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, represented by the miniature toy soldier; an insignificant being on the battlefield. Combat is the most intense moment of war, where life and death balances on a knife's edge. The results are terrifying and reveal the worst part of our human nature. Conversely, there are moments when 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 of 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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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 :(
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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.
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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..
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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.
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 :(
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.
