Cheers Ron, I have a decent stock of Tamiya masking tape from my armour days. Couple of dabs onto the back of my hand before applying it to the figure will make it the right tackiness, never had a problem with it yet........ famous last words eh ;-)

Graham, try not to make do! as such things can go tit's-up! (Hopefully not) . Be aware that your skin oil/hair, may transfer to the piece by using this method.

Tamiya stuff is a fairly high tack! which granted is ok (ish) for armour, but now you are into serious stuff!

Build up, your hardware and bits & bob's. What you have not got! 'Get'. Don't be impatient to complete something.

Mark

This is what I use:

http://www.diy.com/departments/frogtape-uv-resistant-masking-tape-411m/152706_BQ.prd

Its like Tamiya tape, but priced more realistically

And for all you doubters out there, it is indeed low tack

Also, don't dismiss good ole-fashioned Blu Tac. Its great for masking figures as you can push it into all those little nooks and crannies with a suitable tool (a clay shaper for example) and is much less of a pain in a**e to get it to conform to irregular edges (there are no straight lines in nature )

And an even bigger pain in the a**e when you try to get it out of all those crevices alongside irregular edges

Ron

Ahh, many happy hours have been spent rolling Blu Tac sausages to mask camo patterns on aircraft......yep, I did the winged beasts as well back in the day lol.

Separate question though. I hope, over the weekend, to start using glazes to highlight and shadow the green coat once I have those red edges sorted.

Now, when you guys do this, you get beautiful gradations of tone with great colour. When I do it, I get something that looks as though it could do with a damn good wash... probably overworking and not thin enough paint but I think I have cracked the thinning using a Games Workshop medium, cannot remember the name but it works.

Would you advise a coat of varnish over the base coloureds before glazing or just go over the base paint? I wondered if applying a coat of varnish may stop any 'muddying' of the colour below the glazes.

Just a little bit more done tonight. Sorry if this is getting boring but it helps me to take my time and document each stage. Please do not feel obliged to comment

The bit of red base colour is starting to bring him to life, just a touch on the edging of the jacket, slowly does it. Nine months ago I would have slapped loads of paint on to get it finished but I am learning patience.

A great bonus for me has been the article in Military Modelling by Malcolm Cuming where he paints the Wellington Bust from the same series. The bonus is that he bases in acrylic before using oils and the acrylics he uses are Scale 75 which I am using, although I will not follow on with oils. In giving the acrylic colours he uses to prepare the NMM gold he has given me a head start in trying to get decent looking epaulettes and buttons, not even thinking of the medals yet lol.

The eyes, take two still look rough in the pictures but don't look too bad at all in real life, I think the harsh light for the pics isn't helping.

Really enjoying painting this and amazing myself how calmly I am working on it. Thanks again for the suggestions and advice, it really is appreciated guys.

There are no such things as mistakes, just opportunities to improve.

Or, as a certain big haired artist used to say on the telly..."there are no mistakes, just happy accidents"

He's coming on well Graham

Nice one Graham! what was all the fuss about.?

Mark

Ahh, serendipity, one of my favourite words

Quote. Nine months ago I would have slapped loads of paint on to get it finished but I am learning patience.

Well this patience is now paying dividends! Well done, its coming on very nicely. I am glad you noticed the lower left eye requires a minor touch up, but that can be done at anytime.

Regards,

Mark

It's looking really good Graham. Please would you tell us which green you're using as the base coat.

Thanks

Huw

Some of my favourite words are blunderbuss, curmudgeon and hippopotamus. Just thought I'd add that.

Cheers

Huw

Lol, the base green is Scale 75 'Boreal Green' SC42 mine is from one of their superb colour sets, 'Colours of Nature, Green Paint Set'. This was airbrushed, very diluted with screen wash, over Vallejo black primer. Took quite a few coats to build up but worth the effort.

I really like Scale 75 paints and have seven of their sets. The flesh on this bust is using their flesh set also, as is the 'gold' and reds.

Many thanks Graham. I recently bought their sets as I wanted to move to acrylics as I think for fabric they are better (my opinion and I don't want to start a discussion dear PFs). So as I'm an acrylic novice and I've a couple of primed figures that will need green thought I'd ask.

One thing I have found is that for dark blue their SC55 is a wonderfully deep rich blue.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Huw

That's what it's all about. Keep at it Graham.

I didn't know you could get a payout for playing patience

A couple of my favorite wordSmiths are Ronnie Barker and Rowan Atkinson

Been a bling day today and the start of the shading on the coat. Still loads to do but still enjoying every minute of it

Apologies for quality of pics but hand held iPhone isn't easy to use close up