Thanks Ron.

Firstly grab a photo of the real thing. My example had a darker wood fore stock which you will see in my miniature version.

See post 18 above for the colours and paints used....painted wet on wet using a stay wet palette. Undercoat in any Vallejo orangey brown. Paint in the dark grain with Liquitex Pro (LP) burnt umber. Fill in the lighter wood with LP burnt sienna. Make sure both paints are fairly well diluted so as to allow some blending, leave drying time and avoid ridges. Blend, add more BU and BS as required. Lighten the BS by mixing in LP naples yellow....blend. Let dry. Wash overall with a mix of diluted Liquitex burnt sienna and Rowny sepia ink. Let dry. Add a final dusting of Humbrol semi gloss spray varnish (too much and you get a plastic like gloss coat).

That is how I did it. First time I have tried wood grain in large scale and I was very pleased.

Colin

Having seen the rifle in the flesh, I can say the pics don't do it justice. Looked as though I could have picked it up off the table and cracked off a couple of shots.
Very realistic wood grain indeed.

Colin

Superb effect on the jacket Colin, it certainly looks the part.
Keith

Many thanks for the explanation Colin.....very helpful

Regards

Ron

SBS continues. Backpack straps and hardware yet to do.

Webbing and shoulder supports are looking very realistic Colin.
Good work.
Keith

Uniform done....dull coated and head attached. Next need to do his backpack, hands and attach various pieces of equipment to his belt.

That is good!

This is SUPER CLASS painting! Love it!
Cheers,
Zeno

Hands and weapon attached. Hands still need a lot of paint.

Construction tip: Attach the hands with epoxy so they can be moved slightly when the rifle is being added. I found attaching the left hand with the ammo clip first worked best.

This I like very much. Well done superb job.
Peter.

That is beautiful work, and coming along very nicely. The wood grain is an eye catcher for sure
Ben

Thanks very much for a superb sbs.
I’ll be referring to your work and very useful tips when I finally get around to attempting to tiptoe in your footsteps.

Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks Andrew. I just added the two part rifle sling. Oh what a pain. I super glued the two separate parts together after fitting the length to the M1. But I had trouble getting it fitted with the pistol and pouch in place. It might be better to add the sling before the equipment goes on his belt.

Colin

Great job Colin !

I have this bust in to do list for 2015. Will take some lessons from your progress here

Just catching up colin,very nice work indeed,love the flesh and uniform colours mate,great work all round

Phhrrp!

Colin, this is really great work! You have captured the facial tones and likeness of this character brilliantly. (Not an easy task). I can tell there has been some really heavy study done on this piece. I just love the feel and visual of this work. ..

High Regards,

Mark

Test of my new Olympus Zuiko DSLR F2.0 50mm Macro lens. Pretty happy to have a lens that finally allows me to use my SLR for model photography. Mint on eBay for a fraction of list price.

He really has come up well Colin.
Look authentic with a real feel,to all aspects of the piece, right down to the grenade.

Good on ya mate