12.SS HJ

Early on in my 1/6 collecting, I, like many in this hobby, was taken in by the appeal of WW2 German uniforms. The lure of their almost formal-looking battle-dress and myriad camouflage clothing has seemingly formed the backbone of the 1/6 community. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for German camouflage uniforms and gear. I've spent much money building up a sizable inventory of such items. While reseraching further into German uniforms, I quickly discovered the well-known 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. These guys were the poster children (literally as well as figuratively) for German camouflage clothing. I then set about creating an entire squad (1 NCO and 8 riflemen) from the 12th. When 21st Century Toys released their "German Machinegunner" figure, I snapped up 2 of them, along with several loose smocks and pants from the set. To this day it remains my all-time favorite 21stC figure. Recently I decided to rebuild that figure, using more detailed gear than the chunky old 21st stuff. This is my homage to that great figure.

This figure represents a member of the 12.SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend as he might have looked during their defense of the city of Caen shortly after the Normandy landings in June 1944.

Click on the image to see it full size.


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TF 121

This was the first modern figure I put serious work into after taking a break from WW2 Germans. This represents a member of either CAG/Delta or a SEAL operator as attched to Task Force 121 during the hunt for Saddam Hussein. Since there are very few known photos of this unit, and those that have been released are usually poor reference material (as well they should be), this figure is pretty much just a best guess. This figure also marks my first attempt at modifying a stock weapon. The M4 the figure holds started out as a standard BBi M4, but I scratchbuilt a MRE extension onto the original handguard. The extended rails and cylinder that fit around the end of the barrel were made from Evergreen styrene tubes and strips. The modification didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but it was an early attempt.

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DEVGRU

This is something I put together after watching the History Channel documentary Stalking Jihad. Stalking Jihad dealt with the joint operation between the Philippine Armed Forces and the CIA to track down and destroy the terrorist group Abu Sayaf in 2001-02. Part of the documentary focused on the ambush and elimination of the terrorist leader, Abu Sabaya, by the SWAG unit of the Philippine navy. 

It is briefly mentioned that backing up the SWAG team during the operation is a platoon from SEAL Team 6, the old name for the unit which by 2002 had already evolved into the US Navy's DEVGRU. 

This figure represents what a member of DEVGRU may have looked like on that operation. 

First, I started off with some badly lit photos of my figure:

Then I found some scenery from the Philippines:





Mix it all together with some Photoshop magic, and this is the result. Click the image to see it larger.




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