I was trying to decide what to do next, and the unexpectedly early arrival of some Rosemary & Co brushes made the choice somewhat easier. I wanted a good figure, but nothing huge to test them out on. So I whipped up a small base with a train tunnel and tracks from foam and styrene. The cornerstones are from sheet styrene, and have been coated with thinned Vallejo Stone Liner for a bit of texture, the black is just a bit of paint added to let me see what I was doing. The figure is an absolute gem, some of the best casting I have ever come across. Just a minor bit of putty was needed to fill a gap on the left wrist. The only minor quibble is that there aren't any locating keys here, but the arms will only really fit one way so they aren't absolutely needed, but would have been nice and probably would have helped to eliminate that small gap. The head does have a key and can be painted separately should you choose. The ground work is almost done, I'll add grass and some leaf scatter once things are blocked in with paint.















I'll revisit my earlier stalker and replicate some of him, I liked the camo pants and I think they'll look cool with a bit of a surprise I have in mind for the boots.


Kimmo

Hello Kimmo
An interesting idea. I am waiting for the embodiment in glory.
Good luck to you

Very creative Kimmo! Looking good.

Cheers Nap, Peter and Ken!

Nap, not being too modest, this is pretty simple stuff for the most part. The trickiest bit is getting things squared up properly, especially when you start making wedges. I had to add a shim to the base because there was a decided forward tilt to the wall. I expect the Rosemarys to deliver as usual, I'm just curious to see how the different series compare to each other. More on that as we get going.


Managed to get things primed today, the base is already shaping up thanks to all the different coloured primers I have. Since it has to be primed, might as well get a good base coat down and make a head start of things. You could easily paint something like this entirely with Surface Primer, and do some finesse work to make details pop out.













The figure was primed too, no need to show that, I'll get him based tomorrow.


Kimmo

Cheers Nap!

Base coats and initial definition washes are now on. My usual approach is to base coat, then apply a dark wash, then hit the highlights with the base coat and add a dark pin wash to seams and so on. This way you get a pretty good foundation to work from and to see details.


















I'm liking the new brushes, using 3 series I haven't before. I'll get into them a bit later on as I need to get the fresh series 33 into action as well for a good comparison.


Kimmo

A decent session today, got the initial shading done.



















Things look a bit darker than they are, but I'm happy with the progress. The red needs work, and I'm not sure if I'll keep the texture on the gloves or not. I'm using German Yellow for the first time, an interesting shade. It's sort of a softer and slightly warmer Light Yellow and seems to work well with basically anything.

Kimmo

Just about there now. I did the camo on his pants, touched up a few things and got a good flat coat on.

















Some minor details to be added, glazes and maybe some inks, not sure about that yet. I think satin varnish might just do the trick instead. Need to get this done, and then move on to the base.

Kimmo

Finally got a start on the base. I added more texture to the concrete cornerstones by spattering light paint, then adding heavy washes of greys and tans to cover it up. The bricks were picked out in various shades and the mortar blocked in to help me see what I'm doing. The track section got the most work so far. I worked through successively lighter shades of browns to orange to get a nice base rust effect, then some haphazard dry brushing to vary the tones and get some definition. This stage was very rough and dirty, each layer was basically applied while the previous was wet so they all blended in nicely. The gravel was dry brushed and several shades of washes applied to give them some tone. I just mucked about with what was on my palette; pinks, blues, browns, tans whatever to break up the monotony.















And a test fit with our chap








Still a fair bit to do, but it should go quickly.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap!

Been hit with some distractions and not been able to get much bench time lately. I spent some time getting the bricks, concrete and tracks looking a bit more realistic. I stippled several layers of darks and lights on the bricks, gave them a unifying wash, and then picked out the top edges and sides. The inside bricks are a bit darker than the outer ones, with less edging to help sell the difference in lighting. The concrete got similar treatment. The tracks were rusted up with successive layers of orangey browns moving to brighter and lighter orange. A lot of stippling again to get a crusty effect. I'm using Amaranth Red, and it is perfect for this type of rust. The track sleepers were also beaten up with washes and edging to bring out the gouging I had done to the styrene. I sealed everything with flat coat to preserve what I have now, and then I'll go over the final steps.











A couple of close ups of the tracks.








Still more fun to be had.


Kimmo

Cheers Nap!

The distractions continue, managed another bit of work on the base.












And close ups








Kimmo

Calling this just about done. Final clear coat for the base and good photos still needed. Had some fun with his boots, every fashionable Stalker needs a statement piece of outerwear. The grass and weeds were done using different lengths of static grass, dried sea grass and crepe hair, which is what theatrical beards, wigs and so on is made from. I glued large clumps to a glass sheet, then made smaller clumps and pushed them into holes in the groundwork. I remembered a neat trick that involves brushing light amounts of varnish on the strands. As it accumulates, it starts to look more like a real life strand of tall grass with fuzzy bits. Excuse the horticultural terminology. If you accidentally glue strands together, a sharp blade drawn upward separates them nicely and adds more chaos and texture. The leaf litter is ground scatter.




















I'll get good shots taken, and add a gallery link over the next day or so.


Kimmo

While waiting for the varnish to dry, I cleaned my brushes and took a couple of pics of all my recent acquisitions to show their comparative sizes and shapes. I used each of the Rosemarys on our chap and are top shelf. They compare favourably to what you would expect from WN Series 7 brushes. To put it in perspective, I decided to keep the Series 33s and sell off the Series 7s when I had bought my first batch a year or so ago as they were cheaper by a fair margin and performed the same. The 33s feel slightly softer than the 22 or 441, it may be down to the shape/size difference. I'd say they are a touch stiffer than Artis Opus or maybe Raphaël 8404s. I've only used the Raphaël once way back when I was exploring brushes and found them way too soft for me at the time so I'm going from rather hazy memory and limited use. I think that would still hold true, I like a bit more of control over flexibility. The Kooh-I-Noors are a touch stiffer than the Rosemarys. And when I say a touch, I do mean a touch. If the Raphaël is a 10 on the softness scale, the Rosemarys would be 9+ and the Kooh-I-Noor another half point or less stiffer. A decent Taklon synthetic is about a 6 on this same scale. Click on the photos for full size.









The interesting thing I found with the Rosemarys was that although each of the 3 left hand series are quite similar in shape, length and size, they all have their own unique feel. The 33s are softer/more flexible, and the 22 is slightly softer than the 441, both are excellent for for fine controlled lines. This enlargement shows the cross hatching on the glove I did with the 441. The back of the hand is maybe 2x3mm. Again click for full size.






Price wise the 33s and 441s are about the same (~8 euros) and the 22 is a "designer" and is a couple of euros more expensive, but less than a WN 7, for me at least. Your mileage and price points may vary slightly. The Kooh-I-Noors are a real bargain, coming in at about the same price as the 33s with free shipping thrown in as a bonus. The 66s are there to show something different. You may not think that a cat's tongue/filbert is a figure painter's brush but it can be quite versatile, and the smallest size is certainly capable of fine detail work, worth looking into. I'd say you can't really go wrong with any of these, at least not in terms of quality. I'll try these out in due course on a 75mm and bust to see how the (comparatively) larger brushes translate on a larger surface, which is kind of why I got them in the first place. At least I know they can handle fine work at 1/35th scale.


Kimmo

Cheers Nap!

After a lengthy delay caused by pretty much everything under the sun, I finally got a gallery up here


A nice close up as a teaser.




Thanks to everyone who followed along and commented.


Kimmo