As for many of their kits BS offers 2 heads. The one with the helmet is closer to the image in my head but unfortunately it's not so well rendered as the one with the kepi.
In fact the original picture that inspired the model is of a sergeant with kepi.
BestSoldiers provide an extra helmet to be hanged by the dagger handle. I thought a long time if it's worth to transform the head with better anatomy, to receive the extra helmet. To much of a surgery and that to the cost of loosing one option in the end.
The anatomical proportions are good but the different parts of the figure are not coming together so well. There was also places where I had to sculpt to get to a credible look.
For the missing baionette scabbard I found a replacement that I mildly sculpted from a piece of white metal (a former horse harness I guess).
The base was very simple, giving the possibility to add whatever details you want. In the same time the small surface prevented me to over-detail it (this time, at least). I opted for a ruined village environment, bearing in mind that the Franco-Prussian war was fought in a populated Europe of the mid 19th century.
For the first time I give it a try with the very expensive Valejo black primmer. It's qualities doesn't impressed me too much, functionally speaking. It was useful on the figure overall but where carnation was to be painted it was worse than anything else.
Furthermore I wanted to (re)experiment with Humbrol basecoats, for face and hands, which was airbrushed. The result was OK at one stage, but in the end I didn't like the cyanotic effect. This is still apparent on the finished figure, more so if it's sided by a conventional primed figure.
In fact I had to rework the skin two times to get a satisfying result.
The rest of the figure was painted in my usual manner, with acrylic base coats and oil modulations of shadows and lights.
As I said in the beginning, the great thing is that you can display the finished figure with both heads.
