Hello all,
I've finally got something new to show you all. It's a 1/10th (?) scale resin bust from Bonapartes. I decided to paint the frock coat 'butternut" instead of the traditional Confederate grey color (just to be different ). Just the coat is done here. Lots more to do yet.

I'd appreciate hearing what you think of it so far.
Thanks,
Craig
PS: For those who are interested, I've got the 2 figures I painted for Jeff (holycow) finished. He has them for photographing for the box art. Once I get them back I'll add them to the ground work bases I'm making for them.
I've not posted any pictures of them completed. I'm waiting for the pictures from Jeff so that you can see them at their best. And once Jeff releases them for sale, I'll post pictures of mine on the bases.

Rear view...

Great work so far Craig. I really like ACW figs so this bust will keep me going. I can't wait to see your flesh tones.

Thanks Kisifer.
I guess what I'm looking for is what you folks think of the 'butternut" color I've used here. It's from a mix I got from a posting I made here when I first started to work on this one. Some other pieces kind of bumped this one to the back burner until now.
Thanks,
Craig

Craig, excellent bust and well painted.
About the butternut color it is different than I used in the confederate soldiers vignette that you can see in this forum. I do not know if there are more than one butternut color. Could you tell me something about it? I am really interested in knowing your opinion.

Regards,

Rafa

Craig, Nice to see the Bonaparte’s bust painted up. I have one in my gray army as well and have been thinking of painting it too!

In regard to butternut. The way I understand it, the butternut color came from mixing a variety of woodland nuts in a vat. In other words it was a type of a nature dye from crushed nuts. The coloring lead to a variety of shades from a yellowish color to a darkish almost greenish brown. I think the shade is what you as an artist interrupt it to be. There is no set color for butternut. And, I have also heard and read that on occasion that if the barrel, vat was not cleaned the residue also added to variety of shades of the butternut color.

Look forward to seeing the bust continue to come to life.

Happy Trails, Terry Martin

Rafa,
Here is a link to the recipe that I used for the butternut...

Link

As Terry said, there is no set color that represents butternut. But I know almost nothing about civil war uniforms. I'm just hoping that mine looks like a reasonable representayion of it. I found your vignette and it looks great. Excellent work. As for your butternet....the color looks great to me. I think that if it wasn't a good representation that someone would have mentioned it in your thread and I didn't see anything like that so...

Terry, good to hear from you too. Thanks for the info. If you start working on your copy of this piece, I have a warning for you. The brim of the hat is very brittle. Mine snapped while I was just sanding it. And the location of the break was very difficult to fix so I had to mask it by making the entire has look "fuzzy". I did this by dunking it in plaster of paris while the primer was still wet. Several applications of this made it look like it was a felt hat.

Thanks guys,
Craig

I got mine Bonapartes bust last week (a Norman Knight ).
It's one of the best sculpts i've ever seen , the folds are amazing !
I just didn't like the ears , they are a little rough , comparing to my pegaso SS bust .
I think I will have to re-sculpt them ....
But the overall is fantastic !
Craig , it looks fantastic !
Regards
Julian

Craig, Thanks for the tip on the Bonaparte’s bust. It is the only one from that manufacturer in my gray army. Recently saw their new release of a Buffalo Soldier and it is pretty nice. I will be watchful of the hat brim!

Your reference to Bob Knee's article is a good one. Bob is a member of our club. He did a great deal to get me started in painting in oils. I think his article is a great point of reference. Also, check out the work of Civil War artists like Don Troiani, Michael Gatnek, Don Prechtel, and Keith Rocco. Their work gives you impressions of uniforms and colors. Do a search on internet and you will be amazed at how much free info the artists have available. Hope that helps...

Happy Trails, Terry Martin

Beautifull Craig,

Further echo what has said before about the painting.
Thanks for the article about the butternut.

Marc