Young Miniatures - Wardaddy, US 2nd Armored Division, 1944-45

A little more refinements done to the bounced light on the face and the insignia. If this exercise has taught me one thing, it is that less is more. Moving on to render the textures on the tanker jacket and the herringbone tunic.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Wardaddy, US 2nd Armored Division, 1944-45

Just started work on this bust from Young Miniatures.  The face was done some years back for a painting demo and I thought I might use it as practice for painting directional light. It is only a quick sketch at this stage to visualize the lighting and the atmosphere. 

A small piece of blue cellophane was placed in front of a lamp to serve as a guide in determining the color tone generated by the blue light over the initial base color. Subsequently the tones and values were matched on a palette and painted directly onto the bust.

Cheers,

Calvin

Auch Du Zur LSSAH

Finally completed painting this pair for the month of October.

Cheers,

Calvin

FeR Miniatures - Unterscharführer, Ostfront 1942-43

Working on to the second bust.
 

FeR Miniatures - Untersturmführer, Ostfront Summer 1942-43

I am pleased on how this finally turns out. It is a fine sculpt by Ramon Martinez which will reward with any careful painting. The painting of the Palmenmuster (Palm Tree Pattern) was much quicker than I expected all thanks to the Nevskaya Palitra sable brushes and more importantly the Waffen SS Camouflage color set 70180 from Vallejo Acrylics composed by Jaume Ortiz Forns. Now that this is completed, onward to the next piece....

Cheers,

Calvin

FeR Miniatures - Untersturmführer, Ostfront Summer 1942-43

Almost reaching the finishing line on this piece.  Some minor touch ups and onward to the second bust.

Cheers,

Calvin

FeR Miniatures - Untersturmführer, Ostfront Summer 1942-43

Just as I was about to lay the final strokes on the USMC bust from Young Miniatures, in comes a box art assignment from FER Miniatures courtesy of Fernando Ruiz for two 1/12 scale half figure/busts sculpted by Spanish sculptor Ramon Martinez.

This is probably one of the most exquisite sculpts I have come across in recent years. The sculpting of the drapery on the camouflage smock and the stoic expression is wonderfully captured. While it is not exactly a "recovery" project from the USMC MARPAT camouflage,  I decided to ease matters by utilizing the colors composed by Jaume Ortiz in a ready to use set marketed by Vallejo Acrylics (VA) as a spring board.

I find the colors composed by Jaume for the Waffen SS camouflage set from VA be very ideal for painting the Palm Tree pattern as well as the Oak Leaf and Plane Tree patterns. There are two very unique colors in this set, Dark Black Green and SS Middle Brown which are not readily off the rack, which I particularly like. I have also made the switch to using Nevkaya Palitra sable brushes for the painting of this half figure. 

The body has a much longer and slender body and has a little spring as you pull the brush across the painted surface. The paint stays wet longer and holds more paint than W&N Series 7 brushes. The Nevkaya sable works remarkably well if you are painting with a higher paint dilution. It is not recommended to work with a  heavier body paint as it is not really designed for "pushing" paint due to it's slimmer body. I am however able to pull longer fine lines with Nevkaya sables as compared to the Series 7.

For this project, I devised a new system to ensure that the proportions of the camouflage pattern are accurately mapped to the figure. This involves creating a "pointer" to track the features of the camouflage pattern during the painting process. I initially created one by attaching a length of stretched sprue onto the ferrule of the brush with blue tac.

Needless to say , the Blue Tac and stretched sprue expedient proved to be too flimsy. Thus  I fashioned a sturdier one one from a length of plastic rod and bore a hole at its base just large enough to secure it to the ferrule of the brush. I must say that it worked pretty well and it seems that I will be painting like this from this point on (pun intended).

Cheers,

Calvin