Thursday 23 April 2015

28mm Yemeni rebels

I'm back baby!!!

Allow me to share some images of these 28mm 1960s Yemeni rebels that are hot out of the mould. I didn't manage to snap any photos of the greens, so here are the pre-production castings that I've run a black wash over. There are seven figures in this set, which is intended to oppose the British troops in Aden set. 

Their attire is perhaps more representative of Yemeni tribesmen in Radfan rather than the urban guerillas that operated in Aden itself, but these fighters wearing traditional dress, including janbiya were something I'd wanted to sculpt for a long time, so here they are.



Photos from the period show turbans being worn in many different styles, as well as the odd fez, making these figures useful in historical as well as pulp settings - I have to admit I was looking at lots of HergĂ© drawings while sculpting these. 

I did manage to find some good period photos, mainly from the period when these tribesmen were fighting against the Egyptian army in the North Yemen Civil War.

"Give me the child at seven and I will give you the man" is a quote from someplace - These Yemeni stamps have been in my possession since I was a boy, proof of my Dad's ongoing encouragement to get me into stamp collecting. I've modelled the figure with the MG 34 largely on one of these illustrations. There are eight stamps in the set, which I'll post in full at some point in the future.




14 comments:

  1. Very nice work!

    Warburton

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks mate, though I think you'd like them better if they had chest-rigs and AKs :P

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  3. The different head wear is interesting. Love the stamps, and stamp story :-)

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  4. ...great work Kosta,

    I grabbed some before Nic took off to Salute. I think they will mix in with the Soviet-Afghan War Mujahideen as hill tribesmen so furthering their utility.

    Cheers

    Rolf

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    1. Cheers Rolf. I intend to make some Afghans with obsolete weapons and more bling one day, but it's great that you've found another use for these figures.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Bradley - I promise that there is some more Bush Wars stuff in the pipeline!

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  6. I received some from Eureka and immediately ordered more. My platoon of patrolling brits have stayed idle too long. Now they no longer have to be emplaned for Rhodesia.
    More head gear variations for the Brits please, fusiliers and scots were notorious for keep regimental head gear. I wish Nic would commission some vehicles to match, but the vehicle crews would be very nice, and before anyone says it I find 1/48 a bit big with these models.

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    1. Thanks very much Graham! Scots wearing Glengarry cap are on my workbench right now :)

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    2. Excellent - I will leave Nic an advance order... Looking through a lot of the newsreel footage and b+w photos for the period I notice a lot of British infantry is shorts.

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