Hello all,

My first single figure in acrylics. Besides a small experiment with Vallejo acrylics some 15 years ago I always painted with Humbrol and some oils. At the time I couldn’t get a grasp on working with acrylics so I put them away and used my Humbrol since. But Humbrol paints aren’t what they used to be anymore and that was influencing my painting and modelling experience negatively.

First I thought I could deal with it but last year I ordered some new humbrol tins but they were also bad quality. So I gave up and bought myself some AKgen3 sets and watched a lot of YouTube tutorials and did some reading on the subject. Last week I started with this figure and my experiences with these paint are really positive. So out with the Humbrol and on with the acrylics.

The figure is a small conversion of the MIG Lebanese tanker, new head and helmet, some small carving and sculpting. Base is done in magic sculpt. I believe the ammo box is from MIG also.

Shadows and highlighting are still a little harsh. On my next figures I wanna to try more subtlety in the transitions. Please feel free to comment with a critical friends eye on the paintwork.





Thanks

Regards
RJ

Here are some pictures with a black background. I am trying to improve my photography skills for better presentation of my models. I bought a lightbox and experimenting with my Iphone smartphone with settings and different backgrounds. Let me know if you have any tips for improvement with settings because I always struggle with that.


greets,
RJ

Excellent work

Mobo

I agree, excellent work..

Super stuff, quite an unusual subject as well.

I could never have guessed it was a "first" had you not mentioned it yourself.Excellent conversion and painting.

Oda.

Thank you all for the nice comments and likes !
I have some extra wip and inspiration photo’s to share.



greets,
RJ

nicely done.

Great work Robert!

Cheers,
Ken

That helmet really look good. Nice work all around.


Steve

Nice work on an unusual subject!!! The strap on the ammo box is a great little detail, love it!
Gino

Nicely presented Robert.
I like over look & pose of this fellow.
You’ve captured the look of a tired fighter nicely with lovely details like helmet wear & hand bandage.
What are you most happy with?
MikeTheKiwi

Thanks again for the likes and nice replies!

@Gino, I really like doing that kind of extra detailing to make it more 3D. I carved the flat, molded strap of the box and replaced it with a lead foil strap.

@Mike, here is my top 5 for this figure
1. the helmet because I really wanted to do the helmet as in the reference picture.
2 The hands. I think they turned out well with the knuckles and the bandage.
3. the face. I am pretty happy with the face for a first time with acrylics. Hands and faces is something I really want to improve. Eyes are a big challenge too.
4 the jacket. I like the color and the little effects on the back.
5 the ammo belt. Still a little too harsh in the contrast on the back, but I like the contrast with the jacket.
Sculpting the bags was and composing the scene and matching the colors was a real joy.

I was a bit lazy on the basework and paintwork for pretty much of my last figures.
So what I really had in mind was to upgrade my modelling joy and experience, testing my skills and raise the bar for myself on painting and the basework. I think I reached that goal and I am very happy with that.

regards,
RJ

That's a really nice and original figure Robert, I really like it.
Steve