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

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

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Here's a snappy progress update on the painting of the partisan hunter. I've attached the flare pistol to the webbing and applied some refinements to bino and details to the crusher cap. I'm contemplating to glaze on some dark blue to the shadow areas of metal insignia to lend some color dimension. We'll see how that goes this weekend.

In the meantime, here's a close-up of the face with the hints of green in the shadows to convey that sinister look.

Cheers,

Calvin

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

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Just thought I would kick start this month by sharing a "spotty" piece of work on the SS-Erbsenmuster I'm currently busy with. My personal take on Young's characterization - brutish features and the penetrating gaze - makes him out to be a villainous partisan hunter that feeds into the Waffen-SS stereotype.

I'm quite liking on how this leisure project is coming together; the caricatured look of the defined features allows more permutations of colors to be introduced into the color space. Phthalo Green was used as a shadow color around the eyes to convey an aura of evil to the gaze.

That is all for now. Hopefully new week heralds some free time to resume painting on the back of the figure.

Cheers, 

Calvin

Young Miniatures - British Airborne, NW Europe 1944 (Version 2)

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As the saying goes, one good turn deserves another and hence my second rendition of this fine sculpt from Young Miniatures for a trade with Japanese modeller     Kazufumi Tomori's Fallschirmjäger bust that is featured in the Scale Model Handbook 3 published by Mr Black Publications.

 

Here are some close-ups of the face -showing the stippling of paint to create the effects of the beard stubble. Notice the subtle hints of green and blue employed to enhance the quality of illumination within the darker areas like the underside of the brow, the eye bags and the neck. You can also catch a glimpse of the range of colors used to render the green on the camouflage of the Denison smock. Pure black was not used - rather cut either by mixing Hooker's Green, Storm Blue or Purple Madder. With that may I add that the color mixed from Hooker's Green and Purple Madder makes a nice dark tone. I like it because it can be either green or red bias depending how much you mix of each. 

 

 

The British airborne beret badge on the pedestal makes a respectable display as a commemorative tribute to the British airborne in World War 2.

And finally for curious folks who wonder how I can still paint given the current circumstances of have two young children at home; here's my answer with the portable set-up I'm using to paint at my place of work.

Cheers,

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - DAK Grenadier, Tunisia, 1943

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Just though I'll create a little promo material with some new shots of this recent assignment taken this morning.

Cheers,

Calvin

Alpine Miniatures - DAK Grenadier, Tunisia, 1943

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After much anticipation, here's a preview of the completed paint work for Alpine Miniature's upcoming release. This is probably in my opinion one of Taesung's most elaborate 1/16 scale sculpt - comprising of many fine intricate details reflected by the lace work on tropical boots and subtle creases on the tunic, trousers and even the hands. With the full marching kit, this figure will prove to be a rewarding project with the variety of challenges it offers.

Cheers, 

Calvin