Empress Miniatures French Paratroopers, Indochina, 1950s.

I will say it again...I am not a natural painter of modern subjects, particularly those uniforms that require camouflage patterns having very limited experience of painting such things. Some time ago I was asked to paint up some of these excellent Paul Hicks sculpts of French Paratroops in Indochina from the Empress Miniatures Vietnam range. Initially reticent because of the subject matter I took on the job. Here they are wearing US "Duck Hunter" camouflage tunics and British brushstroke trousers which, from what I gather, was fairly common for French Paras in Indochina. One figure has some very minor conversion work with the addition of a paratrooper's head wearing a beret (forgive me but I do not know which manufacturer this came from) and a helmet cast from greenstuff in an "Instant Mold" mould formed from a spare helmeted head. I also used these figures to try a new (for me) technique for basing...scrubbing pigment power over a sand and rock base. The pigment powder is held in place with fixative.