Young Miniatures - 506PIR, 101st Airborne, Bastogne 1944

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Finally after two weeks into the year 2009, here's my built-up review of Young Miniatures bust of an US Soldier sculpted by Hiroyuki Ishii. This marks Ishii-San's most recent collaboration with Young Miniatures and in my opinion one of his finest work to date.

The kit consists of ten components packed in a sponge cushioned sturdy black box. Upon closer examination, one can fully appreciate the high level of Ishii's workmanship testified by the intricate motifs on the buttons, the fine lining of the fabric seams and the smooth and flawless finish. It's also interesting to note that the sculpting has a stylized and precise quality to it as shown by the rendering of the creases and the treatment of the webbing's texture.

Removing the molding plugs was made much easier by first softening them slightly with a heat gun/hot air blower and slicing them off with a sharp blade.Thus as far as common knowledge goes, I would advice against using this approach for thinner items.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the face was painted at a "live" demo workshop during M Con. In favor of atmosphere and feel, I opted to paint the face in cooler tones by incorporating a little Prussian Blue to the shade colours.

The texture of the wool coat was depicted by carefully stippling various colour mixes of US Field Drab, Wood, Beige Brown, US Olive Drab and SS Camo Black Brown(owing to the degree of illumination on the surface's relief) until a dense appearance is achieved.

Other effects such as the wooden stock of the M1 Garand and the leather straps was painted with artists' oils. A light blow from the hairdryer helped to manipulate the resin strap to appear taut when slung over the shoulder.

Calvin

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Well it seems most uncannily appropriate to celebrate the festivities of a rough year with this greeting of a portrait of an US 101st Airborne Para at the Siege of Bastogne. Though it looked good enough for this e-greeting, there are still some parts around that I'm not too pleased.
I will also try to answer some queries with regards to the rendering of the wool overcoat. But until then, here's wishing everyone good health, happy modelling and a God Blessed Christmas Season.

Calvin

SS-Brigadeführer, LSSAH, ca.1943

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Well, after some disciplined sessions of painting, I managed to add the crowning touches to this figure just before the holiday season. And now moving on to Ishii-Sensei's bust.....yeah!

Calvin

SS-Brigadeführer, 1/24 scale - WIP

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Holidays are finally here again which also means it's time to returned to this long overdue commission for a collector friend of mine. I'm glad that the tedious process of sculpting and detailing are finally over. It's almost a week old into the painting and there are still a couple of areas like the hands, breeches and several parts of the tunic that need some more attention.

Though taking it easy, I do hope to get him finished by this week and get back to painting the 101st Airborne bust from Young Miniatures.
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Calvin

M CON - A Resounding Success!!!!!

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After many months of anticipation and planning, the premier scale modelling event in Singapore has finally came to a successful conclusion over the last weekend. Expectations of crowd turn-out and entries far superseded everyone's expectation(mine included) as from what I understood a major Gundam modelling contest held in the vicinity as well.
Nonetheless, great displays provided by both the contestants and jury; coupled with the central location downtown still made it irresistible for some to sneak a long lunch break during the week days to soak up the wonderful atmosphere here.

Apart from being entrusted with the key role of judging the contest entries in a panel of top notch local modellers; I was also scheduled to conduct a painting demo workshop and sculpting presentation last Friday night and co-chaired a talk/presentation on armor modelling with Dinesh on the following day.

Though I've taken privy to post some pictures taken from my camera, do also check out the additional reports and pictures for both event and contest entries as well as the modelling scene in Singapore over at SprueCutters and Plamo Forum.

The view of the exhibition hall from the front entrance.

Dinesh, John and Leslie judging the aircraft category.

Siew Keong and I judging the ships category.

The turn-out on Sunday afternoon for the awards ceremony.

The folks from the M Workshop who formed part of the organizing and staff committee of M Con 2008.

As an afterthought, I must express that it was a great privilege to have been a part of this premier scale modelling event. Though it was the first ever event managed by the organizing and staff committee, everyone clearly knew their roles and when necessary, eagerly chipped in to get matters resolved.Well done folks!

Despite the humble number of entries, the judges still took pains to go through each submitted entry as to ensure the rewards were fairly meted out .

The visitor turn-out was also surprising good. I noticed a lot of interaction and sharing of concepts techniques and ideas amongst the modellers themselves. I wished I could have more time to mingle more but alas like most shows, time was limited. Nonetheless, there's always the opportunity to meet up at the M Workshop to pick up where the conversation last stopped.

Finally, here's a snapshot of the 1/9 scale bust sculpted by Hiroyuki Ishii-Sensei sponsored by Young Miniatures which was the subject of my "live" demo workshop last Friday night. He looks happier here than on the box art; perhaps getting pulled back from the foxhole to get some hot chow. More on that soon and especially on rendering of the wool texture.

cheers,

Calvin

Kampfgruppe Peiper, LSSAH, Ardennes 1944

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Just thought I'll share some promotional materials I created from the photos of the completed the vignette. I wish I could have earlier thought of posing them either beside or on top of a SS-Pz, Abt 501 King Tiger in ambush scheme. Imagine what an awesome scene that would be.(don't ring my hand-phone please Dinesh)

Irregardless, I'm really pleased of how the painting on the second Peiper head with the side-cap came out; which in my opinion bears a better resemblance. I might probably consider just to paint another to accommodate it....

In the meantime, do enjoy the pictures and I have a good feeling that most modellers will be using this pair to go with their Battle of the Bulge SdKfz 251/250's and King Tigers/Panthers projects.

Cheers,

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - KG Peiper Ardennes 1944

Here's the first cut of the KG Peiper figures for the official box-art. I'm still planning to add some debris and litter to the groundwork but reckon I will leave them out for now so as to give an unobstructed view of the figure for the box art

One more spare head to complete before I conclude this project for this week.

While we're still on the topic of winter, here are some WIP shots of Dinesh's MILF (Marders I Love to Fix). You gotta love these topless models as it really flashes a lot of gorgeous details. The faded white wash over the sand yellow base is deftly applied like a white transulent satin nightie. I'm loving what's been done so far and I'am seriously looking forward to seeing him close the deal and bring this baby home yeah!!!

 

 

 

Calvin