Studio Miniatures Firemen 01

The one group of figures that are very poorly represented by figure companies in a contemporary setting are firemen. Yes, I know that Mega Minis made a set of 8 firemen, but quite frankly, they were very poorly sculpted. I didn't buy them. The best fireman figure I've ever seen came from Griffin Miniatures (see picture to the left), but alas, he is no longer available.
After chatting with my good friends Joe and Mathyoo, it was decided that the best option to fill this gap would be to convert an existing set of figures. And so Mathyoo bravely offered to step up to the plate. He converted three Studio Minis 28mm scale plastic zombies into human firemen. The heads came from plastic WW2 German infantrymen. Sorry, but I forget who made them. It could be Wargames Factory. When Mathyoo visited England a couple of months ago to stay with Joe and me he presented me with the three figures he'd converted. Here they are.

On the whole I was delighted with them but a few things about them bothered me. And so I made a few changes. First up was the helmets which looked too much like German WW2 helmets. No surprise there, really, given their origins. However, by adding a large badge to the front of the helmets I totally altered their appearance. I could have added a big rim around the helmets but ultimately decided against it.
I was not happy with the length of their coats. Mathyoo's ended at the top of the lower yellow hoop. I extended the coats by a couple of millimetres, which made a huge difference.

The two firemen with the gas-masks and oxygen tanks originally had scarves wrapped around their faces. This was something else that I wasn't happy about. So I added the gas-masks and oxygen tanks. This was my biggest change to Mathyoo's work but one that I think vastly improves them.
One final change I made was to give them all gloves. After looking at many photos of firemen in action I discovered that most wore gloves when out in the field. It makes sense really. Incidentally they armed with, from left to right, a tyre iron, an axe and a large hammer - all useful weapons to use against zombies.
It is always nice to have unique figures and these guys certainly fill a niche that needed filling. It just goes to show what can be done with a bit of imagination. By the way, Mathyoo thoroughly approved of my changes and I kept him well informed of my plans and work. I should point out that Mathyoo's conversions were unpainted. Given the changes I made to them this was probably a good thing.