Good job! :) That really looks the part. Even without reading the thread title, I'd have thought of STALKER immediately.
Hard to believe the camo is made from decals. Looks great.
The (long) G36 is one of the best weapons in the game, accurate and hard-hitting. And if you mess with the game's files a bit, you can even add an M203 grenade launcher to it.
Loved the book (you can read it in full from a link at the bottom of the Wikipedia page) and the games. Spent so many hours in "the Zone".
Should my modelling mojo ever return (strangely enough, both the planning and acquisition mojos seem just fine), I want to build a couple of STALKER dioramas. There are so many cool set-pieces in the game that would make for great dioramas.
<...> The arms and hands were cut and repositioned to allow a more natural (and positive) grip on the weapon. Many figures seem to have a very dainty, airy hold on their guns. <...>
That always stands out, doesn't it? It's always odd to see figures with buttstocks not properly pulled into shoulders or weapons
somehow "hovering" in the hands. I suppose it's because the kit manufacturers want to use generic weapon sprues instead of making new weapons for every single kit, but it would look a lot better if they didn't try a short-cut here.
I like Zvezda's approach here (from the 1/35 "Soviet Paratroops in Afghanistan" set), with hands moulded to the weapon (and an additional weapon without hands).
LINK to review
<...> I had the STALKER video game for a very short time. Attempted to play and became quickly discouraged. <...>
That's too bad, really, although I can see where you're coming from. The game takes a while to get up to speed. And that there are lot of bugs and crashes probably doesn't help either. But once you get past that (and with the help of some online forums to work around some of the bugs), it's an awesome game. I don't think I've ever played another game that felt so "fitting". The scenery, the music, the stories of the NPCs even, all added to that bleak, dystopian feeling. And in its day, it looked absolutely fantastic.