In the words of Wilbur Smith "War is the game played by old men with the lives of the young". The pawn in this game is the combat soldier which is represented by the miniature toy soldier; an insignificant entity on the battlefield. Combat is the most intensive moment in war where life and death hangs in a delicate balance. The outcomes are horrific and it manifests the worst part of our human nature. Conversely, there are times which it exudes the best of our human spirit. Most of 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. My aim is to portray humanity through the chronicles of military history and thus it is my pleasure that I present to you my weblog Perspectives in Miniature.
In conjunction with AK Interactive, this exclusive Gen 3 acrylic paint set is specially composed with the essential colours that I use to render WWII German Uniforms. It contains 18 colours and a small pamphlet with my personal colour mixes. If you are keen to acquire all the colours on my palette to paint a field grey tunic, a splinter pattern zeltbahn, an oak-leaf pattern smock or the Kharkov anorak, look no further, this is the set for you to get started.
Do check out my Podcast interview with Barry Biediger and Jim DeRogatis at Box Dioramas.com
This instructional DVD published by Model Art magazine was primarily developed for the beginner armour and diorama modeller in mind. The video presentation will feature a variety of easy to master techniques used to render a 1/35 scale plastic injected moulded figure.Topics include proper paint application techniques, choice of brushes as well as some little tricks for painting fine detail. It is fundamentally a showcase of some of my methods and techniques for painting military figures and I am certain it will prove beneficial for any modeller who wishes to improve on figure painting. It is currently available in both Japanese and English.
This video presentation documents the process of rendering a highly detailed 1/35 scale after-market resin figure. Watch as I take the viewer through the process of rendering of leather, uniform insignia as well as camouflage patterns using the techniques and materials presented in the beginner's guide to achieve convincing results. It is available in both Japanese and English.
In this third instalment, I will share my techniques and materials to customize and detail an inexpensive stock plastic figure. Watch as I take you through the steps on how I modify a pose, model details such as hands, belts and webbing and insignias. Learn about working effectively with epoxy putty as well as plastic styrene and paper. As a continuation from my first two DVDs, I will demonstrate how to model and paint a simple groundwork as well as an alternate approach using a monochromatic underpainting to render both a field grey tunic and the World War 2 German Splinter Camouflage pattern on a helmet cover. If you have enjoyed and benefitted from those previous titles, this edition will be a welcome addition to your journey in scale figure modelling – regardless of your current skill level. It is my sincere hope that this could inspire you to embark on your own creative adventure in this fantastic hobby. .
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A little more progress on the painting.
Cheers,
Calvin
A Happy New Year to all. This is a WIP of a special commission job of a 1/16 scale sculpt by John Rosengrant for a collector depicting a US Marine at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. From what I currently know this is not a commercial kit but a limited run of copies for a closed group of aficionados.
Looks like I managed to keep on track to hammer this figure out before the end of 2022.
I am currently working on this classic Tamiya figure sculpted by Yoshitaka Hirano which comes with the Strumtiger kit. I have always had a penchant for this figure ever since I saw a rendition of this figure by Stefan Muller-Herdmertens back in the early 1990's in Tony Greenland's book Panzer Modelling Masterclass. I swapped out the head with one taken from Tamiya's Wehrmacht tank crew set (35354) and the hand holding the mallet is from Royal Model. I sharpen some of the details like the lapels and left hand with a scalpel and the insignia was added after the tunic is painted. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can hammer this out before the close of 2022 or at least make this the first figure for 2023.
Cheers,
Calvin
This is a round up of almost all the projects I managed to complete throughout this year. As you can see, I have been a rather industrious. The reason being that I have completely overhauled my painting and modelling technique to work faster and more efficiently. I would also like to thank long time partners (Alpine Miniatures and Young Miniatures) and new collaborators(Royal Model, HD Model) for allowing me to paint their box illustrations. Last but not least, I would also like to extend my appreciation to AK Interactive for their generous support in this journey. Here's looking forward to another good year ahead for 2023.
