It was an honour to have a chance to paint this for Andy Cairns.

Tell us what you think, not sure whether blue or dark background works best.

Resin 1/10th scale bust available from: http://www.acmodels.co.nz/

Hi Mike, beautifully painted from the strained look on his face to the little things like the puckered edging on the slouch hat and pocket edges as well as the sweat stains here and there. Great weathering as well.
I like the darker background but there is a bit too much reflection on the figure, if you can have the figure of the lighter background with the darker background, you would have a winner (hope that makes sense)
Ben

Lovely paintwork there Mike. You have quite a recognizable face-painting style and I think it's very realistic. I like the sweat effect as well.

The dark background pics indeed seem to suffer a bit from reflections. Was your lighting setup different maybe?

An excellent sculpt by Andy by the way.

Adrian

Great brushwork Mike. Like it a lot, well done.
Cheers,
Keith

A cracking paint job Mike.Good to see something realistic looking as i get fed up with all the pretty boys.Your weathering is fantastic.
Brian

How's this one look Ben & Adrian?

Hot damn Mike, you hit this one out of the park! I like how you effectively portrayed the accumulation of salts on the shirt from perspiration. Its obvious that this hale trooper has spent a few weeks tromping through the bush after his elusive enemy. Well done !!

Joe

I only saw it later, but indeed, the salt effect is brilliant!
Nice pic this one Mike.

Adrian

Hi Mike!

Wonderful work all around.
The weathering is spot on and the fleshtones specialy the left hand are amzing.WOW!

Pedro

Absolutely superb

Exceptional!

Great paint work, Mike!

Beautiful! A wonderful sculpt and you did it justice. Really nice work on the fleshtones but I definitely want to echo the comments on the sweat and salt stains... amazing. Andy should be proud.

Mario

Exceptional and briljant painting all around.
Lifelike.

marc

Very convincing Mike!

Mike, this is Absolutely Stunning mate, look forward to seeing this in the coming weeks in Brisbane(?) well actually all of your work that your taking. Andy will be well plesed with this. Ive just bought his 150mm NZ 30cal gunner and am looking forward to having a crack at it after Brisbane.
Cheers Les

Stunning paintwork Mike.The Bren Gun looks fantastic. You have taken this one to a new level of realism.well done .Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Mike,
Fantastic paint work.I prefer the darker background and the light on the bust gives it a sheen which breathes more life to an already vivid piece.
Im a proud of the work Mikes done.
Cheers
Andy

Mike,
This is awesome.
Cheers
John

Thanks once again Joe, this is exactly the effect I was trying to achieve.
Actually used the unwanted side effect of Tamiya Flat Base to try & replicate this
Always fun trying to represent various effects & materials.
This was a challenging bust with lots going on.

Stay safe,

Mike