Hello everyone:

I've been working on a rather small vignette for a while. The unpainted
figure is from the 1:35th Scale Zvezda Russian Mountain Troops set that came
out this year. For me, these are the best 1:35th sets that Zvezda has
produced so far. And the box art is beautiful; and I'll have to admit that was
a strong influence for me to spring for this set. . . with a roll of lettuce!

Eventually there will be two figures, with the other figure behind the kneeling
soldier shown in this picture. In the second group of the pictures, that were
shot with a flash, you can see a number of leaves I made from bond paper,
that have not been painted yet, and they show as white. Comments for or
against are welcomed by you ladies and gentlemen!

These first three images below were shot with available light so the colours are more in the
brown ranges. The last two were shot with a flash and so more of the greenish range of tones show up

Comments pro and con are welcomed from you ladies and gentlemen,

Miami Jayhawk

Rick, this looks good , the groundwork is excellent and kinda reminds me of a Bonsai style of setting with the tree and rocks growing out of the base.
However IMHO I think it may need more than two figures to help to keep the balance. Will follow.

Cheers Ken

Rickster im glad i got the chance to comment on this one as i have watched it develop over the last few weeks into something very good and eye catching.

The initial idea to place the mountain troops on some elevated ground will show them in their right environment and give some drama and appeal tot he whole scene.

the addition of the grass`s, tree, flowers etc give a nice autumn feel and this will contrast nicely with the uniforms of the two figures.

I for one like the leaves in the scene as these give a lot of possibility to add further colour to the scene which will enhance it even more.

As ken said it does have a look of a Bonsai setting and this style of tree would be called `Shitsuki` with the tree growing from a crevice in the rock.

real nice job on this one mate,

Stevo

Hello Ken

Hello Mate:

Thanks Ken for taking time to have a look see. And I appreciate the kind
words. I feel my terrain and ground covers skills are not very good. And so
I dreamed up this scheme to work more using Woodland Scenics Field
Grasses. I didn't think about adding a third figure from that Zvezda set. But
it certainly is worth some thought and I appreciate you mentioning it, Ken.


Heartland Jayhawker

Hello Stevo, and thanks mate. . .

Hi Steve:

I do appreciate the kind remarks, Steve. And hopefully, I can get those small
1:35th scale faces and eye balls done well. A real struggle, with that WWII
French infantryman, as you do recall.

Re the leaves, cut from lazer printer paper, as you know, I'm always talkin'
about Colour Harmony all the time. And I thought the various tone of pinks,
melon red, light yellows and browns would help in that regards. Plus, I've
tried to do a tree a number of times, and really haven't done very well with
it in the past.

So basically this whole project, is just an exercise to try and improve my
skills with terrain, and with painting 1:35th scale figure.

thanks again, amigo,

ricardo

You are definitely improving on your groundwork mate and that is because you are willing to put that effort in to achieve your goals.

Colour should be a major part of this work and as you say the leaves will allow this aspect.

As for painting the figures i know this is no easy task and i tend to shy away from 1/35 as it can be difficult with faces in this scale, im sure you will do well with them mate

catch you later Rickster

Stevo

Thanks again Stevie . . .

Thanks again, Steve, for those encouraging words. As you may recall, I had to
paint the eyes of the Tamiya 1:35th WWII French Infantryman in acrylic
more than 7 or 8 times. Yeh, it did win a 3rd place at the IPMS/USA National
Convention this August in Phoenix, but it was so difficult to get rid of that
"deer in the headlights" look in the eyes. Eventually, I made the iris a very
soft brown, having originally started with blue.

Thanks again,

Heartlander rick

Hi Rick!
Nice vignette with a superb groundwork.
I will follow your work close.

Hey Pedro, good to hear from you. . .

Thank you Pedro:

Do appreciate you having a look at this "exercise". And it is so good to
hear from you.

Wishing you well,

Rick Kansas Kid

Hi Carl, and thank you for the encouraging words. I do appreciate it
my friend. Have a great weekend, mate,

Heartland Muddler

Hey Jay Hawker, looking good so far. I am a big fan of ground work and yours is looking great. Oh and welcome (back) to the planet Tell Bill Selfish I said hi.

Roger that, Mike. Good to see your response, Mike and appreciate your
remarks. I'm glad to be back. Try to check out PF each day, but some days
just too many conflicts.

Ha, a nudder story not worth telling. Thanks again, Mike,

Rick

Spectacular composition Rick, the angle of the tree , rock formation and figure balance each other well with a kinetic feel !

The Qi is strong with this one!

Hello Gordy:

Thanks for chiming in here on this thread as I'm trying to learn how
to apply field grasses. I do appreciate the comments about composition,
as I see that as important in most any kind of model building presentation.

On this "exercise" re dealing with those field grasses, this is the first time
I've mixed several different coloured grasses together from separate
packages. The jury is still out as to whether I think it is a good idea or not.

Thanks again,

Kansas Jayhawker

Groundwork looks really good

Melanie

Hello Melanie:

So kind of you to respond with your remarks, Melanie. I don't recall that
I have seen your work posted on PF. You realize however, that I'm the
resident old heimer here, so it isn't that perhaps you have or have not
posted your work, . .. eh . . . ah. . . it is that I DO NOT RECALL IT.

Good to hear from you,

rickster

Hi! Rick.
A ground work is amazing.
Great!
I'm looking forward to completion of your work.

Mitsutaka

Greetings Mitsutaka:

Always so good to hear from you. Sorry I haven't been as active with posting
comments on PF for some time. Life can get in the way of our hobbies, as
we all know.

However, I do so appreciate you taking time to look and to post your
comments. Hopefully, this will be an "exercise" I can carry thru to
completion. I really do like those Zvezda figures, and didn't feel I needed to
substitute 1:35th Hornet heads for the heads that came with the Russian
Mtn. Troops set. Weapons are rather nice too, IMHO.

Take care,

rick

The gound work is looking really effective now Rik . I think mixing grasses is a good idea , after all it's only mown laws where grass is the same colour and hieght . Are you planning on putting more leaves on the tree .
chippy