So, while Dougie has been showing off his awesome painting skills creating a mammoth painting guide, I have been tinkering away at stuff. I ran out of Greenstuff, which has somewhat stymied my progress on the Quad bike riders, but I have remedied that, so they are progressing again.
While I had no Greenstuff, to keep myself entertained I have finished up my first figure in Crye Camo for the Australians.
Crye Camo should look a little bit like this...
Thanks camopedia!
Which if you put on a SAS soldier looks something like this...
And this is how it looks on my test figure. Dougie and all his talk about eyes made me want to give them a try, not sure I am totally convinced, we will see if they are there on my next few auzzies! While these aren't the best pics,they should give you a bit of an idea about what I am looking at for my Auzzies....
The test figure is the Willia Apiata model from Empress' Kickstarter. Now, I know there are many of you who just threw their shoes at your computer monitor for me painting up a NZ icon as an Auzzie, but there is a story.
In my researching the Auzzies in Afghanistan, one of the books I read was
The Crossroads by Mark Donaldson VC. It was a very good book, and one which I highly recommend you pick up and have a read of. As for his VC, the story goes like...
The actions for which Donaldson's VC were awarded took place on 2 September 2008. Patrolling with Afghan and US forces, they were ambushed by a well-prepared and larger Taliban force. The ambush began with sustained machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, causing several casualties. Donaldson deliberately exposed himself to fire from the Taliban fighters in order to draw their attention away from the casualties, allowing them to be moved to cover. When the patrol attempted to withdraw, the number of casualties was such that the unwounded personnel (including Donaldson) had to make their way on foot, beside their vehicles, as the casualties filled the vehicles. As they set off, it was realised that an Afghan interpreter attached to the patrol was wounded, and had not been loaded into the vehicles. Donaldson immediately crossed the 80 metres or so of open ground between the convoy and the interpreter, under heavy fire, and then carried him back to the vehicles where Donaldson administered first aid. The patrol eventually broke free of the ambush after two hours.
When asked about the incident, Donaldson commented: "I'm a soldier, I'm trained to fight ... it's instinct and it's natural. I just saw him there, I went over and got him, that was it." The events were first reported by the Australian press on 12 December 2008 following a briefing by Major General Tim McOwan on 11 December. At this stage Donaldson was identified only as "Trooper F". Donaldson then became the first recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia on 16 January 2009; he was presented with the medal by the Governor-General at a ceremony in Government House, Canberra.
The official citation was published in a special edition of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette of 20 January 2009 and states (in part) that the award was made for " ... most conspicuous acts of gallantry in action in a circumstance of great peril in Afghanistan, as part of the Special Operations Task Group during Operations SLIPPER, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan." Seven days after the medal presentation, Donaldson lent his VC and other medals to the Australian War Memorial in an official ceremony. The medals were placed on display at the end of February 2009.
(direct quote from the most accurate of sources, wikipedia)
So, as for why my SASR miniature looks the way he does, well, this is the real Mark....
Which should explain it all!
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of the Crye! I have the rest of the SASR patrol half done, as well as the Quad Bikes. So next update will have better pics, promise!
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