This figure began life as the KB Toys Dragon exclusive Kenneth. Not sure if it was the $24.99 price of the fact that I could buy a Dragon figure off the shelf of a mall toy store but have him I must! My parts list includes the Kenneth figure, the HBT's the ammo pouch and first aid kit, .45 and holster and of course the helmet and cover. I raided my 21st Century Raider for his thompson and ammo pouch, pistol belt, canteens, suspenders and grenades. I used 21st Century boots with leggins and a Bowie knife from one of the paratrooper sets.
My parts list was derived from pics of real Marine Raiders in the PTO. The traveled relatively light carrying water and ammo, and not much else. These were some tough dudes that fought in some of the worst conditions in the war, malayria plagued jungles on islands long forgotten.
Kenneths supplied sculpt deco is bad, really bad. The first thing I did was etch some heavy beard growth (not a beard, just 5 days worth of not shaving) by chucking a needle to the tip of my soldering iron. Next I repainted the sculpt using my airbrush and Tamiya acrylics, a method I've long abandoned. the last step was drybrushing the 10 o'clock shadow (heavier than 5 o'clock shadow). I tea stained the helmet cover which looked like it was fresh from the laundry unit, and drybrushed some dirt and dusted with pastels and othewise gave it a good dirtying up. I replaced the elastic chin strap with MFisher webbing and made a scale buckle from brass wire and sheet sytrene. While I was at it I airbrushed the hands and forearms and gave them a dose of shading and dirt.
My next step was the uniform and boots. The boots were repainted with acrylics. The uniform had one top button removed and a button hole in the lapel was simulated with a couple of stitches. I put the gear on as a trial, adjusted the uni as I saw fit and hosed the hole uniform down with hair spray. I removed the gear for detailing once the hairspray was dry.
My next mission was to do something with the gear. I repainted all the plastic bits and gave them several washes, followed by drybrushing and finally some pastels for effect. The suspenders were not gonna cut it with elastic straps so I ditched everything except for the slider buckle and the O ring. I used some nylon type material to cut new straps and made the attachment hooks from brass wire. These were painted, weathered and set aside. My next hurdle was the pistol belt. US pistol belts are difficult to make in this scale and nobodies convinced me yet. The rubber type Dragon supplies look so so, I mean they look like pistol belts,..if you say so. Of course the 21st Century version is no great shakes either. The problem is all those tiny grommets. Nobody yet produces a grommet this size and using the small ones that are available, well they are just too darned big to look right. My solution for the time being is to burn the grommets into the belt with a fine brass wire attached to my soldering iron. Using the 21st belt for this has a distinct advantage in that it is polyester which melt and leave a nice little plastic ring. I hit these burned in hose with a touch of brass paint. Not perfect but much better than anything else I can come up with.
The thompson was repainted and a web sling was added. The final step was weathering the uniform.
Dirty old marine! Okay he doesn't look That dirty in the pics but in person I think he's just right. Not much to it other than drybrushing with some Buff colored paint. I used pastels in the knee area for extra grime and spoltches here and there that would be the result of raining dirt from shell bursts. The final touch for this figure was sweat. These guys were fighting in the tropics and sweat stains are mandatory for any PTO figure. I mixed Tamiya Flat Black acrylic with rubbing alcohol to get a very thin wash. This was was painted under the arms, the small of the back and the colar areas. If it's not dark enough just add more. Once the desired effect was reached I thinned some Acrylic Clear and brushed this on to give it a somewhat damp look. The final and nearly invisible step was adding some salt stains around the sweat marks. That's about if for this guy. I've always admired those Gung Ho Marines, they are crazy tough as Private Joker says in Full Metal Jacket.
