Young Miniatures - Landser, Ostfront 1942

I've been fortunate this week to be granted some spare time to commence on another bust by Young Miniatures. Struck by the addictive fun of hearing the parts go "click" as they come together (a reminiscence of the Magnalock feature in Starcom toys from the 1980's), magnetic interfaces were implanted to all the adjoining components of the kit.

This has many convenient implications. For general spraying, the parts were attached to the side of a metal lid, allowing a safe distance away from the hand holding up the lid.

 

For detailed painting, parts were attached to a metal rod for greater flexibility and articulation.

 

The overall bust was given a ground color of Prussian Blue applied with an airbrush. This is followed by orange for the face and some random areas around the great coat. Instead of unloading the orange from the paint reservoir of the airbrush, Park Green and Pastel Blue was added to create a suitable tone for the great coat.

A light mist purple was sprayed to cut the chroma of the orange.

 

A small amount (not exceeding 20%) of acrylic paint retarder was mixed into the paints to increase their working time. This lengthens the time frame for more colors to incorporated via the wet on wet technique. Prolonged drying also prompts the paint to spread more evenly resulting in a smoother finish. However the pièce de résistance will be its intervention in breaking the surface tension of water, greatly enhancing paint flow and adherence, reducing traces of brush strokes and water marks.

The right of the face demonstrates the smooth results from two passes of the retarder added paint over the darker ground color. The left side shows the opaque coverage obtained with repeated passes.

The opaque build up of colors, tones and shades.

The retarder also causes a slow coagulation of the paint as it dries, giving it a buttery like consistency ideal for feathering.

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944

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After three months of intermittent painting, I'm so glad to finally lay the finishing brush strokes to this recreational project. Unfortunately the lack of available time due to family commitments prevented me from documenting further sequences to the painting process prior to the finish. That's all the update for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get my gear back into sculpting the next time round.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Fallschirmjäger, FJR 9, Ardennes, 1944

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I've decided to once again indulge myself with a recreational project compliments from Young Bok, proprietor and principal sculptor of Young Miniatures. Consisting of only five parts, clean-up and assembly took under an hour before it was christen with a veil of grey primer.

Continuing from the previous project of the MG-34 machine gunner bust, I interfaced each connecting part with magnets for easy handling during painting. This was achieved by drilling out a shallow cavity to accommodate the piece of magnet. Epoxy putty was used to both adhere and maneuver the magnet into alignment with its corresponding half. I got to admit that this eventually proved quite fun when I toyed with the parts as they "clicked" together.

Moving on to the painting, I employed a traditional approach used in classical painting known as painting on colored grounds.

"A toned ground can be used to create atmosphere or mood, to unify a composition, indicate lighting conditions, or to give sculptural form to an object by giving depth to shadows. A toned ground speeds the process of painting, allowing simpler modelling and killing the stark white that otherwise would confront the artist initially." Colour and Tone in Whistler's 'Nocturnes' and 'Harmonies' 1871-72" by Stephen Hackney. The Burlington Magazine Vol 136, No 1099 (Oct 1994), pp695-694.

As such red,blue,violet and orange were initially sprayed over a black undercoat before assigning the local colors.

I also tried to experiment with a "Wet on Wet" diffusion technique, similar to that used in watercolor painting. As this required a homogeneously damp surface in order for the different colors to mingle, water was sprayed over the surface with an airbrush before dabbing on the colors immediately after.

Complimentary colors for the face were subsequently introduced for added tonal variety and contrast.

The various stages to painting the face; from the blocking of tonal colors to the gradual refinements. As I do not have a linear work flow, this area will still be subjected to additions and changes as with the progress of the project.

The shovel was undercoated with gloss varnish before dry-brushing with silver enamel paint.

It was then painted over with an opaque coat of dark blue and allowed to dry.

A light mist of water from the airbrush provided the moist surface which allowed the dabs of orange to be randomly diffused across the shovel blade.

 

Effects of wear are simulated by carefully chafing the paint with a hard metal tool.

 

Progressive painting for the camouflage jump suit and accompanying accessories.

That's the work for now until opportunities at home allows.

Calvin