Showing posts with label Tamiya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tamiya. Show all posts

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

Monday, 14 June 2021

Occult Germany - Übersoldat - Doomtrooper

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INTELLIGENCE FILE
Code name: Übersoldat
Troop type: jacked up supersoldier
Nationality: Occult Germany
Affiliation: Thule Society
Characteristics: Indifferent to pain, relentless, merciless, superstrength
Vulnerabilities: heavy artillery
Deployment zone: Western Front, Eastern Front, North Afrika
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The result of one of Germany's many superhero programs, the juiced up, jacked up Übersoldat, or Doomtrooper as he is sometimes referred to, is a powerhouse indeed. This hulk of a man can charge through a brick well, bring down enemy light walkers and tear enemy soldiers limb from limb if need be. Standing several heads taller than any ordinary man, the sickly colour of their skintone, combined with the total lack of speech and proneness to berserk type rage, make one wonder how much humanity remains behind the blue lenses of their gasmaks, that seem like a parody of the blue-eyed ideal propagated by some circles within the German high command.




The German superhero program encountered some successes and a whole lot more failures. This may partly be due enlisting the help of not only mad geniuses but, in some case, plain madmen and monsters. The Übersoldat is the work of one such madman, the scientist Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, member of the infamous Thule Society. 


The Red Widow is trying to hold off an Übersoldat. The bullets from her pistol hardly seem to penetrate its skin.


The base of the model is a conversion of a cheap plastic Hulk figure made by Monogram International, shown below, with the head replaced with a 28mm gasmask head (molemask from Ramshackle Games) that I've had for years, a Tamiya 1/35 helmet and some greenstuff to bulk up the head and blend it into the body. All in all, pretty effective for a cheap toy.



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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: Marvel / Monogram International
Figure reference: Hulk 
Material: Plastic
Conversions: headswap (Tamiya helmet + Ramshackle Games molemask head + greenstuff)
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Inspiration source: SS Doomtrooper movie