PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE: Finally back to doing some sculpting

ARTIST STATEMENT

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.

Calvin Tan

WWII GERMAN UNIFORMS - PERSONAL MIXES BY CALVIN TAN

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.

CALVIN TAN'S BASIC GUIDE TO FIGURE PAINTING

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.

CALVIN TAN'S GUIDE TO CONVERTING AND PAINTING FIGURES

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. .

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Finally back to doing some sculpting

Posted by CALVIN TAN at 15:16

With most painting assignments behind, I just thought I'll get back into the groove of sculpting this week by picking up the pace of a 1/32 scale single figure project that was placed in hiatus for a long while.

The head is a complete re-sculpt of an old Verlinden head sculpted by Roger Saunders. The helmet came from the series of Gen-2 figures by DML with the helmet cover sculpted from epoxy putty. The grenade is from Alpine Miniatures which I felt was a tad too large for 1/35 but somehow just apt for 1/32. The rest of the figure is modeled using Kato Clay over a wire and epoxy putty armature. A lot more needs to be done on the back of the smock as well as the riding breeches but in all I'm quite satisfied with how everything is progressing for the moment.

Calvin

8 comments:

Rudi Richardson said...: Nice work, Calvin! When are we going to see some sculpts available from you commercially? :-)

Which Alpine figure is the grenade from? Off the top of my head I don't recall...

Rudi; 28 January 2010 at 18:20
Andreas said...: wow! excellent!

Ive made sculpting to my main hobby;)
Sculpting is great!

Any particular reason why youre sculpting in 54mm instead of 1/35?

Andreas; 28 January 2010 at 21:48
Orb said...: Hi Calvin.....

Looking good....is the grey putty the Sculpey like material?

and if it is, at what point will you blast it with your heat gun?; 28 January 2010 at 22:49
CALVIN TAN said...: Thanks guys for the kind feedback.

Rudi,
sorry to disappoint but I doubt that I'll be making any commercial sculpts anytime soon.

The grenade given to me by Taesung from his inventory of spare parts for his masters and that's probably why you can't register which figure it's from.

Andreas,

I just needed a slightly larger canvas to paint the camo smock.

Rob,

yup, right on the money. It's oven baked clay and I'll blast the heat gun once all the final details are on.; 28 January 2010 at 23:48
Rudi Richardson said...: Hi Calvin,

That's a pity :( Thanks for clarifying the grenade question :)

"I just needed a slightly larger canvas to paint the camo smock."

Is the size difference in the smock noticable between 1/35 (+-50mm) and 54mm (+-1/32)?

Rudi; 29 January 2010 at 12:58
Chris Mrosko said...: Calvin
Will this figure become commercially available?
If not it should.
Thanks
Chris Mrosko; 2 February 2010 at 10:27
Yoo, Jae Kwon said...: Its a nice wrk and so interesting!
Very helpful for my work too.; 18 February 2010 at 20:11
Pekka said...: Great figure and I´m happy to see that I´m not the only one baking figures. :)
Pekka N.; 18 April 2010 at 02:51