After quite a delay I've finally made a start on Young Miniatures German Stormtrooper WW1. Some preliminary work on the face to show as I've tried to get the eyes to look right. Also airbrushed the body and accessories in flat black, followed by some base coats for the coat, grenade pouches and folded tent section on the backpack.

I had an idea of how to do the metal frame inside the gas mask lenses - using a round decal for the middle, then brush painting in the radiating lines.
Cheers,
Gary

Very nice work. Really like your style of painting.


Steve

That's looking really good so far Gary.

Very nice..... More updates, please.....

Gary of to a great start and moving along nicely, I have had the same bust knocking around the bench for a couple of months now just doing a bit when I can, I have come to a slight pause having to put some thought into what action to take regarding when to attach the chin strap the the chin/head and chin strap and head to the helmet before priming and then of coarse keeping easy access for painting in mind so I will be watching this with interest.
TERRY

absolute very nice paintwork I love this one ,those eyes and lips are so nice,wish I could do that
but fantastic work already
Mario

Thanks everyone for your kind comments!

Yes, Terry - that is also a concern of mine. I ran into issues when doing a previous bust of the Somme German, and this time I trimmed the chinstrap and test fitted it before painting, so hopefully I won't have too many problems when it comes to that step! This is the Somme 1916 bust I did a couple of years ago....

Great finish, Gary!

That's a very nice German Gary.
TERRY

Excellent work so far..

Some progress today on the helmet. After applying the different coloured patches and painting dark grey lines between them, I daubed on some earth-coloured pastel chalk powder mixed with mineral spirits. Since the paint was acrylic, there was no interference using the solvent. Once dry, the pastel coating was scrubbed down with a large paintbrush, and then I dry-brushed the details and edges with silver enamel that was toned down with a touch of raw umber oil paint. Cheers!


Vallejo acrylics for the basic colours


Earth-coloured pastel chalk powder applied with mineral spirits (still wet here)


Once dried off, brushed down with an dry large paint brush


Details highlighted with a drybrush of toned-down silver enamel.

Superb painting, I like the flesh work and the work on the helmet, 1st class.

Great work very well done

But what colors do you use for the lips please,they are looking smooth and very natural,
mine are always to dark and stil haven't found it
Mario

You ask a very good question, Mario. Not an easy answer. When I paint the lips on a bust, I typically use the face colour with a touch of burnt red and blue. Since I use Vallejo acrylics for this, my base colour would be Beige Red 70.804 with shadows in 70.343 (Flesh Shadows). My red is Cavalry Brown 70.982, and blue is 70.930. I also used Medium Flesh Tone 70.860 for this figure. To be honest, in my palette I had an approximate flesh mix so to paint the lips on this figure I added a touch of red and blue...maybe a hint of black and painted on a very dilute mix onto the lips...adding off-white to the mix to lighten it as I went. Since it dries quickly, I kept adding over top until happy. Also I touch up the colour a day or so later when I'm reviewing the paintwork. I'm still not finished his lips, but maybe your message tells me I'm close

hahaha yes,my question say a lot I got all the colors you say,but blue ??? I gonna try this and see what happens
The face is always but always a thing I still don't know how to do it,I do something and then I get a result that is fine for me,
but got new colors now and I see what the result is going to be, I think also that im absolute not sure to use a different color for the face,afraid I think it's going to be messed up ?

All the faces I see here are so beautiful accept mine LOL ,but as long we enjoy it is it good

Mario

Thanks Terry - and I have an update for you on the chin-strap business. Turns out it doesn't fit at all. Not sure what I figured before when I trimmed it up, but it's too short. What convinced me was the guide book I was following by Mr Black Publications "The Great War in Scale Theme Collection Vol. 4" has this bust featured, and the modeller that did this bust had to lengthen the kit part with what looks like a length of wire.

I removed the center section of the strap and added a larger length (2-3mm) of lead sheet. This way it'll bend around his chin nicely. So just a heads-up for you when you get to that step. The photo shows the repair, and the piece I chopped out.