This is the Hornet, Italian Alpini, WWII, #IH1. It's a classic white metal figure, but as with all Hornet models, the sculpting is outstanding, and I particularly like the pose and the subject.
A little known part of WWII was the Italian invasion of France in June, 1940, through the Graian Alps where the Italians fought against some of the Maginot line forts that were built in the mountains. The Franco-German armastice was signed before things got too hot and heavy along the Italian-French border, but still, the Italian Alpini got their WWII baptism of fire there.
The figure was cleaned-up and primed with Tamiya flat white. I then undercoated it with Vallejo acrylics. For the final colors, I used artist oils blended wet-on-wet.
The figure is pretty much stock. I added the rifle sling and sling swivels and the battalion cockade at the base of the feather.
The base is all scratch-built, including the pitons, carrabiners, and rope (twisted .010 lead wire to get the draped effect).
I still have to spray a coat of Testors Dull Coat to the base and figure and maybe some more pigments to the base. I also have a small brass engraved name plate with the title, etc.
As always, comments and observations are welcome!
