Kit Bash: British Infantry Artillery Forward Observer (Scale Histroy SLC Competition)

As part of the 'Captain Kitbash 2024 Contest' run by the youtube channel Scale History SLC (Channel here). The competition is a fun little one designed to encourage the creative use of kit bashing to make unique models. The ground rules are as follows:

1) Entries must be 1-3 28mm models from WW2/Korean war.

2) The conversion must be created after the announcement of the competition.

3) Entries must be painted (to at least 3 colours).

4) One entry per contestant.  

5) You must subscribe/follow ScaleHistroySLC on Youtube and Instagram.

I have decided to make a British Infantry Artillery observer as my entry into the comp. The model is meant to represent a late war (Maybe Operation Market Garden haha!) British Artillery Forward Observer. I wanted the conversion to be quite subtle and look like a model that could realistically exist in the Bolt Action range while still capturing the character of the unit it represents. I did an identical pose to my US army forward observer as I really liked how that model came out. In the spirit of the competition I also used a number of plastic kits to make this and put together the build below:

All the pieces I used to make the model.

I decided with the mustached head from the French Resistance kit from Wargames atlantic as it felt quite 'British' to me. The arms are mix of British Infantry and US Airborne and the radio hand piece is a German stick grenade with the head cut and re-positioned. The helmet comes from the British & Canadian infantry kit and the radio was made from a cut up US Airborne ammo box with some gun straps on the side. The antenna and radio wires are broom bristle brushes clipped and bent into position. Once happy with that I set to painting it using a simple Vallejo English Uniform for the uniform and Vallejo Green Gray for the webbing. The painted model is below:

Overall I'm very happy with how it's come together and this was my first time painting British Infantry uniform so I'm glad that I have a good recipe now to do the rest of my XXX corps army. The entries in last years competition were extremely good with many people sculpting their own pieces and uniforms and i'm not at that skill level (yet!) - but it was a fun exercise planning, making and painting the piece. Entries are due April 1st 2024 so I will keep you all posted on how I go.

Signing off,

Chewie.