Alpine Miniatures - Otto Carius, s.Pz Abt 502, Malinava, 1944

Merry Christmas to all!

I finally took advantage of the time leading up to the holidays to present a synopsis of the painting process from the recently concluded assignment from Alpine Miniatures. 

Preliminary shading was done by an overcast spray of white over a dark blue primer base.

The color mix for the drill panzer uniform consisted of Sap Green, Dark Prussian Blue, Purple Madder and White was sprayed on. Convinced that the initial tone was not what I had in mind, I decided to go for a more blue-grey tone by increasing more Purple Madder and Prussian Blue to the mix for the subsequent applications.

Have a great holiday week!

Calvin

A Young Pharmacist

Here is a work in progress shot of a 1/35 scale portrait study of a pharmacist in his younger days from Alpine Miniatures.  

Cheers,

Calvin

M-CON 2012

After a four year hiatus, the second installment of M-CON was held over the past weekend boasting  a spike of stellar exhibits from the previous 2008 edition.

 

 

 

The event was notably graced by the special guest appearance of world renown Korean miniature sculptor Song Young-Bok of Young Miniatures fame. Multi-award winning Malaysian figure modeller Allan Yong also flew down from Vietnam to serve on our judging panel - adding to the star presence of the show.

 

An exclusive workshop and demonstration was conducted by Young-Bok on miniature sculpting and myself on acrylic painting techniques. This was a real feast for some of our local modellers to see an overseas master "live" at work.

  

We were also treated to some of Young's original pieces for the event - including his most recent releases of the WWI British Tommy and Korean War US Marine.

 

 

 

Amongst the numerous outstanding competition entries, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the work of Michael Lee. Michael is a relatively new comer to the local figure modelling scene but he took to it like a fish to water - no doubt due to his professional background as a freelance graphic artist. His rendition of Young Miniature's Polish hussar was one of the show stoppers - at least for me.

The intricate paint work on the leopard skin and bold rendering on the armor demonstrated a high level of skill and artistry. Here he is receiving his well deserved accolade from Young-Bok.

Another equally outstanding entry from Michael was The Hobbit (no doubt from the Lord Of The Rings). Notice his artistic sensibilities in play with the textbook use of Yellow-Violet complementary scheme and the deft rendering of the illuminated lantern.

Overall I must say that the weekend of M-CON 2012 was sensational - despite the awful downpour on Sunday afternoon. It was an excellent opportunity to meet up with old acquaintances and forge new contacts. One can sense a great deal of synergy amongst the modellers and participants as they interacted amongst the competition displays. The organizing committee headed by Bernard Cher from the M-Workshop has once again pulled off a very successful show. Kudos to them for a job well done! Perhaps we could aspire to have the third installment a little sooner in three or two years perhaps ;)

Cheers,

Calvin

2nd Marine Division, Tarawa, 1943

I've managed to snatch some time over this weekend to take some new photos of the new 1/16 scale US Marine from Alpine Miniature and prepare some color notes on painting the "Duck Hunter" camouflage. Colors quoted are from Jo Sonja acrylics.

On another note, next week looks set for an exciting event in the Singaporean scale modelling calender with M-CON 2012.  Like the premier show in 2008, it will be held in the heart of downtown Singapore at Sculpture Square over the weekend from 1-4 November. I will be conducting a small workshop/painting clinic on the afternoon of Saturday, 3 November. We also have invited a very prominent guest artist to grace this event and so if you're in the area come on by and have a look.

Cheers,

Calvin

Charging Soon Towards You!

After several weeks of work,  I'm proud to showcase Alpine Miniatures latest 1/16 scale offering of a WW2 US Marine from the Pacific Theater of War. Aficionados can outright distinguish this an unprecedented release for Alpine Miniatures - one of dynamic animation - from their standard upright contrapposto figures.

Interesting to note that this figure also marks the entry of sculptor Dmitry Shevtsov's into Alpine's ensemble of sculptors. The pose and animation is spot on and rendering of folds and intricate details resonates with the high quality we have come to expect from Alpine.

Though satisfying, the duck hunter camouflage pattern was particularly tedious to execute. It is convenient to assume this pattern consisted of random amoeba shapes but close study reveals distinctively unique patterns repeated throughout. Maintaining the consistency of shapes and sizes whilst painting pattern thus took its toll of on my concentration as often went back and forth to correct the shapes. I can't say that they are perfect but at least I can claim that I done by humanly best.

All interfaces of the component parts were refitted with magnetic locks making them detachable during the painting of hard to reach areas. The carrier block for the rifle and bayonet was removed towards the end to mitigate warping and breakage.

Overall this assignment was the most demanding I had for this year - given the intricacy of the sculpt and complexity of the camouflage pattern. Nonetheless it was quite rewarding to know that I tried my best to render this commonly overlooked camouflage pattern.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Royal Tank Regiment, North-West Europe, 1944-45

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I've resumed work to complete this quick painting project to mark the end of August.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Royal Tank Regiment, North-West Europe, 1944-45

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Here's this week's progress on the debonaire portrait of the British tanker.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Royal Tank Regiment, North-West Europe, 1944-45

Here's a glimpse of what I've been mucking around for the past week. It is a rendition of Young Miniatures's most recent offering from his range of military bust depicting a personnel from the Royal Tank Regiment.

The preliminary round of shading was established by airbrushing Naples Yellow over a dark blue base. When set for an hour, a light wash of Yellow Ocher was applied to lend warmth to the overall appearance.

This follows the rendering of the face and blocking in the colors for the sweater, beret and the blanket-lined collar. What remains is pretty much shading, toning and highlighting from this point on. 

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Obersturmführer, SS Cavalry Division, Florian Geyer, 1944

Glad to say that the final push was made this weekend to complete the partisan hunter. Painting this caricatured portrait of a repugnant character was quite a refreshing experience as there was a sense of liberty to boldly experiment with colors and contrast - as compared on a "pretty" face where one might be compelled to be more cautious.

As previously mentioned, I employed a blue-green color bias for the shadows to enhance the aura of evil especially on the face. The colors for Erbsenmuster tunic was loosely referenced from a previous box-art assignment HERE and everything was pretty much straightforward.

 

Cheers,

Calvin