Hey All

For a break, and for a possible idea down the road, I've taken a shot at a figure way out of my realm.

This is a WWII Canadian Infantryman, 1:35 scale from Dragon, part of a 4 figure set. I've painted the battledress in the slightly more green shade used by the Canadian troops in Europe. Thanx to Colin F, Richie and Ray for talking me through the mixes for this colour. The base is English Uniform and Flat Green. The web gear is based with Khaki Grey.

I've left off any unit insignia until the idea in my head starts to take shape.
Any thoughts, comments and critiques are always sought after and most welcome.
Thanx for looking in

Colin

Samples of the original colours I was chasing.

Cheers

Colin

Looking good Colin, a great start.
I like the colour that you have achieved on the uniform. If I were to do anything to it I might introduce some different tones to the helmet and water bottle, just to add a little more difference between painted steel and cloth of similar shades.
Watching with interest Mate.
All the best,
Keith

What he said. Plus I would contrast it up more with a bit more aggressive highlights and some lining and deeper shadows with ink....but that's my own style. But he looks very good as he is. Is this related to work? One off or a vignette?

Colin

Not much of my realm neither... but it looks good... Maybe as Colin said, a little more contrast.
And the guys that paint this 1:35 figures advise to line with a darker color the uniform...where the stiching
lines should be. Probably will make it look better.

Regards
Pedro

Great advice Guys
You're right Keith, I found it to be very monochromatic... Gotta fix

Colin, I wanted to hit it with some washes of browns but wasn't sure. Wanted some feedback on the uniform colour before I went ahead and added inks. I have an idea for a dio, sort of an "In honour of..." kinda thing. I think about offering something up to display at Sunnybrook... Probably not this one though. Once I start the dio I'll give more background.

Pedro, I did line the uniform but used the darkest shade... not dark enough for lining. You are right, the details are there but very shallow, they need to be brought out somehow.

Once I get this uniform squared away, the other figs planned should just fly... this is about 2 hours work. The hardest part is assembling the little buggers. There may be some fiddling with poses as well, to suit the scene.

Thanx again for the input

Colin

Hi Colin, he's looking great so far mate. You've got the Canadian battle dress colour spot on from the photos.
The guys above have good suggestions. I would just add some very subtle, dark paint chips/scratches on his helmet, particularly around the rim. Those things got battered pretty quickly.
I'm curious what you have planned for these guys and which campaign/battle you're going to depict them in.
Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanx Nick
I've not done any kind of weathering yet. This one is like a test prototype to figure out the whole painting khaki thing. The scene will be "in combat" so there will be weathering and dirt and all that. This weekend I will start assembling the other figs for the planned dio that lives in my head. Once I have the rough scene layed out, I will lay out the backstory it will represent. Suffice it to say, the subject is one that rest close to home.

Colin

Looking forward to the planned dio and the backstory. Painting goes very well. The new plastic figs look pretty nice detailed, isn't it? What do you think? I looked to few Dragon and MB kits and the level of details is very good.
Will follow closely.
Cheers,
Zeno

Thanx Zeno, I bought a couple of boxes of Dragon and MasterBox figs at the last couple of shows for $5 or $6 and was very surprised at the casting... much better than I expected. Even retail they are very inexpensive. Lots of action poses too. If this goes well, I may do more like it as a break between Napoleonics.
I hope I may have this done for Ajax. Maybe

Colin

I have some Dragon foot officers and mounted German cavalry officers that I want to convert into German resistance - the cavalry to the Boeselager brothers. Not sure if I will be on the planet long enough to do everything that is rattling around in my head. The quality of the kits they do is really good and in some cases, with their special releases ( I forget what the range is called but there is a lot more detail) it parallels the best in resin.

Colin

I know the ones you mean, it's the weapons and equipment, I think they are digitally rendered. "Gen2" or something to that effect

Right - that' it. Almost too much detail for the scale but fun to assemble. I think they have applied the tankee's detail fetish to figures.

Colin

Hi Colin,
I agree with Keith you need some contrast, but you already know that mate. Nice looking figure actually with lots of nice detail for the scale. I would change the trousers to a slightly lighter shade just so you can see the variation and possibly stipple or wash the blouse here and there with your mix plus a tip of ochre. If you don't want to do that darken one slightly. I would also use your mix but add something like a brown ochre, sand or buff type colour to lighten up for the webbing more as per the photo and bring it out more. I know you can sort this mate, be daring . I also agree with Nick about the helmet. I'm not knocking mate, but like me I know you want to improve, we get too many.... that look great when you know yourself it is not quite right and you want something constructive or advice.
cheers
Richie

Yes, the Gen 2 are very detailed. The think is that they are 1/35 and is limiting somewhat the usage with 1/32 figures. Maybe they have 1/32 figs too. As far as I know, the available kits are dedicated to WW2, some modern conflicts and Vietnam war. I don't recall any kits dedicated to other historical periods. Maybe they released new stuff. I remember seeing some action figures, 1/6 scale if I'm not mistaken.
MB is preparing 3 Napoleonic kits, which look great in pictures and hopefully will be available soon:
http://www.mbltd.info/3209.htm
http://www.mbltd.info/3208.htm
http://www.mbltd.info/3207.htm
I'll jump on this 3 as soon as they are available. Cool stuff.
Cheers,
Zeno

Great colors Colin, this is a very unusual subject for you so I will follow with interest.
All the best my friend

Hello Colin, I like your start to this figure. I'm interested to see the project you have in mind. Best of luck with it. Regards, SG

Thank you all for your imput on this project.
You're right Richie, a pat on the back is nice but when I'm looking to improve or correct a piece I need constructive advise. I like your ideas (like texturing the cloth) and if this was going to be a singlefigure, like a Tommy's War, I would go deeper with the detailing but this guy will be one of 5 to 7 figs in a diorama and alot of those details would get lost in the mix. They will be in a combat situation so there will be much more dirt and weathering.

There's one fig from one of the boxes I will keep aside as a single fig and I'll try some of the texturing effects on that one.

After I get the rest of the figs assembled and set out on the mock up base, I'll explain what I'm going after.

Once this episode of "Hell on Wheels" is over I'll head up to the bench.

Colin

Overall I like the painting, but just my opinion, I think the khaki shade that has been applied is too bright, but would serve well as the highlight tone - or did you use a flash on these photos?
Just a little experiment I quickly did, cropping one of your painted images and super imposed it over the provided reference photo:


regards,
Jack

Neat trick Jack . The pics are substancially brighter than the figure in the flesh. No flash but I take the pics under my fluorescant work light. It's been a bane since I started photographing and posting my stuff... everything always looks pale and washed out. I have yet to try taking pics outside yet... that might help.
That is a cool trick with the cropping though... the equivalent of me holding the fig next to a reference book while I paint.

Thanx for your imput and for looking in. BTW, where in Canada are you hiding?

Cheers

Colin