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First Figure: Officer, 66th Foot, Second Afghan War. 54mm, Art Girona

Discussion in 'Just starting...' started by Old Man, Oct 21, 2009.

  1. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I had a great deal of fun doing this, Gentlemen, and while it will certainly not displace modeling old aeroplanes and biplanes, I will definitely be doing further figures. Painting was done mostly in a single long session, with acrylics. So without further ado, here are some pictures....

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  2. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
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    Several sources confirm that the 66th took the field with improvised khaki, most commonly contrived by boiling white summer uniforms in tea. To get some idea what this color was I boiled some white denim in strong English Breakfast tea for about a half hour. The result is a decided pale brown with reddish tones which I attempted to match. I mixed eventually one part Pollyscale RLM Dark Brown (pretty close to burnt sienna), one part Pollyscale Panzer Red Brown (pretty close to raw umber), and two parts Pollyscale U.S. Tactical Gray (a very, very pale gray) for the base color. I mixed in a sun-lit room, and the paint disappeared on the cloth; however, under electric light (including flash) it goes a bit greener than the cloth, unfortunately.

    For primer I wound up using Tamiya Fine White: it seems it is illegal to sell spray paint where I live, and so the auto store did not carry spray cans of primer.

    I did a couple of small alterations to the figure. I carved away metal to put negative space behind the skirt of the tunic, and put a defined edge to it where it flares away from the body. I did this on the front brim of the sun-helmet, albeit with some trepidation, as well. I put a hole in the barrel of the revolver. I thinned down the scabbard of the sword somewhat. The slings to the sword are made from .5mm x .25mm plastic sheet, which I thinned down severely by scraping: the figure came with some lead foil for that purpose, but I am not familiar with that stuff, and the plastic starts out white.

    For dirt on the base I used colored grout, a very fine powder, employing light grey and tan colors. The stuff is supposed to be mixed into a slurry for its intended purpose, but when dusted onto a surface coated in diluted white glue, it sticks with a fine granulation. Before putting on the powder, the metal was painted in light gray and buff washes.
  3. tonydawe A Fixture

    Country:
    Australia
    Hi Old Man,

    Well done on an excellent effort. My suggestion is that you use a flat spray on, such as Dull coat, to eliminate the shine on your figure. It will make it look more realistic.
  4. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thank you, Sir. I appreciate your comments.

    The satin finish was a surprise to me. The paints used were dead flat. My final steps were a coat of clear matte, and a coat of clear matte tinted with a touch of the base color. To do this, I opened a newly purchased bottle of the stuff, and to my surprise this is how it turned out. I am not sure if I have a dud bottle, or if there is something else going on. When I have a certain supply of matte clear again, I will certainly go back and dull the finish, and probably do some small touchings-up here and there on the edges of the belts....
  5. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hiya Old Man, you can try mixing a small amount of Tamiya X21 (flat base) in your paint. This should eliminate the sheen. As you have finished with your kitchen experiments can we look forwards to more men in Khaki?
    All the best,
    Carl.
  6. jcichon Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    One thing I would suggest is to tone down the eyes. I dont know what scale this is but the eyes look like they are popping out. When doing the whites of the eyes try using more of a grey mix. Also add some color to the iris other than black. Trust me, I struggle with eyes all the time and tend to strip a face 2 or 3 times before I am remotely happy with the eyes. There are several articles on painting eyes and they are an art unto themselves! Eyes are tough but they make or break your figure!
  7. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thank you, Sir.

    I will certainly go over it with some reliable matte clear. I am not sure the Tamiya additive is compatible with the Pollyscale that I use, since the lines have different chemistries.

    More men in khaki are very likely: I am looking for a figure that could represent a Gordon Highlander at Darghai in '97. But some other topics are possible. Among other things, I always wanted to do a Napoleonic Dragoon or Cuirassier when a boy, but never did.
  8. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thank you, Sir.

    The eyes did indeed give me fits, but there comes a time in a project when I figure I just have to stop fiddling, because each try at repair just makes a fresh problem. I decided I could live with a 'stark stare' look here, because this man is on the losing end of a desperate battle, if he is taken as a man at Maiwan. An excellent account and analysis of that battle, by the way, can be found here:

    http://militaryhistory.about.com/gi...search/LessonsLearned/afghanistan/maiwand.asp

    I did use the pale grey mentioned in the khaki mix, cut with some flesh base, for the whites of the eyes, and began with blue irises. Matters went down-hill from there rapidly. One iris was a hair off center; one eye got flooded with the flesh base. Various repair attempts were made with sharpened toothpicks, and for these only black and the pale grey were employed. Stripping the paint was not an option, since I did the uniform first: I had started by mixing a test color for my swatches, and found I had lots of it and just piled on in with that rather than sacrifice the large puddle of paint. I will definitely do the eyes and face first in future, to preserve the stripping option you suggest.
  9. jcichon Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Well, oven cleaner is my best friend at times! The best paint stripper I have used and tend to strip a lot. The eyes will come, just give it some patience. You may be getting the paint sheen depending on the type of paint you use. If your using acrylics, I would suggest Vallejo cause you get no sheen from it or in my experience, I never have but I only use it as an undercoat for oils.
  10. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    If I'm right in thinking that Pollyscale paints are acrylic then I shouldn't see a problem using Tamiya. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong). As it works fine with Vallejo.
    Carl.
  11. Old Man Member

    Country:
    United-States
    My concern, Sir, is based on the different carriers/thinners. This is something that gets gone into frequently on the aircraft modeling forums I frequent. As I understand it, anyway, Tamiya uses isopropyl alcohol to carry the polymers, while Pollyscale uses distilled water, and introducing the alcohol to Pollyscale can cause clumpings and other nasties. 'Acrylic paint' is apparently a pretty broad category, more like 'vertebrates' than 'mammals'.

    Pollyscale clear matte usually does an excellent job of getting a dead flat surface, and so the result with this new bottle surprised me very much.

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