First figure off my FEMBruary painting table –
a gloss 54mm toy soldier style painting of ‘Rosie the Riveter, the WW2 US propaganda poster girl (“We Can Do It!”) of women’s war work in the factories of America.
‘Rosie’ is a bonus figure within the new BMC Plastic Army Women sets from my first ever Kickstarter pledge last year. The sets are now in the main web shop at BMC.
The ‘Rosie the Riveter’ Story and its links to the “We Can Do It!” poster can be found here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Do_It!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter
I also looked at press images of “Rosies” (one of the nicknames for US women war workers) and a similar Norman Rockwell 1943 magazine cover.
I restrained myself from trying to do the polka dot head piece or the lapel badge, even in 54mm. Gloss acrylic paint , gloss varnish and pink cheek dots give this figure an old fashioned toy soldier feel.
I wanted her to look like she had been made by William Britain’s Ltd during the war, albeit unlikely as Britain’s Ltd was turned over to munitions production after 1941 . 
The British equivalent of Rosie is probably Ruby Loftus, painted by Dame Laura Knight: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Loftus_Screwing_a_Breech-ring
Precursor to Rosie, in 1941 Canada had “Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Foster
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GdqMt0fZPiY&feature=youtu.be
Next up, almost done on the painting table – the BMC Plastic Army Women – painted for FEMbruary – including another version of Rosie.
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 15 FEMbruary 2021
Blog Post Script B.P.S.
Thanks to Alex at the Lead Balloony blog for setting up the FEMbruary challenge of painting believable female Miniatures and gaming minis.
“These ladies form a nice segue into another topic – that of my now-annual ‘Fembruary Challenge’! It’s a simple affair, just paint & post one or more female miniatures from your piles-of-shame, in the name of fair representation within the hobby. Just link back to this post, or ping me directly & I’ll grab a pic and include your entry in the final round-up in early March (usually by International Women’s Day, 8th of March)
Given that this is intended as an encouragement to think about inclusion in the hobby then it makes sense if your entries are kick-ass ladies, and not the product of some socially awkward mini-sculptor’s sexy fantasies… Anything dodgy & I’ll omit it from the round-up, otherwise, have at it! I usually pick my favourite of the bunch – no prizes I’m afraid, but a boatload of kudos to you as an official Fembruary Winner!”
https://leadballoony.com/2021/01/13/mythic-battles-pantheon-introducing-the-amazons/
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 15 FEMbruary 2021
Man of Tin blog 