over it with a flat dental tool again. I pressed the seams for the rim in with a dental tool with a wider edge since I wanted to give it the looks of heavier stitching. The lighter stitch lines down the middle of the Zeltbahn and at the tips were done by moving the scalpel lightly over the surface. The holes along the rim were done by pressing a tool with a fine but blunt tip into the Green Stuff at regular intervals. The belt and belt buckle were done now as well. The belt was done by drawing the outline with the scalpel and then pushing the surface around it down a bit. The buckle is simply a rectangular piece of Green Stuff slapped on. I let this sit over night to allow everything to harden.
The next step was the Y-strap. I simply put some Green Stuff in the desired spots and pressed it to the desired thickness and cut the excess away. Much like the chin strap. The small holes in the leather straps were done by pushing the tip of the scalpel slightly into the surface. For the buckles I pushed the same tip I used for the holes on the Zeltbahn into the straps at the appropriate places. This would give it a hollow inside with slightly raised edges. Then I just had to push then into a square shape. About the same technique was used for the ring on the back where the straps connect. The ammo pouches are just long rectangular pieces of green put over the belt. I divided them into 3 sections of the same size with the scalpel and then pressed down a bit on all of them to get the "T" shape in the leather. The knapsack, canteen and gasmask tin where sculpted onto his back. Not sure how I can describe this process as it was mostly just getting everything into shape. The only exception is the gas mask tin which a formed into a small cylinder between my fingers that I then placed on his back and where the details were then worked out. Again I let this dry for some time.
The next step [of which I have no photos] was the detailing bit. I added the D-rings on the back of his harness, some design to the belt buckle and details to the canteen and gas mask tin that needed another step. Most of this was just adding small amounts of Green Stuff and pushing it into shape, some of it involved a little cutting. But now the mini was finished and the painting could begin.
And this is what the final mini looks like:
I hope you all enjoyed this report and it might have given you a little inspiration!
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