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. .
Completed this classic figure from Hornet Models for the month of May. This was an unexpected project for which I only wanted to use the simplicity of this figure's sculpt to experiment on the photo print transfers. Fortunately it turned out not too shabby and thus I ventured further with the ground work which is no doubt a conceptual variation from my previous project Valley of Tears.
Added some grass to the ground work to convey the grassy steppes of the Russian front.
Moved on to a 1/10 scale helmet cover. Frankly speaking, this technique is more suited for larger scale figures as the surface area is much larger and the plastic film does not obscure much of the surface details. Took me only 1 hour from the application of the film to the touch up by brush to attain this current result. Definitely a time saving measure especially when you have a lot of 1/10 scale busts in the storage room ;).
Cheers,
Calvin
Adding in a simple groundwork to set off this piece with track links of a vanquished T-34 from AFV Club.
Cheers,
Calvin
I was not feeling satisfied with the first attempt which I attributed to my poor decal application skills. There were too many wrinkles to tease out. I therefore threw the figure into a vat of thinner and started over.
This round I took my time and I feel that the results are much neater than the previous attempt. I realised that a big sheet of plastic film is difficult to conform onto a highly wrinkled surface and thus decided to cut the sheet onto smaller pieces and stitch them along the crest of the folds. These conspicuous areas are also very accessible to mend with gloss varnish and paint. Mark Softer from Gunze Sanyo Mr Hobby was used to great effect in softening the plastic film so that it conforms easily to the surface of the figure.
Trimming was done with a color shaper on one hand and a fresh scalpel on the other. This operation requires a great degree of patience and precision. In all, it took me about half an evening and one afternoon to arrive at this stage and I think it looks promising from this point on.
Cheers,
Calvin
Here is today's results of my experiment using the Canon Selphy photo print transfer. The greatest difficult lies in trying to manoeuvre and fit the film onto the tight corners of the sleeves as well as the pockets on the chest area. Surprisingly a light blast of heat from a heat gun managed to shrink wrap the film onto the figure surface for a tight hug and even so some unwanted wrinkles and tiny air bubbles also appeared. Those need to be rubbed down and repainted. In my opinion, the process is not as fun as painting and there are a lot of kinks on the surface one will need to smooth out for a presentable result.
Cheers,
Calvin
I am in the midst of ironing the kinks of this technique but I am pretty sure the end is in sight...
After relocating to Singapore for four months, Allan Yong and his family has finally settled into their new apartment and has invited me and some local modellers over to admire his discerning collection of scale models and figurines.
