Sunday, 4 July 2021

Partisans / Pax Dei (Vatican Operatives) - Don Camillo, résistance fighter

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INTELLIGENCE FILE

Code name: Don Camillo
Birth name: Camillo Tarocci
Nationality: Italian
Affiliation: Resistance, Vatican (Pax Dei)
Known special skills: marksman, brawler, talks with Christ a lot
Current whereabouts: Northern Italy
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Don Camillo is the hotheaded priest of Brescello, a small town in the Po valley in northern Italy. A big man, tall and strong with hard fists, he enjoys a reputation as somewhat of a brawler. Seemingly at odds with communist partisan fighter Giuseppe Bottazzi, better known as Peppone, the two men share a mutual respect and friendship, despite their public feud. As such, Camillo braved German patrols in order to reach Peppone and his fellow Communists in the mountains and administer Mass to them under field conditions. Through the crucifix in the town church he hears the voice of Christ, which often has to gently reprimand the priest for his impatience. Being an excellent marksman himself, Don Camillo doesn't shy back from picking up his rifle and assist the partisan movement against the fascists.


With the emergence of unholy creatures on AXIS side, especially Germany, he has fully joined the fight as a hardy resistance fighter and sometimes operative of the Vatican. As such, he has been called upon to assist the Crimson Nun on more than one occasion.


The model is based on the 1/35 MiniArt French priest, with the addition of a pair of arms from a Tamiya wehrmacht set for a more militant look. The MiniArt model seems deliberately modelled after Don Camillo as played by Fernandel and I did my best to bring out the likeness in the sculpt. The head is resin, with the body being plastic. Paintingwise, this one seems to have reverted the most to my "old" painting style, which I was trying to avoid with these. I'll have to be more vigilant when continuing with the next models. Still, the face is decent.


Halting the advance of some zombies. None shall pass! 


Switched to greyscale to compare to the classic movie representation (played by Fernandel):




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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: MiniArt (head and body) - Tamiya (arms and rifle)
Figure reference: French civilians 30s-40s - 38037
Material: Plastic + Resin
Conversions: arms
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Inspiration: Don Camillo movies

2 comments:

  1. Great conversion and wonderful paint-job. I thought you b&w pics alongside the film clips were absolutely spot on. Terrific posting.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I wasn't 100% happy with it, but it's been growing on me.

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