As promised some moons ago, I finally got around to starting on this rather interesting 1/24th scale offering from Master Box.




At first glance, you get a fairly decent Satyr straight out of the box, the only slight quibble I have is that no base is included, even though the assembly and painting instructions on the box would suggest that there might/should be one. A minor quibble to be sure, and sort of moot in my case as I will be doing up a temple ruin scene to give the figure some context and for a nicer overall setting. I've been doing some basic clean up and test fitting and things look good so far. In addition to the usual undercuts and a bit of sharpening of details, you may want to enhance the hair detail as it gets lost in some places due to molding limitations. It's a fairly simple procedure that can take some time depending on what effect you're after. I use a #15 scalpel blade and scratch, scribe and dig new hair in.







Then I smooth things down with cement.





I'll probably repeat the process once more in places.


As mentioned, I'll be doing a temple ruin base so I'll need to do a bit of messing about with plaster and/or Milliput for the columns and stonework. I decided to try my hand at making a marble column using tinted plaster and a tube made of 5 thou sheet rolled and taped around two paint bottles to form the mold. One bottle is removed and the remaining one forms the stopper. I had intended to make a similar mold using half round strip for the flutes, but the half round stock I have is much too narrow, so the old fashioned way will have to do.




First, a selection of light pigments to tint the plaster...



Once mixed, I random sprinkled a bit of each pigment and swirled the plaster to create a marble effect and poured it into my tube. The idea here is to not get a uniform mix, you want it to be very random and swirly.




And the finished product, not too bad if I say so myself. I'm almost tempted to leave it nice and smooth...the real fun will start when I get around to carving the flutes.




And that's a pretty good start, more to follow. Comments and questions are always welcome.

Kimmo

Cheers Nap! Detail is decent in places, the face is rather good and certainly more than acceptable overall, nowhere near the level of the box art but good enough to work with unless you're fussy like I am


Today's progress has been good, as alluded to, I needed to replace or enhance some detail. The rivets on the leather thigh armour were replaced as were the disks on his left thigh. The disks were a little too off for my liking so I sliced up some sprue, drilled a shallow hole and plopped a rivet in place. A strap was needed for the leg and lots more hair enhancement therapy just about everywhere. You can also see I've made some improvements to the ears. A canal was drilled in, the ears scooped out a bit and new ear flap thingies are in progress. I love medical terms. The neck and jawline were reworked a bit as well, a final blend to the lower neck is still needed. I also split the hooves to better represent that of a goat. I may have an issue with the pin on the right hoof, that will definitely need some attention. The general fit is good, better than the previous MB figures I did a while back.













Coming along nicely, more tomorrow.

Kimmo

A splendid idea and so far an outstanding execution.Will follow with great interest.

Oda.

An interesting project; especially the creation of the column. Will be following with interest.

Cheers Oda and Clrsgt! I've been keen on finding out how the column shapes up as well...

And with that, here's the initial work done. The base was a hunk of plaster shaved down and shaped. I find a straight edge great for leveling plaster. It cuts and shaves nicely and of course you have a longer edge to help keep things level over larger areas. Much to my surprise, the column was still slightly damp, which turned out to be a bit of a blessing.







I sectioned off the bottom with a pencil to give me a rough idea of how many flutes there would be, and how wide. Then I penciled a line with a ruler up the column for each flute and roughed in the trough with my #15 blade and then smoothed and enlarged with a paintbrush handle tip. Still some refining to do, but looking rather nice, and far less painless than expected. And sitting on the upper part of the base for the column.





More messing about to come.

Kimmo

Another good session of getting plaster dust everywhere...






The column will be cut down somewhat and the top segment will be damaged.




The overall height of temple should probably be higher, but I want to keep this a manageable height. I figure temples come in all sizes and shapes anyway. The plinth for the column needs a bit of profiling, not sure what I'll do there yet, the larger blocks need some texturing, then getting things properly fitted and glued together. Next up is getting some stones slabs made for the road. Hopefully the leftover bits of plaster will be enough so I won't have to mix up another batch.

Kimmo

Another messy few sessions later and we have the stonework more or less sussed. First off I glued down some blocks of plaster from my scrap pile, I wasn't worried about how rough or what height they were at this stage.




Then I trimmed and roughly leveled off the slabs somewhat, then a good scrub with a scouring pad. The temple base got a trimming as well.




Then everything got a couple of coats of Future to seal the plaster. This gives the plaster a nice semi-gloss sheen and brings out the "veins" of pigment.




Now I need to skin the edge of the base and back of the temple, then a bit of dirt for the gaps in the road and at least one more surprise element.

Kimmo

This is looking great, what is "future"?
Scotty.

Cheers Scotty! Future is acrylic floor polish/wax. It has been re-branded and discontinued countless times in the last decade or so but is much loved by modelers, particularly the aircraft lot as it is great for making clear parts crystal clear. You can also use it to apply decals, and of course for gloss coating. I have a bottle I bought in the 90s and is still perfectly usable. Lovely stuff if you can get your hands on the original formula.

Kimmo

A little more progress, our Satyr is now almost done, a bit of putty needed to blend the horns and for the gap at the shoulder. You'll notice there isn't much evidence of putty, fit has been that good. I had to replace some detail on the straps and belt, and made a new strap for his left thigh armour. I sorted out the pin issue and will hide it a little by fixing the hoof split. I forgot to mention the refinements to the column and plinth in my previous updates, had some computer issues and things were a little hectic over the weekend. Basically I refined the flutes with a length of aluminum tubing, trying to get even width and depth. Not perfect but works for me. Similarly, I beveled the plinth to match the base of the column, then carved a groove with the tubing. Simple and effective and not nearly as difficult as it might look. I added a cut line to the column, and still need to break off a chunk, a bit nervous bout that to be honest. So, here's the first full mock up...









The base has been skinned with thin sheet and trimmed to fit. I went with an uneven edge to reflect the paving. I'm still undecided on what shade to go with for the edging. Black I think is too dark, so maybe just a stony shade to match everything, we'll see. Getting very close to priming things.

Kimmo

I went ahead and primed our Satyr and trim, I also managed to damage the column without destroying it. Plaster is surprisingly resilient when you want to break it. The details on the Satyr are starting to pop out nicely at this stage, the face is particularly well done.










I went with a grey-brown for the base using Vallejo primer and mixed up a grey using Scale75 black and white primer for the Satyr. The Scale75 stuff is really nice, dries dead flat (compare it to the sheen of the base edging) and cures as it dries, which is minutes, rather than hours as is the case with Vallejo. I wasn't sure if there would be any sanding/filling needed so that's another reason why I went this route, it's easier to remove if you get rough spots from sanding. I love Vallejo primer, but it doesn't sand well unless you are willing to let it cure for a few days. I think I might try some pre-shading with the primer seeing as I can mix up any shade of grey I want, I have been meaning to try this technique and this is as good a place as any. Next up will be the pre-shading, then base coats and putting the final touches to the base.

Kimmo

Absolutely charming and inspiring work on all levels.You make it sound so easy (and we all know it isn't) and anyone going through your post suddenly feels an urge to go to his bench and start working.Still following with much more interest than before.

Oda.

Cheers Oda! As for sounding easy, for the most part it sort of is. I don't want to sound arrogant or anything like that, I just apply basic skills and techniques I've learned from magazines, books, sites and practice over time. Some things take longer to get to grips with than others. I've always been an adherent of the philosophy "basic techniques, advanced results" school of thought and making good use of what is at hand rather than hunting down that perfect little accessory or tool. It certainly helps when you have 3+ decades of collected bits and bobs to choose from, unless of course you forget you had a bit or a bob laying about somewhere. Once you have a good grasp of how something is done, then the trickier part of letting yourself run with it starts. It all boils down to confidence and knowing and accepting you will make mistakes along the way. Each project I try something a little different or new and pretty soon you end up with something like this. It is complex in its own way, and challenging from an overall perspective to keep things in balance and so on, but that's why I build and paint, to learn and keep discovering more about my own abilities and limits. Oh, and because it's fun. If it stops being fun, that's when it truly gets difficult.

Kimmo

great work !

Cheers Marco! Continuing with the priming, I went and added highlights and some extreme shadow. I'm not sure how this will play out when the base coats are added, but it can't hurt.










And a view from above. The basic idea is that using zenithal lighting, everything seen from directly above should be a highlight.





And now for the last element for the base. I want this to look like a ruin that has been that way for some time and thought a creeping vine would be a nice touch. I made the vine by twisting a wire around another length, then gluing a thinner wire to the tip and blending things in with acrylic glue and a couple of coats of Vallejo primer.





The vine is extremely flexible and will be tightened up and positioned better, the end buried in the crack at the rear of the base, then I'll add some photo etch leaves. Next update should see the base coats on the Satyr.

Kimmo

And base coated. The hues are off a bit due to lighting and my camera, but I like the overall tones. The pre-shading is coming through a bit, still not sure if it's worth doing or not.









I'll add a bit more colour to the fleshtones as I go, probably with a glaze after I'm happy with the shading. I want the skin to look not quite human, but not quite zombie either. The fur is really starting to pop with a coat of paint, drybrushing and washes will really bring out the detail.

Kimmo

Kimmo this keeps getting better with every new step!Thanks for the "insight" on your approach to modelling.My thoughts are similar.Especially the "never forget to have fun" part which many people tend to forget.Still following with undiminished interest.Please do not forget to post as many pics as possible on the process of creating the vine.

Oda.

Cheers Oda! It is easy to forget why we got interested in doing this in the first place. I'll add a mini step by step when I get to the vines. Meanwhile, here's the with the flesh tones reworked a bit.









And with another skin filter and the rest of the details getting well under way.










I'm reasonably happy with how everything is coming along. The skin tones need a little something more, I need to have a god look in natural light to figure out exactly what that more is. The leather was done by doing some shading and highlights, then a wash of dark brown and then a thinned layer of Air Color Mahogany. Lovely stuff, more of a transparent paint or glaze than normal Vallejo stuff. There's also an Umber which is very similar in properties (both are great for wood effects) and the Model Color range has Smoke, which is excellent for dark leather and has a slightly oily sheen to it. I heartily recommend picking up a bottle of each. Still a ways to go, but getting there.

Kimmo

Looking very good Kimmo!

Oda.