Charging Soon Towards You!

After several weeks of work,  I'm proud to showcase Alpine Miniatures latest 1/16 scale offering of a WW2 US Marine from the Pacific Theater of War. Aficionados can outright distinguish this an unprecedented release for Alpine Miniatures - one of dynamic animation - from their standard upright contrapposto figures.

Interesting to note that this figure also marks the entry of sculptor Dmitry Shevtsov's into Alpine's ensemble of sculptors. The pose and animation is spot on and rendering of folds and intricate details resonates with the high quality we have come to expect from Alpine.

Though satisfying, the duck hunter camouflage pattern was particularly tedious to execute. It is convenient to assume this pattern consisted of random amoeba shapes but close study reveals distinctively unique patterns repeated throughout. Maintaining the consistency of shapes and sizes whilst painting pattern thus took its toll of on my concentration as often went back and forth to correct the shapes. I can't say that they are perfect but at least I can claim that I done by humanly best.

All interfaces of the component parts were refitted with magnetic locks making them detachable during the painting of hard to reach areas. The carrier block for the rifle and bayonet was removed towards the end to mitigate warping and breakage.

Overall this assignment was the most demanding I had for this year - given the intricacy of the sculpt and complexity of the camouflage pattern. Nonetheless it was quite rewarding to know that I tried my best to render this commonly overlooked camouflage pattern.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Royal Tank Regiment, North-West Europe, 1944-45

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I've resumed work to complete this quick painting project to mark the end of August.

Cheers,

Calvin

Young Miniatures - Royal Tank Regiment, North-West Europe, 1944-45

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Here's this week's progress on the debonaire portrait of the British tanker.

Cheers,

Calvin

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