Alpine Miniatures - SS-Unterscharführer, SSPzAbt 101, 1944

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After a week of anticipation, here's the final box art with the revised heads after a visit to the shrink. :P
Ok, bad jokes aside, overall this was generally a very nice and straightforward figure to paint. I highly recommend it to the beginner whose main struggle would be the head and there will be two in the kit to practice on. The leather suit lends itself an aura of stylish class in contrast to most conventional combat uniforms. Its rendering too was not a complex issue as I soon got hold of how. The secret lies essentially in manipulating with both the satin and matt finishes.
A satin finish when compared to a matt one will have a deeper appearance. This attribute greatly enhances the illusion of depth when strategically applied within the deepest shadows. The satin finish was also extended to the mid-tones, creating the sheen of leather. This could be achieved by glazes of both oil paints and acrylic inks.
With the mid tones and shadows addressed, the highlights were rendered with glazes of matt acrylic black. Though most of my acrylic paints are tainted with Tamiya Flat Base I choose to incorporate with a little more than my usual dose into the black, producing a black chalky mixture. As a result, I do not lose any of the colour's properties and still get a tone light enough to contrast against the shadows.
Adding more dimension to the leather suit, effects of chafe and wear were applied along the edges of the suit. This lends itself more contrast to the suit, enhancing the crisp details of the sculpt.

I would have much preferred to have more insignia such as the runes and rank tabs of the inner tunic. Despite this, its simplicity does inspire the obvious potential to convert him to an U-boat crewman or even a solid basis for ambitious conversions.

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Calvin

Young Miniatures - US Marine, Iwo Jima 1945

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While the upcoming Alpine Miniatures figure by Mike Good is on hiatus due to some revisions, I've started to resume more work on Young Miniatures US Marine bust earlier this morning.

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - SS-Unterscharführer, SSPzAbt 101, 1944

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Taking a short intermittent break from the painting of Young Bok's US Marine bust, the past few days have been involved in the painting of the box art for an upcoming Alpine Miniatures release.
Sculpted by Mike Good, whose good name is no stranger to the figure/military modelling fraternity (no pun intended) this 1/16 scale figure is a simple study of an SS tank crew clad in the ubiquitous leather suit commonly issued to U-boat crews.

The figure was easily pieced and together with the embellished groundwork was primed with Flat Black. With the face painted,it made the work appear 90% done.

It soon proved however not to be the case as I attempted for a more realistic rendering of leather on a larger scale using both acrylic and oil paints.

Tune in next week for more updates.

Calvin

Young Miniatures - US Marine, Iwo Jima 1945

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Just when I thought that I could take things a little slower after the school semester is approaching its end, I found myself taking on another project to prepare a module syllabus for one of the schools I'm currently teaching.
Although the deadline for that job is rather tight, I still managed to squeeze some time off early last week to start painting Young Miniature's latest bust offering of a rugged study of a Leatherneck Marine at Iwo Jima.

Clean-up was extremely easy(courtesy of the heat gun nonetheless). I did however decided to omit the kit's plinth in lieu of a 7mm brass rod instead as it looked more compatible with the wooden base.

I will not delve more into the painting of the bust up to this point as I'm preparing that material for a new section on modelling tutorials for this blog. Nontheless I do hope you'll enjoy the pictures of the work done so far.

cheers,

Calvin

5th Royal Tank Regiment, North Africa, 1942

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After completing the paint work of the two figures in time for their timely release this month, I decided to embellish the seemingly plain groundwork with an Allied road sign and some litter left behind by the retreating Germans. The figures are now avaliable through Alpine Miniatures together with their 5th Anniversary figure, WSS Gebirgsjäger "Prinz Eugen", sculpted by Thai sculptor Pongsatorn Kanthaboon and painted by Spanish master painter Jaume Ortiz.
Also in celebration with Alpine Miniature's 5th anniversary, a Figure Painting & Photographing Contest has been announced on the company's site and several modeling forums. Click HERE for more contest information and here's also hoping to see some jaw dropping work from you guys out there!

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - 5th Royal Tank Regiment, North Africa 1942

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Following a piqued interest in WW2 Allied subjects after the rendition of Young Miniature's bust of the US 101st Airborne at Bastogne, the offer to paint Alpine Miniature's latest offering of Allied/Commonwealth figures was gleefully accepted early last January. Though the painting only commenced just a week ago due to a short stint of Army reservist duties, much of the lost time was made up during the Lunar New Year holiday period.

Looking at the unpainted figures, I don't think there's more need to elaborate about Taesung's top-notch sculpting. I sincerely hope that this will come greatly appreciated by WW2 Allied modellers whose yearnings from Alpine to put forth such a release seemed long neglected. And though the head gear and insignia makes them to be tank crews, I do see the possibility of them being converted to personal of a LRDG Chevrolet 30 cwt Patrol Truck or a SAS jeep. (remember, we are only limited by our own imaginations).

Point to mention is apart from the usual extra pair of heads provided, the seated figure and double-figure set is scheduled to include a very cute Retriever pup (possibly a company mascot) which appears to be craving for a Scooby-snack.

A small section of a North-African well was modelled out from epoxy putty to accommodate the seated figure. The stone texture was created by deliberately first allowing the soft putty to blister under extreme heat in the toaster oven such that when cured and carved with a scalpel, it reveals a pitted surface resembling stone.

I opted to prime the whole set-up with a very dark red mixture of Gunze Sanyo Flat Black and Character Red so as to give a dark yet warm base to work from.

The main areas on the figure receive their respective base colours applied with an airbrush to hasten the process. 

The colour mix used for the battle dress consisted of US Field Drab, English Uniform and SS Camouflage Black Brown. Darker shades were achieved with a darker mix comprising of more SS Camo Black Brown. Lighter tones were comprised of varying mixes of English Uniform and Wood. The Khaki Shorts were rendered with mixes of US Deck Tan, Dark Sand, Pale Sand and Stone Grey. Darker tones were done with a darker mix consisting of more Stone Grey and by the same token lighter tones were done by increasing the amount of Pale Sand.

The seated figure was clothed in a standard issue cardigan which was painted with a mix of Russian Uniform,US Field Drab and US Olive Drab.

The standing figure is almost completed whilst the seated figure still has some prominent areas to render. More of that later next week...

cheers,

Calvin

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