Okay, a small confession; I've been building this figure's outfit from bits and pieces of stuff parted out from sets to achieve the look I want, and up until this past Thursday, she was completely without footwear. Then finally the Agent Skye boots I ordered arrived and now, she is approaching completion, or at least ready to patrol the streets of some post apocalyptic trading town in the southwest of the US, which is where my little 1/6th scale fantasy mercenary company will operate during the period known to historians as "The Great Anarchy."
20190126_0186 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
I wanted lace-up boots because this is one of the newer TB League smaller figures (S24A) and I reasoned that even if the boots were too big for her, I'd be able to compensate by lacing them up tight. You can judge for yourselves if I was correct. The boots do appear a little oversize at the feet of course, but there wasn't much I could do about that. I also wanted tall boots, because Rod Taylor wears tall lace-up leather boots in the film Dark of The Sun, which heavily inspired the style of the uniform for this doll, and because I reasoned that operation in the American Southwest, where rattlesnakes abound, tall leather boots would be seen as better protection from snakebite than standard issue desert boots, plus...would be a hell of a lot more fashionable to this very fashion conscious mercenary unit.
20190126_0178 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Overall, I'm pleased with them, though I suppose that being faux leather and from comments I've read from others, should be thoroughly washed lest they stain the figure, they will be coming off shortly for that purpose. After that, I'll have to grunge them up a bit...actually dust them up a bit, to make it look like our girl has been out on patrol. If anyone has any suggestion as to the best way of doing this, please feel free to speak up. One other point that should be made, it it's not immediately obvious to everyone, is that this sort of boot does restrict the movements of the ankle joint somewhat and can make some poses difficult to achieve. The one below took a bit of work for sure...
20190126_0181 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Finally, since this figure represents a member of an organized military / mercenary unit, raised and trained by a retired officer, I decided to give her a rank, (corporal) and given my own military background and stylistic preferences, decided her chevrons should be on the British / Commonwealth style and pointing downwards. They were made by using small sections of 2 mm white tape supplied by Antheads co. in the UK glued to a piece of khaki drill fabric that had first been stiffened by applying a fabric adhesive to the other side and allowing it to dry. This also made it much easier to cut without threads parting in every direction. A template was then applied to the other side and the shape of the backing was drawn in pencil before being cut out with a sharp #11 Exacto blade. Tiny little strips of tape were then glued onto the backing and cut down to size once the glue had dried. Finally, the completed set of chevrons was glued to the shirt. Again, comments welcome.
20190126_0162 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
The figure is not quite complete however. I can't imagine her patrolling in the southwest without a canteen. Also, she needs an edged weapon, and I think the perfect one would be the Dragon bayonet for the L1A1 rifle. I saw one parted out someplace and the same bayonet was designed in real life at least, to fit the Sterling SMG as well. I know, because I carried both the Canadian versions of both the rifle and sub machine gun in the Canadian Army. I think she also needs a pouch for a least a few spare mags for her Sterling. I'd also like to attach a lanyard between the butt of her pistol and her belt, but first have to find some string the right size. I don't want to stick too much on her. I think less is more in this case. Again...opinions welcome.
20190126_0186 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
I wanted lace-up boots because this is one of the newer TB League smaller figures (S24A) and I reasoned that even if the boots were too big for her, I'd be able to compensate by lacing them up tight. You can judge for yourselves if I was correct. The boots do appear a little oversize at the feet of course, but there wasn't much I could do about that. I also wanted tall boots, because Rod Taylor wears tall lace-up leather boots in the film Dark of The Sun, which heavily inspired the style of the uniform for this doll, and because I reasoned that operation in the American Southwest, where rattlesnakes abound, tall leather boots would be seen as better protection from snakebite than standard issue desert boots, plus...would be a hell of a lot more fashionable to this very fashion conscious mercenary unit.
20190126_0178 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Overall, I'm pleased with them, though I suppose that being faux leather and from comments I've read from others, should be thoroughly washed lest they stain the figure, they will be coming off shortly for that purpose. After that, I'll have to grunge them up a bit...actually dust them up a bit, to make it look like our girl has been out on patrol. If anyone has any suggestion as to the best way of doing this, please feel free to speak up. One other point that should be made, it it's not immediately obvious to everyone, is that this sort of boot does restrict the movements of the ankle joint somewhat and can make some poses difficult to achieve. The one below took a bit of work for sure...
20190126_0181 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Finally, since this figure represents a member of an organized military / mercenary unit, raised and trained by a retired officer, I decided to give her a rank, (corporal) and given my own military background and stylistic preferences, decided her chevrons should be on the British / Commonwealth style and pointing downwards. They were made by using small sections of 2 mm white tape supplied by Antheads co. in the UK glued to a piece of khaki drill fabric that had first been stiffened by applying a fabric adhesive to the other side and allowing it to dry. This also made it much easier to cut without threads parting in every direction. A template was then applied to the other side and the shape of the backing was drawn in pencil before being cut out with a sharp #11 Exacto blade. Tiny little strips of tape were then glued onto the backing and cut down to size once the glue had dried. Finally, the completed set of chevrons was glued to the shirt. Again, comments welcome.
20190126_0162 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
The figure is not quite complete however. I can't imagine her patrolling in the southwest without a canteen. Also, she needs an edged weapon, and I think the perfect one would be the Dragon bayonet for the L1A1 rifle. I saw one parted out someplace and the same bayonet was designed in real life at least, to fit the Sterling SMG as well. I know, because I carried both the Canadian versions of both the rifle and sub machine gun in the Canadian Army. I think she also needs a pouch for a least a few spare mags for her Sterling. I'd also like to attach a lanyard between the butt of her pistol and her belt, but first have to find some string the right size. I don't want to stick too much on her. I think less is more in this case. Again...opinions welcome.