This is an old Verlinden figure, a US Navy pilot, WWII Pacific:




Right now that's about where I am:





The "shadowing" on the uniform isn't showing on this pic, will try a couple of pics tomorrow on day light.
Or may have to go again with more coats, will have to see.


I believe that for now I've corrected the Mae West tone by kind of making it a bit shinier, and at least partially the too shiny uniform tone by matting it down a bit with the overall "shadowing".

I'm open to any suggestions on how I need to improve, and welcome those in advance.


Cheers!

Dolf

PS: Not sure what happened to the pics and why they aren't showing "normally"!... Had to go through a whole different process...

This figure is related to my initial posts on the PF Forum right when I joined:

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/verlinden-120mm-us-navy-pilot-pacific-wwii-questions.116986/


It's also related to two other threads on the Paint & Techbiques sub-Forum here:

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/enamel-varnish-over-oils.119232/

and here: https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/wet-on-try-technique.118760/

All painted in oils, over a base coat of Humbrol enamel Matt Sand.

Oils used are Rive Gauche (Titanium White, Naples Yellow, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, plus now Cobalt Blue + Pyrrole Red; I don't have a decent Green yet, Hooker's Green for instance, but I do have a Blue and a Yellow, so I can make Green, I can make a kind of Purple mixing Blue with Red, etc), a couple of Van Gogh (Olieverf and Lamp Black), and a couple of old Lefranc & Bourgeois Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna. That's it, my whole palette for the time being. I've others on the wish list, in time.


As it can be seen on the previous older pics took before the one above, so before "shadowing", that's how it looked like:
















Cheers!

Dolf

These are not good clear pics, probably because they were taken right after the Sun set on this valley (but still enough sky light), but they show better than the previously posted recent pics, some of the details of the "glazing" (guess it's the term, when applying layers of thinned paint over older layers) with some darker "shadowing" tone on the pleats, both the pants and the shirt:
















Cheers!

Dolf

First..thin coats..much thinner..shoot some primer on washed and air dried piece..check for needed last minute filler or other stuff..then lay down a fairly transparent earth mix, and let sit a few minutes..then with small makeup sponge and bearing in mind the desired light source, wipe most off..if you over do, let sit and repeat but less this time thru..let dry ..that base sets tome across the subject and defines general shade areas..now work in very thin very thin layers to build colour..you don’t paint lips as much as build then up..

New pics, out on day light, after another "shading"/"shadowing"/"glazing" session last night:












Cheers!

Dolf

Once the paint is laid on as thickly, it’s pretty much hard to recover...not much more I can say, am worn down

Well, there are some bads that end up being goods after all.

Yesterday, while observing my figure drying, somehow, as I moved it, it fall on the floor and... everything broke apart!

Luckily, apart from a couple of minor excepetions, it broke mostly on all glue points, arms on the torso, boots, head, etc.
So it is still recoverable, nothing is lost.

I obviously took the best side from this unexpected opportunity, and after re-gluing both arms to the main body, already filled those empty spaces where the parts glue together, with some White Milliput, now waiting for it to fully dry.

And I decided to remove the entire oils from all over the uniform with white spirit, and restart it all over again.
The head (face, helmet, goggles) will be slightely improved too where needed.
The boots seem to me to be just fine, so no big improvements there.

Guess I've learned something from this 1st oil painting experience, and will try to apply a different method this time, so hopefully it will end up resulting on a better looking finished product.


Cheers!

Dolf

Yeah,it happens...but turn the event into an opportunity..clean it up, start fresh as leaning exercise.

Absolutely, that's the spirit, and that's what I started doing




Cheers!

Dolf

Hi Dolf,
Generally - if your oil paint layer has a shine, then I would say you have applied too much paint. (The exception would be for blue, as this will normally dry to a shine).
For me, the important thing is to get the primer and undercoat right. I use either acrylic or matt enamel for this, and prefer to have a lighter tone than the final colour, as I work with oils from light to dark. I'll have written some articles on painting aircrew, so will so will send you links to them tomorrow.
Here is an example of some USAAF pilots:


Hope this will be of help and be sure to persevere: you will soon get there!
Pat

Hi Pat,


"Hope this will be of help and be sure to persevere: you will soon get there!"

Oh yes, it definitely helps a lot, thank you very much


"Generally - if your oil paint layer has a shine, then I would say you have applied too much paint."

This is my absolute 1st experience painting a whole thing (in this case this 120mm figure) with oils, so yes, you're definitely right, I do realize that.

That is why the whole current painting is going to be totally removed (believe that with the help of cotton swabs soaked with white spirit, or "águarrás", perhaps event turpentine but I think I've never used it and don't think I have it on my stock, it will be possible to remnove all the paint I need to remove. I'm not sure I'll totally remove the paint on the Mae West, as it looks acceptable to me (it has already seen quite a few different coats of various tonalities on it, maybe just some "wash", I'm not sure yet), but I intend to fully remove all the paint from the uniform (hence torso, legs, arms), and restart all over again, including a primer most probably on Humbrol enamel Matt Sand.


"For me, the important thing is to get the primer and undercoat right."

Two different things, right?
I call primer the very first coat of paint on the resin, for which I use as I mention above, some enamel paint (I must confess I've never used acrylics), Matt Sand on this case.
Not 100% sure what you mean by "undercoat"



"I'll have written some articles on painting aircrew, so will so will send you links to them tomorrow.
Here is an example of some USAAF pilots:"

Excellent sample, looking forward for the links and more pics

Thanks again for sharing and helping


Cheers!

Dolf

Thank you very much Pat, really appreciate it

Will check later those .pdf files


Cheers!

Dolf

Hi again Pat,


Had the opportunity to check and read those .pdf files, excellent stuff, many thanks once again


Cheers!

Dolf

Hi Pat,

In one of those .pdf files you mention "Mr Resin Primer".

Can you please confirm if it's this one on the following link, made by Gunze/Mr Hobby?

http://www.greenmodels.net/mr-hobby-gunze-sangyo-sf287-mr-primer-surfacer-1000-40ml/

I know it also exists on spraying can, but I cant find that one here, only this one.
I also know this one exists with the number 500, and 1200 (or so, not 100% sure), this one being the 1000, but this one, that I'm aware of, seems to be the only one available on the market here.
This one is grey in color, right?

Can this one be applied with a brush and not an airbrush?
Also, is it ok for both resin and metal as well?

Thanks a lot.

Btw, I'm in the process of totalling removing the paint on this guy, including the Humbrol enamel Matt Sand I used as a "prime coat", and it's been already some 6 hours total (a couple of hours a day, not 6h in a row... ), a whole lot of coton and coton swabs, and lots of wood toothpicks, and lots of "white spirit", to restart again from zero... It's taking quite some time and it's a tedious process, but I hope next time I'll do a better job painting it.
The resin primer I mention is intended to be used as the very first coat next time, directly on the resin.
Then a coat of Humbrol enamel Matt Sand.
And then the oils.




Cheers!

Dolf

Hi Dolf,
The primer I used many years ago was Mr.Resin Primer Surfacer. I have looked on Google, but no-one seems to have it in stock. I think it must have been superseded by the one you mention,
https://www.hmhobbies.co.uk/mr-primer-surfacer-1000-40ml.html

I recommend you also buy some Mr Surface Leveller, not only for thinning the primer, but also your enamel paints - I think it is excellent.

I hope all goes well with the paint removal. I have used cellulose thinners to remove paint from resin figures in the past, but it is a far more smelly and aggressive solvent, so make sure you work safely if you try it. Also, test it on a waste piece of resin before trying it on your model.

Cheers!
Pat

Hi Pat,

Thank you for the reply and hints.

Right, I also can't find anything called "Mr Resin Primer Surfacer" neither. Apparently it was replaced by this other "Mr Primer Surfacer".

I asked a couple of dealers and they say it's the right primer for both resin and metal.

In the meantime I found a dealer in Spain who has it on spraying can, both the 1000 (this one in white) and the 1200 (this one in grey) .
From comments I've read online it would seem that the 1200 is the smoothest one, so I may go for this one (apart the fact it's grey in color, which I find better than white for a primer) .

As for thinners I've always used a synthetic thinner for my enamel paints, it works fine.

Well, the paint removal is taking time, it's a long and tiresome work... All the paint has been removed from the pants, now working on the arms, little bit by little bit...
I'm using "águarrás"/white spirit for that. The oils are not that hard to remove, the enamel initial coat is harder, but with time and patience I'll do it.


Cheers!

Dolf