Welcome To My US Tank Mechanic Page.

This is my figure of a US tank mechanic, and the idea for the kitbash came about after I found a company that was selling a 1/6th scale mechanics apron. And I got to wondering if I could use the vest in a kitbash, so after a little research I ordered one. Plus seeing as I was on the page I also ordered two of the spanner sets as well, these are to be used to fill the pockets on the figure. The main reason for kitbashing this figure was that I was beginning to get bored with the same type of armed soldiers, so I started to have a look around to see what images I could find, that could be used for a different type of kitbash. So after finding the mechanics apron the idea for the tank mechanic came about.

The uniform for this figure I believe is the one from the DML Josh Ackerman figure along with the goggles, the shirt was from my spares box, the boots are the short one's from the DiD George Puller figure as is the metal helmet as well.

During the assembly of this figure I just could not get the overall to hang right on the figure, as no matter what I tried it still looked like it was about two sizes too big. So I got some bandage that I had hanging around and wrapped the waist area of the figure with it, then done up the uniform over the top of that and it gave the figure enough bulk around the waist so it now fitted a lot better. And with the angled pose I wanted for the figure, the bandage helps the uniform folds look more realistic.

The headsculpt for this figure is the DML Doc Peterson figure (No 348) and as with all my figures the head was painted with some Model Color 540 Matt Medium to lose the glossy look to it. Making sure that I use the neat paint for the cheeks, nose forehead and chin. Because these parts always seem to catch the light more and seem to stay glossy to me.

The picture on the right shows the headsculpt after a pastel wash to add some depth to the face, and a brush over the top with some light coloured pastel to bring out the highlights.

The jerrycan was repainted with some paint from the Revell enamel paint range number 39 matt Dark Green, as this was the nearest that I could find at the time for WW2 US military paint colours. And it was only after I had repainted it, did I realise that the can still looked too new. So I used the flame from my lighter to melt the sides and the bottom slightly, then I just pressed the lighter into the side of the can to create the dents.

Mechanics Apron

This is the apron that I bought fitted onto the figure with some of the tools placed into the pockets, this is a very nice piece of equipment for my kitbash, and helps to make the figure look different especially with the cluttered look. As I have never seen anything like this made by any of the main figure companies, so I just had to have one for my collection.

Spanners

This is one of the pair of toolsets that I also ordered and what surprised me when they arrived was the thickness of each of the spanners. Even though they are very nicely made but to me they looked overscale, so I got to wondering how I could use them. This is when I had the idea of cutting them in half, as shown in the picture above right the benefit of doing this is that I instantly doubled the amount of spanners I had,

The pictures above show how I used my razor saw to cut the spanner in half, now that I have the two halves I then smoothed out the back part of each spanner on some sandpaper to get them flat. Because once they are in the apron pockets the flat side won't be seen so that don't matter to me.

The pictures above show the cut down spanners after being repainted with some enamel Gunmetal paint to take away the chrome shine that they had. I also gave them a brush over with some Tamiya Gunmetal powder as well. I also put a DML spanner roll into the front pocket to bulk that out, I also used the other spanners to fill out the pockets. The above right picture shows how the tapes are tied to hold the apron in place on the figure.

This is the finished figure apart from dirtying him up a bit I may get around to basing this figure, but at the moment I can't make my mind up which pose to use for him as it may be either the picture left or the picture on the right above.

The pictures below are of the figure after I have added some dirt and grease stains to the uniform, this was done with the Tamiya Oil Stain weathering powder. Although it can just be seen I also added some oil spots onto the arm and front of the uniform, this was done with diluted Black acrylic paint which I filled the brush up with and gently tapped it above the uniform to get the splatter effect.