Be it an everyday play thing in the playground or as tokens on a miniature wargaming table, toy soldiers have throughout the ages have held a sentimental place in the hearts of both adults and children alike. Throughout history, warfare is synonymous with games military and political leaders play for power and control. The toy soldier albeit a plaything, has symbolic references which manifest the imagery of soldiers in real battle; an insignificant entity amidst the megalomania of war. Innumerable human sacrifices in battle amounts to mere loses in a casual game of chess. Almost all the miniatures you see here are diligently researched from historical sources and handcrafted between scales of 1/35 to 1/16 (approx 50mm to 120mm). The intricate rendition of human expression and fine details not only demonstrates the level of craftsmanship but also serves as a reminder to the fragile nature of human life. I represent no political bias though my miniature creations and my striving aim is to articulate humanity within the context of military history. Though much has been expressed through other mediums, I proudly choose this as mine. It is thus my pleasure that I present to you my weblog Perspectives in Miniature and I sincerely hope that you will enjoy your visit.
Posts
All Comments
_
Just a quick preview of the first figure after a week of intermittent painting. There are still some areas that require some attention which hopefully could be resolved before the week closes.
Thank you all for your fervent interest, generous comments and numerous emails with regards to the WIP painting of the ACU digital camouflage. Unfortunately, due to the pressing issue of an impending deadline, I apologize for not being able to provide a more detailed documentation of the painting process at this point in time.
Another key issue here is that this is my first attempt at painting such a "complex" camouflage scheme. I'm currently in the process of finding a more straight-forward approach to this challenge. The last week was plagued with blotches and blunders and what you saw in the previous post was actually two days worth of clean-up work. Sounds nasty? Yes, it was..... Just take a look at the back and you'll know what I mean by the mess.
Putting it across as parable, it would be like asking a cook what he had put into the salad to make it so delicious and his reply," I don't know. I used whatever I could find around the kitchen and mixed them according to what I thought might taste good. I'm glad you liked it though"
So please bear with me until I get a handle on this and hopefully present it in bite-sized portions which would not put a damper on your urge to paint this set of figures.
That aside, I managed to get the face and the MOLLE straps painted this afternoon. Looks like more work needs to be done judging from the photos :(
_
It has been more than a week since I've returned and it's back to work again on the workbench. First up on the pipeline of works are a pair of Stryker armored vehicle crews from Alpine Miniatures; sculpted by the boss man himself Taesung Harmms. As usual, the quality of the figures are predictably awesome which makes me wonder if Taesung himself is capable of any bad sculpts :P
That aside, judging by the amount of details on the figure, I can say that a lot of work was diligently invested in creating these two magnificent works of miniature art. It is definitely a very challenging piece to paint especially with the ACU camouflage scheme. I'm seeing pixels writing this whilst taking a short breather from the work bench! Here's the work done so far on the first figure after just three days of painting plus time's running out. Stay tune for the next update when my eyes start to looks like Guru Tugginmypudha and I need to blow of some steam from the painting.
o
We met Marijn and Pinar for chocolate and churros that morning near the La Rambles area. Unfortunately the shop that Jaume recommended was closed for a month due to renovations and thus we settled for another cafe just a few doors before. It was obviously still good nonetheless..
The thick cup of molten chocolate and the crispy, cinnamon powdered churros.
It was an unexpected surprise for us to chance upon the legendary Shepard Paine at a cafe near the Sagrada Familia. Despite the short time we had together, we all had a very inspiring talk with Shepard Paine over some tapas and drinks.
If you ask me, this was probably the most wonderful parting experience I've ever gained from any trip. And now it's time to save up for the next World Expo in 2011. (there goes my lunch money again)
Calvin
o
Here are some excerpts from yesterday's night Medieval Dinner hosted right in a large courtyard somewhere near the cathedral. Situated on a high ground overlooking the city, it took us quite getting there as we navigated through the narrow alleys Girona's medieval town section. We were fortunate to have got there just in time and shared the table together with Douglas Lee and a friend of his and together with Marijn and his lovely wife, Pinar. I can't say that all of the food served there was agreeable to our taste and thank heavens we had Bernard brought a stash of the Bak Kwa to make it more palatable. Well done Bernard!
After dinner, came a dueling performance of medieval knights at a tournament. It was like going to a WWE match with lots of sword-swinging action. I think our Cosplay guys in Singapore could learn a thing or two from watching this.
Together with Marijn and Pinar.
Going around in circles last night made us realized that Girona would be a beautiful place to see in the day and thus this morning, we all made a little effort to get up a little earlier to take another walk through the medieval section. The weather was cool, the air was fresh, the streets were tranquil making it a very pleasant morning stroll for us all.
More friends from the show:
Dani Serrano
Samuel Perez
Dider Monge
Laurent Borget busy snapping pictures at the Masters Open Display.
Here are some close-ups pictures of Adam Wilder's awesomely rendered Panther F. This is certainly one of the best piece of scale armor work I've seen in recent years.
Crister Grönberg and Magnus Fagerberg (Sweden)
Kostas Kariotellis's surreal self-portrait
Best of Show for Historical Figures by Mariano Numitone and Danillo Cartacci
The accompanying part to the diorama:
More pictures of the exhibits:
World Expo, Girona, 2008 Gallery
The last night in Girona before we head to Barcelona tomorrow morning. I think Kevin and Jaume had one too many drinks at the back :P
Calvin
o
Yesterday's dinner was fantastic, great food, nice wine and wonderful company. Though the Bacalao (Cod) Bernard recommended tasted fantastic, the grilled steak ordered by some of the other guys looked even more delicious and had somehow rattled my carnivorous instincts. I guess I was so caught up in the eating that I forgot to snap a picture of the food :(
http://news.webshots.com/album/564063468mPmgKj
Anyway, this morning's atmosphere was not as tense and busy as that of yesterday as most of the contest registrations were done. I did notice that some of the party animals that partied till 5am this morning started to appear about noon. This was probably the reason I had more time to socialize and personally meet some people whose names I've known from emails and forums.
Mario Eens and Ivan Cocker
Gianfranco Speranza sampling Bak Kwa (BBQ Pork) from Singapore. Yes, I know, we brought Bak Kwa to Girona, win oredi.
Andrea Tesserini
Phillipe Gengembre
Douglas Lee and Alessandro Bruschi
Some personal picks from today's show
Outstanding collaboration between Jaume Ortiz and Diego Fortes
From one of my favorite artist John Rosengrant
Maltese painter Ray Farrugia's rendition of a Larrucia classic.
Fresh from the Tulsa Show, Rick Rutter's fine rendition of a Japanese pilot bust sculpted by Mike Good.
The latest diorama from Douglas Lee, the only other Asian modeller we met in Girona, .
Jesús Martín's superb paintwork on the "After the Battle" bust from Andrea Miniatures. You can check out his SBS on this piece HERE. Thanks Dani for pointing that out.
A very captivating scene from The Battle of Stalingrad by Andrea Tesserini. A misconception was made that they were from DML which in fact are from Blues Miniatures sculpted by the very talented Nino Pizzichemi. Molto Bello!!!
Wonderful marriage of story-telling, animation, style and presentation by husband and wife duo, Alan Ball and Marion Ebensperger
From the creative paint brush of Julio Cabos of Andrea Miniatures. Not sure who did the sculpt and amidst some criticisms, I must say that it's a show stopper for me.
That's all for today's rambling and I'm off now to see what the Medieval Dinner is all about now. Hopefully it's not something inspired from Pulp Fiction :P
Calvin
o
The day got off to a good start for me as I was awaken to the smell of freshly baked croissants and butter rolls.
o http://news.webshots.com/album/564063468mPmgKj
Deciding to take things a little easier, we took a short walk to the Prado Museum after breakfast this morning. At about noon, we checked out from our hotel and spent our remaining time in Madrid having some tapas and drinks out in the open square of Plaza Santa Ana.
Me and guys chilling out at Plaza Santa Ana before the flight to Girona.
Samuel with my platter of 1/35 WW2 Germans exhibits.
Calamares Fritos.
Churizos.
We took the evening flight from Barajas to Girona, and whilst in queue to board the plane, we saw quite a number of people carrying wooden boxes, which could only mean one thing.....we were definitely on the right flight or there's a pet convention somewhere else we don't know about! We shared the flight with an accomplished Spanish figure modeler, Pedro Fco. Ramirez Mateo, a familiar face which I knew on the website Galeria de Autor.
We headed to our hotel as soon as we arrived. After freshening up, we took a walk around the town of Girona and by chance we met up with Jose Luis Muñoz Bataller . We next arranged to meet at a nearby hotel and headed out for pizza with Ruben Gonzales and his company of Spanish armor modellers. After paying the bill for the dinner, we made a quick dash for the door before we were hauled by Ruben and his gang to a party which would probably last till 5 o'clock in the morning!
Tomorrow will be a long day ahead with the registration of the entries, new people to meet, old friends to catch-up and lots of masterpieces to admire.
Calvin
o
After a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam plus a 2 hour transit flight to Barajas International Airport in Madrid, the Singapore and Malaysian contingent has finally arrived (and thankfully without a hitch whatsoever from the customs). A good friend of mine, Samuel Pérez was very kind enough to pick us up from the airport in his new car to our hotel at Plaza Santa Ana. After checking into the hotel, we had a light meal of tapas and for me a favorite glass of Tinto Verano. Unfortunately Samuel had to head back to work in his office, but we did make arrangements to meet up again later in the afternoon.
Now, as totally modelling orientated trip this was planned to be (Yes, only guys, no wives, no girlfriends and no children), our first destination was to head out to the Euro Modelisimo studio. We were met Señor Rodrigo Cabos, Luis Gómez Platón, Carlos Vaquerizo and Fernando Sánchez. I was hoping to meet up with Jesús Huélamo but he had unfortunately hurt his back and was at home resting. Here's wishing for you to get well my friend!
A group photo of the guys with Señor Rodrigo Cabos,Editor in Chief of Euro Modelisimo Studio.
At about 4pm. Samuel was able to meet us at the Euro Modelisimo Studio to bring us to the Andrea Miniatures Factory in Alpedrete, almost 30 minutes by car from the city center of Madrid. We were extremely fortunate to have a tour organized for us which walked us through the process of sculpting the masters, casting and finally the packing of the finished product before it reaches to the hobby shops. We had a preview of some of Joaquin Palacios's latest works for Andrea which I cannot divulge much at this moment. But one word sums its all; Breathtaking!!!!
Me and the famous U-Boat Diorama at the Andrea Miniatures Factory.
Not a flattering shot of Bernard drooling over the U-Boat Diorama
We headed back to our hotel right after our visit to the Andrea Miniatures Factory and met up for dinner with Rodrigo Chacón for a Paella dinner with the guys.
Rodrigo and me with the huge pan of Arroz Negro we ordered.
Tomorrow, we will plan to head out to the Prado Museum and catch a flight to Girona.
Hasta Mañana,
Calvin
A quick update before I head off from home to the airport. All my displays are securely attached with Blue-Tac and here's a quick picture of the "transporter" (which in fact is an inverted Tupperware box). I still have another 5 more displays over at Jaume's home so hopefully he will have the hands to carry them over to Girona on my behalf.
There will be four us in our party, Bernard Cher, Paul Quek and myself representing Singapore and Allan Yong from Malaysia. Our journey will first take us to Madrid, Girona and Barceleona and hopefully we could provide some updates to our trip if opportunity allows.
And here's a parting photo of us at Changi International Airport before checking-in.
From left to right: Allan, Paul, myself and Bernard.
cheers,
Calvin
