Hello folks, me again on the bust roll...

Here is the masterclass cuirassier and boy is it a nice bust. The detail on the armour and face are fantastic, and being slightly larger than my last bust I should have plenty of room to play.

As of the photo above he is all primed, black with white as a rough highlight guide. The big question on this bust that is apparent in my mind is what do I use for the armour. airbrush and alclad colours? Or go down the brushed route (eek) we shall see.. More soon
James

I used a soft graphite pencil for some of it:-
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/polish-hussar-17th-century-castle-miniatures-bust.74600/
Depending how careful you are, you can achieve various levels of shine.
The person who first showed me his technique had an almost mirror finish on a celtic helmet.

Cheers,
Andrew

Really looking forward to seeing you do this James. That is a big chunk of metalwork to do. I think using such as Alclad May make it a tad too ‘good’ if you know what I mean.

Andrew that's an interesting technique, I'd probably get in a right mess ! I read the thread about master class borrowing your images for the box, the work you did is stunning.
Graham I had an idea of pre shading, by brush, scratches and scuffs e.t.c and then listing alclad over the top.. I'll test It on something and show the results.. If its not 100% then ole brush it is.
Here he is so far, with the colours used on the green butter lid ! I made a cork brown sort of colour, with German orange German camo black brown, dark vermillion and light green, the green grey was for the eye base.

James.

Mr Color buffable metallics give a superb finish and are best airbrushed too. Their 'Iron' (MR METAL COLOR No. 212) is a lovely dark colour but you can buff it up to a steel patina with a cotton bud so you have complete control over how bright you want things. It also takes a coat of 'Kleer' as a protecting barrier to then use oils for washes and effects etc.

HTH.
Gary

Looking forward to seeing more progress
Phil

James,

Dark Star metallics are very good. I prefer them to Mr Metal Color, although as Gary says they do produce a good finish.

Chris

Hi James, the ongoing battle with metallics, caution with the dark star, after seeing the Dark Star metals on PF and watching Youtube videos on how to use them I got myself about 6 of the Dark Star metal colours and personally speaking I was really disappointed, I have tried them on a large scale bust and again recently on a 120mm scale figure but I really dont like them, they are very grainy you can see the glitter separating from the varnish as you paint with them so my next step is to try the Mr Metal Colour, I dont use an airbrush as I prefer to have full control over the shading and highlights and I have yet to find a metallic system that isn't messy especially when painting braiding on uniforms etc or applying highlights around the edges of armour and rivets etc but it will be interesting to see how you get on with the metals on this bust, its a great looking subject.
TERRY

Hi James,
This bust interested me when in first came out with castle miniatures. Now I'm interested again plus I am a Yury fan. I'm familiar with Castle Miniatures and was never disappointed with their quality of casting and service. But I am not familiar with Masterclass so I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on the casting quality. Anyway, this looks like the start of a great looking bust so keep up the good work.

Wayne

Thanks everyone for the interest ! Hopefully I can deliver
Gary those buffable Mr color look nice, how delicate are they?
Chris and Terry I have one darkstar colour and at the mo the jury is still out on them, I like the finish apart from the very multicolor reflective pigments mixed in, they seem too bright. Perhaps some more experimentation is in order.

Nap, of course I'm very keen to go, If the clubs going or graham, ill be along. And I seem to have the bug a little. (goodbye even more pocket money) although after this one I really need to start building some of the aircraft I got from Telford.
Wayne, the cast seems pretty good from this end, the cloak was a little off kilter but that's the only complaint.
Hopefully get some eye photos up tomorrow.
J

Terry,

I am surprised about your experience with Dark Star Metallics - I certainly haven't had the same problems. I use the Dark Star thinner with them. However, given your greater experience I acknowledge your point.

Cheers
Chris

Hi Chris I had the thinner as well and to be honest I just put it down to me not using the correct mix and technique to apply the dark star paints and quietly gave up but I recently spoke to another PF member who had bought them and had similar experiences with them and had told me to try the Mr Metal Colour that he now uses.
I guess I am a bit miffed because once again for about the 3rd time and after research I forked out about £40 for another load of metallic paint that I cant use however if they are working for you and no doubt many other painters no need to change.
TERRY

Some progress as of last night. First photo was taken before gloss and lining around the eye. Noticed a bit that needs fixing as well second is in natural light with a gloss varnish.

Ok Nap sounds good ! I'm about as organised as a monkey in a fruit shop so that's good to hear.. Hopefully ill have more than 3 complete to bring along by then! and yes I will try and record as much as I can. Sometimes the creative flow overtakes everything though (or is it my impatience..) later
James

Hello folks I got some more done to the fleshtone today at the local club, I built up the highlights with a flash mix of German orange, dark vermillion, Prussian blue deep, and light green mixed to the previous flesh colour, with green grey and ivory added . I always mix by eye and often change the tone of the mix with more green blue or red according to the areas of the face I'm doing. Blues and greens (purple too) dominate the shaded areas and red and blues go more into the highlights, to avoid being too pink I keep the orange content of the mix up.
Here are a few photos from painting earlier, halfway between the tones from the earlier post, and the latest pics.



This was followed by a coat of matt galeria varnish sprayed to bring the tones together and get rid of sheen left my the glazing medium I use.

I wanted to portray a sunnier face than that of my last bust, still needs more highlights and colour work but otherwise I quite pleased.
More soon
J

Great progress James, quite intricate mixes too. Looking good

Thanks graham! Seems intricate but really its slap dash on the fly mixing !
Got a little done on the left side of the face, I used again the colours noted above, geman orange, dark vermillion ,light green, green grey, German c black brown,basic skin tone and ivory

These layers are very fine and transparent, here is the un highlighted side

And the side with the highlights. I used this time also to work on the eye bags and lids

I have been decorating and moving the bench so work has been slow lately.
So everything is all organised.. Well at least for a day or two.
Secondly, I had some post come containing some Mr metal color, as I have tried a fair few metallics I decided to try something new.. And boy am I impressed. For a realistic metallic finish that is brushable as well these are the dogs danglies.
Here is a test I did over a polished black surface with dark iron, iron and stainless.

So I am currently glossing and polishing the armour on the curassier in prep for some tasty metal to be laid down
Might have an update later.
James