Welcome To My German Equipment Alterations Page Five

DiD Ice Pick Alterations   Toys City Holster   White Gebirgsjäger  Bergmütze Cover  MP40 Magazine Pouch  bbi Backpack


DiD Ice Pick Alterations

Like all of the other parts I have used on my figures I want to get away from the new look that they have, so I have made the slight changes to the German ice pick. Mainly because with it being made from wood and metal I thought it would look better, so in the pictures below they show what I did.

1.  2.  3.

Pictures 1. 2. & 3. are of the ice pick as I got it brand new on the left, whereas the altered ice pick is on the right. To add wear to the metal parts, I have used my model knife blade and some sandpaper to add damage to the to the pick head at the top and the spike at the bottom of the handle.

4. 5.  

With the wood handle in picture 4. I first gave it a repaint with some wood dye to darken it off, this was left to dry fully. I then have given the wood a rub over with some Dark Tan shoe polish which I polished to a shine. In picture 5. I have given the head covers a rub over with the shoe polish, the new cover is at the top with the polished one's below.


Toys City Holster

6.  7.  8.  9.  10.

This section is about how I have altered a Toys City holster, mainly because I wanted it a different colour from the shiny brown pleather material. Picture 6. is the new holster as I got it when I bought it loose, Picture 7. is the same holster after I repainted it with some Model Color 20950 Black acrylic paint. Once dry and to add some depth to the holster in Picture 8. I have given it a wash with some Brown pastel chalk, to represent dirt in the creases and folds. In Picture 9. I have given the holster a drybrush with some Light Sand weathering powders.

 

11.  12.  13.  14. 

The same type of new holster is shown above in Picture 11. but this time I have given it a repaint in Picture 12. with some Daler Rowney 223 Burnt Umber artists acrylic paint to get a Brown colour. Picture 13. is after I have given it a Brown pastel wash and a drybrush with some Light Sand weathering powders. Note: With both holsters I forgot to add the sandpaper work on them as I did this alteration, so I have had to do this after everything else and Pictures 10. & 14. show the results. I then had to go back over the holsters with the paint, then the pastel wash and then the weathering powders again.


White Gebirgsjäger Bergmütze Cover

This cover is one that I have wanted with my Gebirgsjager figures for a long time, but I have not been able to successfully make a cover until I had some excellent help from Patrick (Heeresbergführer). His very clever idea is to use a finger cut off a pair of stretchy white cotton gloves, which is then pulled over the top of a Bergmütze to make the cover.

To help to explain this Patrick has very kindly given me the information below:

Original Bergmütze white camo covers were made from knitted wool with just two sides sewn together. If you look at close-up wartime photos of these you will usually see a seam running over the cap from the front of the bill to the back.

The one that I made for my figure was quite easy to make...I just cut off the tip of a finger of a white cotton glove (the type used by archives and photographers). My other secret is that I used the old molded plastic M-43 cap that came with DML's original Steiner figure. I just shorted the bill some.

Making the Bergmütze cover

To make my cover I have used the same method and the reference picture on the right, but because I did not have a plastic hat to use I have had to use a Dragon cloth Bergmütze, which I have re-enforced the sides with some thin plastic card.

 

To help explain how I have made the cover Picture 15. shows the gloves that I bought off of eBay, Picture 16. shows how like the snow suit I soaked the gloves in some lukewarm coffee to lose the bright white colour, so it looks discoloured like the snow suit I am using on my Jager figureNote: Because of the cotton material and by leaving the gloves in the coffee too long, one pair of gloves have become too discoloured so I used another pair that I just dipped into the coffee.

15.  16.  17.

To keep the shape of the cloth cap in Picture 17. I have cut out a strip of thin plastic card which I have slotted in behind the cap sides, I also cut the card so that a round shape is covering the front insignia. In Picture 19. I also placed a small piece of card inside the cloth cap with some double sided tape. Once the gloves were dry in Picture 20. I cut off one of the glove fingers, making sure that it is long enough to spread over the cap and leave enough overlap at the bottom.

 18.  19. 20. 21.

As shown in Picture 20. I have put the cap on the figure's head and then pulled the cover tight over the cap keeping the seam to the centre, in Picture 21. I then cut off the excess material making sure I had enough for the cap peak. I then went around the bottom of the cap, pushing the material in and under the edge of the cap, the end result is shown in Pictures 23. to 26.

23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

In Picture 27. I have given the cap cover a drybrush with some neat White acrylic paint and a brush over with some White weathering powders. The benefit of the paint is that I helps to add some of the White colour back onto the cap, plus it also stiffens up the cover.

 

In the picture on the right I have pinched the material between my fingers to get the shape back on the edges and on the peak. I also pressed down behind where the card is inserted to get the shape at the front. So now with the help of Patrick, I now have an item for my Gebirgsjager figures that I have wanted for a long time.


MP40 Magazine Pouch

This section is about how I have altered the DiD cloth MP40 pouch, because as shown below in Picture 28. it looks too new to me plus I do not like the white threads. As they just stand out to much for my liking, so in Picture 29. I have fitted some magazines into the pouch and then repainted it with a mix of different Green acrylic paints to get this shade, and as shown the paint has made the threads darker, so they now match the cloth material.

28.  29.  30  31. 

In Picture 30. I have given the pouch a light drybrush of some Tamiya Light Sand weathering powders to bring out the material and the edges. With Picture 31. I have given the pouch a drybrush of the Tamiya Snow weathering powder, but this did not put enough colour onto the pouch so I used a cotton bud to rub the Snow powder in harder, which also helped to spread it about to lighten the pouch colour.


bbi Backpack

This is the back pack that came with the bbi Gebirgsjager figure that I got loose, it is a nice item as shown below, but the white threads seemed to me to stand out to much. So I got to wondering about how I could change the colour to make them darker, without doing any damage to the actual back pack itself.

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Picture 32. above shows the backpack as it came from the figure, and to try to change the colour of it I have first soaked it in a mug of coffee the same way I did with the Snow uniform. The result is that it has changed the colour of the backpack slightly. To darken the white threads in Picture 33. I have given darker straps and edges a repaint of some diluted Model Color 70941 Burnt Umber acrylic paint. Note: I did get some of the water seep onto the cloth of the bag, but this disappeared as the paint dried, also it shows the pack after this has dried and the threads are now darker, plus it has also lost the new look it had before. Another benefit of the paint on the shoulder straps, is that it has stiffened up the soft material that they are made from.

 

Picture 34. shows the pack after I have given it a drybrush with some Tamiya Light Sand weathering powder, the purpose of this is to add highlights to the edges of the pack, it has also highlighted the threads slightly.


This section is continued on Page Six

Many thanks to Heeresbergführer for all the pictures and the detailed help with my M43 cap cover.

 

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