Platoon Sergeant-442nd Infantry Regiment

[farnhamja]

Portrayed here is a Platoon Sergeant of the 442nd Infantry Regiment while fighting in the Vosges Mountain region of France in October-November 1944.



During this time the 442nd was attached to the 36th Infantry Division as of early October, 1944. It was pulled from Italy to conduct combat operations in eastern France. Heavy fighting was reported and the weather conditions were terrible, wet cold and rainy and the Nisei were not issued winter uniforms at this time.



The figure;
Tony Barton head sculpt no# 45, modified for articulation. A quick note on the HS; After painting it he reminded me of the Japanese actor Jack Soo, who was famous for his role as Sgt Nick Yemana on the old series “Barney Miller”. Jack Soo was born Goro Suzuki, so I mixed the names and hence “Goro Yemana”





Goro’s body is a modified DML body, upper torso is their “slim chest” version (starting to run out!). The arms were modified to take the “Hot Toys” wrist post, the hands are Sideshow Collectible and Hot Toys hands, a good size for a smaller figure. The lower torso is DML’s “Sepp Jung” which was a shorter figure; his height was further shortened by using the DML older style ankle joints.

The Gear;
Basic uniform; wool shirt, trousers and boots are from Newline Miniatures. I treat the boots like the 1:1 version, a wee bit of shoe polish and water proofing. His M1938 leggings are from Soldier Story.
His M1941 field jacket is from DML tailored appropriately. It is from their Cyber-Hobby line of SPR figures and the jacket takes little modifications to get it right. Kudos for them on this.

Equipment; Helmet is DML, modified the helmet liner (re-fitted the webbing) and it is a “fixed bale” version, I replaced the plastic for metal.
Webgear/pistol belt is Soldier Story modified, Along with the GP Bag and canteen. I modified the GP bag by replacing a lot of the nylon straps with cotton tape/straps. The main carrying strap is scratch made. Soldier Story also made the hand grenade Goro has on his pistol belt. The grenade was modified, corrected, I even got rid of the very shiny pull pin.



His M1 Carbine is DML’s, from the Cyber Hobby figure “Mickey”, again the SPR figures. I was pleased to see they did a detailed butt plate for the stock. I got squirrelly with it anyways and carved away the portion in the stock they have and corrected it by making an oiler tube from some 1/16th styrene rod. DML and the other manufacturers insist on giving us US enthusiast with a Korean war version of the M1 carbine, so I further corrected this for a more accurate WWII version. I don’t claim it is 100% but it is a lot more accurate than when I got it. It was repainted with oils (stock) and Tamiya paints (metal portions). The sling is scratch made with a resin LTD fastener (front) and a modified wee brass buckle (rear) made to resemble the figure “8” buckles used on the carbine slings.







I went “light” with his gear as the fighting in and around Bruyères and Biffontaine was heavy, this was before the 442nd’s rescue of the “Lost Battalion”.



Thanks for looking.............Jim

[Casual_Collector]

Soldier Story made a WWII-accurate M1 carbine (no bayonet lug) but IIRC, M1's with the lug DID appear towards the very end of the war.
Great work on this guy and d***, he is worn to HELL!

[Matthew2388]

Awesome!

[glenning]

Looking great, I just love the weathering!!

[Jeffajab]

Fantastic weathering and all-round presentation!

[Navio]

Man, the waiting for your next figure was killing me...know I am happy...excellent figure...love it!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[gaiagear]

Very, very nice from top to bottom. I especially love the weathering and the body mod. Fantastic!!

[colossus]

I'm very familiar with the Japanese/American 442nd history. I still have friends whose fathers, uncles served during WWII. Their history is rich in Hawaii as the majority of these soldiers came from the islands. I appreciate your work to keep their history alive in this figure. The height comparison is right on. These asian warriors were almost half the size of Caucasians but their fighter spirit out shine most.

[vince]

A beautiful figure!

[RainbowAvenue]

great job!

[CXROD]

Great "buddha head" figure and awesome weathering. Go for broke!

[markh166]

I am in awe, Jim! they just keep getting better. Excellent work on the carbine - the devil is in the details, as they say. And a nice nod to Jack Soo, too.

[sandrobrandiao]

Amazing work !!!!

[youngguns303]

i like how less gear looks more realistic. most ww2 figures are so loaded down they look like they were just deployed or plan on fighting solo

[Longhorn92]

Great work all the way around.

My grandfather was a member of the "Lost Battalion."

I hope you don't mind if I post a few pics of the actual area. I thought you might appreciate it given your spectacular work and grasp of the history.

One pic is the heavy woods inside the Lost Battalion's perimeter; another is from atop the hill looking down to the villages below; a third is a foxhole inside the perimeter; and the last is some live 75MM rounds.

[farnhamja]

Longhorn92, thank you for those photos! It is a treat to see the actual terrain in color! Most of my photos are from the region-in black and white. It does help to see them in color, thanks again, that is sincerely appreciated.

Everyone, thanks for the kind words, it is very encouraging. Mark, thanks for the thumbs up, you are spot on- the devil is in the details. Taking the time on a figure helps to bring them "to life" and bring it home.

I do have to give credit to DML on the carbine, they did make a vast improvement with the addition of the stock butt-plate



Again, thank you all for looking and the encouragement........Jim

[romedome]

Compliments to everything about this fig and presentation, Jim, but I really wanted to give you a high five on both the helmet weathering and the paintwork you did on the Tony Barton headsculpt (had to visit his antshead site, I didn't realize how many and how diverse his headsculpts were). Really looks like someone I could meet on my wife's side of the family.

Cheers!