Conte G.I. conversions (1 Viewer)

[fishead19690]

Boy, have you been busy! I feel empty.......ashamed........have to go now something I have to do or go...

HEY VAMP!!! I know you like the conte mexicans and since every ones bored around here today how about a few mexican conversions.
I know you like to paint them up as napoleonics and I,ve thought about it a few times myself but the uniform just isn,t right but I,ve still been tempted to do it. I think I might try some as dutch/belgain troops because the uniform is munch closer and some of the prince of oranges troops even had a similer shako but I was even thinking of redoing the shako also. With the shako as is they could pass well for 28th orange-nassau but with a head swop to a british style shako or a modified french one with a change of the shako plate they could be used for many other dutch belgain troops. The shoulder straps or epaulettes would need a little changing also. Just some food for thought I,ll most likely just leave them sitting in a box somewhere like most of my half finnished projects!!!LOL!!!
Here are some pictures of them along with a couple of new scenic pieces that I made in the background. How do the new scenic pieces look? I made them out of green floral foam with railroad grass and dirt and some dried flowers from the craft store and a broom from the craft store that I cut up that makes some pretty cool dried tall grass I think. The wife and kid said it looks like a salt marsh but I think they look cool.

 

[fishead19690]

Here are a few more about half of these conversions are new ones and some are ones that I had done awhile back and still never got around to painting or doing anything with, I still my convert these further into some kind of napoleonics but I,m not sure yet.

 

[fishead19690]

One more photo of the conversions and a couple of photos of the stock factory poses that I used to make the conversions painted up as mexicans.

 

[kilted vampire]

The conte figures do lend themselves to conversion don't they? Yeah the shakos seem small to me also. Nice work. I actually have so many ideas I can not do anything!!!!

 

[modwalls]

Fish nice job on those Conte Mex. Gary Dutko has nothing on you. I was just relooking at your GI's, I've done about fifty something. Looking at yours, I think I only see one that looks like one I made. I hope to post some pics shortly. Mike.

 

[fishead19690]

Fish nice job on those Conte Mex. Gary Dutko has nothing on you. I was just relooking at your GI's, I've done about fifty something. Looking at yours, I think I only see one that looks like one I made. I hope to post some pics shortly. Mike.

It,s amazing how many different conversions you can get out of those conte G.I.,s Its like working with 1/35 kit figures that are ment to be converted. I also have even more of those conte G.I. conversions and when I get a chance I,ll post some more pictures of those also. This time around I also mixed in a few parts from some TSSD in with them also for even more posiblites. I haven,t been in the chopping mood lately but I told gary that I would make another batch for him so at some point i,ll see what else I can come up with when I get in a chopping mood again. I have to be in the chopping mood to do my best work and have visions and ideas in my head or they just end up coming out dull and bland looking.
Mike when you get a chance you should post some more photos of your work and try and keep this thread going with me and help keep us both inspired.
And if gary likes your conversions I,m sure he,ll keep you busy making more also. Who knows maybe we can get him into tring to do some himself, I,ve been tring to get him to try and do some but he,s a tough nut to crack, but he loves conversions and I can,t blame him there is just something special about taking something and turning it into a one of a kind iteam but I like to paint mine up for maximum impact and gary seems to be just fine with a solid color figure but I can still appreciate them like that also.

I,ve been thinking of doing some behind the lines poses of G.I.s carring boxes and rolling drums and barrels, maybe laying out some barbed wire and things like that and was wondering if there were some ready made pieces like this out there that are not to expensive I could use. I can make my own barbed wire but I could save a lot of time buying crates and barrels instead of tring to scratch build them and they would most likely look better then what I would scratch build also. I was thinking maybe some of those 1/35 model kit accessorary type sets but I don,t know how bad the scale would be off but with boxes crates and barrels I think you could get away with the scale difference as there are many different sized crates barrels and boxes.

 

[Fubar]

You guys certainly have been busy and good for you!
You are right Tim, The Contes should work very well for all Manner of the Dutch and Naussers, I had the same idea, just one of the roundtoits I havent gotten to.

While rearranging the Warroom{ 2 car garage} today I found a tubb FULL of Napoleonic Plastics I was hunting for a couple months ago.Found all the Italeri French cannons I never built,Limber set with gun, a slew more Austrians, a bunch of Hussars without horses and all the Helmet cav and infantry kits plus a ton of spare parts.

Another roundtoit, but I think I'll make a mold of some Austrian Shako heads to convert the plastics into post 1809.I'll have to resculpt some pavlov heads but those are coming along pretty decent. I did 2 chassuers in bearskins, added some covers to french shakos and even did a Kepi and slouch hat head.So many ideas, so little time.I need 6 arms.
Great conversions fish!

fub

 

[dog soldier]

keep up the GREAT work fella's, your doin some nice stuff there

 

[fishead19690]

You guys certainly have been busy and good for you!
You are right Tim, The Contes should work very well for all Manner of the Dutch and Naussers, I had the same idea, just one of the roundtoits I havent gotten to.

While rearranging the Warroom{ 2 car garage} today I found a tubb FULL of Napoleonic Plastics I was hunting for a couple months ago.Found all the Italeri French cannons I never built,Limber set with gun, a slew more Austrians, a bunch of Hussars without horses and all the Helmet cav and infantry kits plus a ton of spare parts.

Another roundtoit, but I think I'll make a mold of some Austrian Shako heads to convert the plastics into post 1809.I'll have to resculpt some pavlov heads but those are coming along pretty decent. I did 2 chassuers in bearskins, added some covers to french shakos and even did a Kepi and slouch hat head.So many ideas, so little time.I need 6 arms.
Great conversions fish!

fub

You and me seem to think a lot alike harold we both seem to have the same half finnished projects kicking around!

I,ve been tring to figure out a good way to do a dutch shako for the conte mexicans to convert them to dutch militia flank company troops with the blue coats and orange facings but the shako is wrong.
The dutch shako that I need is more of a british old style stove pipe style that gets narrow towards the top but the conte mexican shako gets wider towards the top so I tried to cut off all the chords on the shako and trim the shako top so it gets narrow at the top but its a lot of work and the dutch shako also has a large silver plate on the front and a plum also so i,m not sure what I want to do but I still want to try some as dutch troop conversions with them.
A call to arms makes some dutch but the heads would be way to small to use.

 

[modwalls]

Hey Fish, I like painting converts also. I don't know how you do it so well or fast, but you do a great job. As far as projects go, they seem to be never ending. As soon as those 60 degree days get here, I'm breaking out the compresser to prime my Farmhouses. I try to paint my figs listen to hockey games. But my B's stink so bad these days, the paint does not seem to be much fun. I like the Build-a-Rama barrles and crates. I like making crates out of popcycle sticks. I want so bad to paint these GI's up, they look so nice they deserve to be painted right. I am still going to try the solder methed with this plastic to hide the seam, and hide arm and neck seperations. That takes warm weather for outside ventilation. Convert On, Mike.

 

[gk5717]

Mike, Tim, Fubar, you guys with talent don,t know how lucky you are.
When I say I can,t do it, trust me, I am pysically unable, God did not grant me that virtue.
What I can do is get off my a-- and work overtime so I got the extra bucks to pay you guys.
Mike, as Tim will attest, if you got extra unpainted conversions let me know, I,m always interested.
Mike, sorry to hear the Bruins aren,t doing well, can,t feel sorry for you tho I won,t forget Orr scoring that goal, that was the last time the Blues were in the finals.
Gary

 

[fishead19690]

Mike, Tim, Fubar, you guys with talent don,t know how lucky you are.
When I say I can,t do it, trust me, I am pysically unable, God did not grant me that virtue.
What I can do is get off my a-- and work overtime so I got the extra bucks to pay you guys.
Mike, as Tim will attest, if you got extra unpainted conversions let me know, I,m always interested.
Mike, sorry to hear the Bruins aren,t doing well, can,t feel sorry for you tho I won,t forget Orr scoring that goal, that was the last time the Blues were in the finals.
Gary

Gary trust me its all done in practice and not giving up and having a possitive attitude and not letting yourself get discouraged.
I should try and dig up some of my early conversions and painted figures if I have not destroyed the evidence in shame already just so you can see how bad my early work really was but, I did not get discouraged and things seemed to get a little better each time and I learned from all those mistakes and kept looking back at how bad everything came out and studied what was BAD about what I did and tried to remove and correct what was bad and what I did wrong and tried it over without the mistakes from the first time and tried to improve on what looked bad about the first one.

Maybe there is such a thing as natural talent but there is also determenation and not giving up also and if you saw some of my early work you would have told me to give it up because it was scary!!! I also enjoy doing it and enjoy my finnish project even if they don,t look as good as something I could have bought that makes mine look like a 7 year olds school project, I just look at his and then look at mine and say to myself why does his look better then mine and what can I do the next time around to make mine look as good as his on my next project.

Or I could just say O.K., I suck, I quit, mine will never be as good as that!!!

 

[modwalls]

Gary those were the good old days nuff said. I feel anybody can do anything you just need confidence and practise. But saying that, I do understand some people would rather pay for certain things. My late brother was that way. He was extremely smart had a great memory and he knew alot about it seemed everything. But repairing things working with his hands, not so good. I took right away to converting, the first box of Conte I bought, I turned 8 poses into 16 without giving it a thought. I did not even know what I was doing, until I seen Gary Dutko's Conversions. Then I said, oh I'm converting. I had even emailed him, and told him I had done a whole bunch of differt conversions than him. He replied he would like to see them. Everytime I buy a bag or box of soldiers, I'm always studying their waist sizes arms and legs for butchery. I can tell Tim is the same way as me, just by observing his work. I am always building something, I just start doing converts when I'm in mind block on different prodjects. When I get better with this camera, I hope to post all my pics of converts better. But Gary, give it a try, the rubber old ones are the easyest to do. It is all about taking your time, I have so many now, I just do them to see if I can come up with something really different. Some time when the weather gets warmer, I will be melding all the joints, and hideing the pin holes. Convert On Mike.

 

[Wraith]

Gary,

Would a 'fishead' style, 'how to' guide on the slice and melt method be of any assistance? My photography isn't up to much and I'm still getting used to posting photos, but it's addictive once you start lopping off the limbs / torsos / heads (or maybe it's the fumes that are addictive )

Simon

 

[gk5717]

Guys, I appreciate the advice and encouragement, but I,ve been on this earth 60 years and I know my limitations.
Mike you can appreciate this, I started playing hockey when I was 24 years old, played for over 30 years, I could have practiced every day of my life and I know I could never have played on the first line, a person just has so much natural ability, and mine is not being able to work with my hands.
Trust me, there are things I do well, take for instance drinking beer, seriously, I,m not a complete idiot. But conversions I,ll leave to you guys.
Gary

 

[Wraith]

A 'drinking beer' thread! Now your talking.

Or how about a 'drinking beer - Conte conversion - trip to the ER' thread?

No need to crack open the tin of red paint for those realsitic war wounds. All can be achieved courtesy of a scalpel blade / alcohol mix.

Simon

 

[fishead19690]

Theres the whole problem gary you should not drink beer and convert at the same time!!! You won,t know which one of the 2 figures to cut due to the double vision!!! or which finger to put the bandaid on when you cut your fingers instead of the figure!
Theres your whole problem!

 

[modwalls]

My only problem with the Conte's are not the Conte's, it's getting them from the different dealers. I won't mention any names, but when I call them for availability, they are out, or they say they have them and really don't. Then I have to listen to all the neg crap about promises broken. I also have had boxes with the wrong figs in them. This happened twice to me, it is frustrating paying $21.00 for a box of soldiers, and not getting the right ones. When your trying to do converts, you have five guys armless waiting for different orders to show up. Then orders show up short shipped with no explanation, after being told he has them. I have ordered from Conte, I have recieved everything I ordered, in a week numerous times. If I owned a dealership, I would have hundreds of Conte in stock at all times. They are the figs that drew me back into my childhood days. I think these dealers should find a way to draw more people into this hobby. I don't know if that would be better or worst for us though. As far as beer goes, gave that up about 15 years ago. It's tough being Irish, and not drinking. I drank enough beer in my younger days to turn a battleship around. I just turned 49 this month, I have not played hockey in about 7 or 8 years now. Every now and then, a little stickhandling around on a pond, miss that. Lets all gear up for the warm weather and Hobby On, Mike.