Hi to all.......

This is Andrea's 54mm Falkar......

Its my first ever fantasy figure, and have to admit that I ENJOYED every bit of the construction and painting........construction was a breeze with very good fit of parts. The only modification to the original kit is the large axe strapped to his blanket roll (hope its a blanket ) instead of the two lances supplied with the kit.......they were a bit twisted and contained some flash, so the idea of a BIG axe occured instead of trying to clean those lances........its a modified 75mm medieval axe actually and a 54mm mace/hammer on its back, with a copper rod handle and lead sheet "leather" straps........

The terrain is cork bark with MS sheet of ice on top, the snow on the finished base is seived micro ballons thru a small tea strainer.........

Just in case anyone is wondering re "the improved images" I changed my lighting set up and followed Ernesto Reyes' advice on his Roaming Knight thread, page 6.......I need to add the faded backdop/s (still wondering from where to buy them here ) and also still have to play a bit with distance of the bulbs, elevation of the model vis a vis the back up light, but definitely a BIG step forward from the CRAP I've shot lately

I just couldn't bear it anymore that I wasn't able to portray my meagre work to its full potential, so I purchased what was neccessary last Monday.........

Thanks once again Ernesto, and also thanks for your other SBS's as I have followed those very very much including tha face painting colours !!!

Thanks also to Jaume Ortiz for his SBS on painting faces as I also followed that rigorously !!!!

Warm Regards to all.........

Ray

sofa Excellent work, use a cold background maybe better

He looks really good Ray! I'm glad you enjoyed painting a fig from the "other side". The ax works well too.

A Great figure Ray. I just looked up the original and I think your giant axe makes it look much better. The great thing about fantasy, you change what you want and noone can say its wrong.
You have done a lovely job on this figure, well up to your usual high standard and its just one of your many I hope to see in September.
Yes you are correct your lighting rig makes a big difference.
Regards
Don

oh yes... it's cool! oh no, it's SUPERCOOL!
really..a great great paintjob!

regards from Italy
Andrea

Cy thanks for looking, will try your advice for sure......

Wendy, its healthy to step over and taste the grass on the other side for a change it was really fun.......thanks a lot and much appreciated........

Don, you're too kind my friend.........well I won't be bringing much to Euro........it will be Werner Voss with his Albatros, this Falkar, and Soldiers 90mm Teutonic Knight 1410 Tannenberg, sculpted by Adriano Laruccia whom I will paint as a Hospitaller Knight (what else) I will start construction (its been cleaned up for about 4yrs now) by the weekend hopefully, as today I spent it fiddling with the lighting rig and a spring cleaning of my painting workshop (have to paint a Hospitaller in a fresh and clean surrounding ).
If time permits I will try and get a 54mm ready, but first I have to attend to my two nephews during their summer holidays regular visits, in getting another two Knights ready for Euro

I had/have a Scot up my sleeve, a 120mm almost scratchbuilt (face and boots the only commercial items, obviously both heavily modified) but as I don't want to rush him just now that I'm in the final stages, I decided to shelve him until after Euro ama I was/am itching to finish him and start painting will send you some teaser pics

Andrea, thank you so much for your overly praise........much appreciated!!

Ray

All I can say is wow,totally stunning painting Ray.Great choice of colours and fantastic groundwork.Look forward to seeing this one in the flesh.

Cheers David

Hi Dave, glad you like him, but you're way too kind mate looking forward to meet at Euro.......

Ray

ray very nice work - yes these fantasy pieces are very refreshing and liberating in a lot of ways but also open up a whole can of worms to do with creativity
Ian

Ray,
As usual painted to your high standard. Great work.
If it is possible could you take a new picture with another background. I think this one is bringing not the best out of your figure.

marc

Ian, you're so right in what you said.........thanks!!

Marc, I will do later for sure.......thanks much appreciated.........

Ray

Ha ha

Ray is travelling to the fantasy tunnel!!!! Wonderful Falkar mate, fantasy is a joy, it gives you 'freedom' to express colour, and art! Prosit! Time to do another from the line soon eh?

Ivan

GREAT Photos mate!!

Couple of things - you got a link to this thread please? "Jaume Ortiz for his SBS on painting faces as I also followed that rigorousl"

Also ref backgrounds I got some good ones from a craft shop where they sell fancy papers for scrap booking and that sort of thing. It comes in a range of textures and grades of darker colour some have a weave through them. I've seen some of Diego's photos appear to have these. If I can just sort out my lighting for photos now I'll be able to make good use of them.

Ernesto & Jaume's setup and a couple of others on Timelines recently have got me inspired to get this sorted too.

So thanks for the heads up and you know that Adrianno fellow you're planning will be welcome back at my place too ;-)

Take care,

Mike

Ray, Really great paintwork.
Thanks for sharing.

Regards............................

Amazing!
Great work, Ray!

Fabrizio

Hello Ray,


Fantastic work

Regards from Portugal
Pedro

Your venture to the "Dark Side" has proved fruitfull. Beautiful work Ray.

I've seen this last Wednesday. Much better than the pics show. I have to agree that the background colur is not the right one in the circumstance. What dya think?

Stephen

Your work is excellent.
The skin tone, the color of the clothes and a ground work are wonderful.
I liked it very much.
I congratulate completion.

Mitsutaka

Ivan, Mike, Serkan, Fabrizio, Pedro, Guy, Stephen, Mitsutaka.......thank you all for looking and your kindness.........I really appreciate.........

Kiwi, hiya mate how are ya? Glad you like this dude re your request, go to Jaume's vBench and somewhere down the road you should find "how to paint a face sbs" but here's the link below just the same re those paper backdrops, yes I thought about them as well and would surely be on the lookout to improve my pics now that I have the PROPER lighting rig its unbeatable IMHO and I can never stop to thank Ernesto......Phil Kessling also wrote an article way bak in HM issue no12 and although the camera he used back then was an SLR, the lighting rig is pretty much the same except that he also uses an overhead light, which Ernesto seemed to have improvised by making use of different elevations of the two main lights just the same.........I also have Shep Paine's book "How to photograph scale models" but I kept thinking (or wanted to keep believing) that the PL lamps would do the trick just the same well again IMHO they do not and the set up of two main 60Watt Incandesent lamps (blue, daylight) and a 15Watt white light as a halo in the background is the correct answer to portray one's work to its full potential, with the appropriate colour backdrop!!
Re Adriano's gem (they are all gems!!!) I will surely post on MedRom

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12338

Regards to all.........

Ray