Hi all,

I would like to show you some more projects I'm currently work on.

First up is a 54mm white metal figure depicting Captain D'anjou during the Mexico campaign. This figure was given for free by a 1 year subscription of Figure International Magazine. Unfortunately I must say the casting was very bad : lot's of pitting and rather soft on the detail. I had it cleaned up, painted completely with dilluted Tamiya thinner. Cleaned it again, rescribed some detail and then I passed it on to two friends who checked it and cleaned it even a bit further. Now during the painting I see there are still some problem area's. It's not a figure for my own, so I showed it to the future owner who said that he was happy with how the figure was cleaned up, although I'll try to improve it as I go along.

So far the skin part of the face and the eyes are finnished. The black of his kepi needs a final shading and highlighting, while the red part has only received the rough highlights.





Next up are two fantasy projects I'm currently working on, only clean up, building fase though.

First is Bocanegra a superb offering by Big Child Creatives : perfect sculpt with some great details and an excellent casting. What a difference with D'anjou. This one didn't need much clean up and the fit of parts was just perfect. The anchorage I "found" at the boat departement of a local modelshop. It was the last they had and they will stop the boat modelling stuff.





The other one in the building fase I've called Brass Monkeys (after a Beastie Boys song; r.i.p. MCA). I will paint a lot of the metal parts brass, hence the title. The figures are by Infamy, some of the best Steampunk figures I have ever seen, the Lantern is by Ritsel (I believe) while the decoration in the wall came from shop where my wife likes to buy things to make her own jewelery. It was original intendent to hang from an necklage, but a little work with the old trusted Dremel transfered it to an accessoire for my figgies I liked. These kind of shops are really a great source for decoration materials. The "wall" is just a very, very rough mock up. The defenitive version will be made out of balsa foam. I'm waiting for better weather as working with balsa foam produces a lot of dust and I prefer to do this outdoors.

I'm curios to hear what you guys & girls think of my projects and I welcome all tips & tricks to improve (also on taking pictures).

Cheers,

Gino(2dope)

Great looking pieces! I have the Bocangra figure and I agree it is a very nice figure, though mine required some minor filling.

I beleive your having a lot of fun at the moment Gino. I hope it lasts as seeing your work is always a pleasure.

Cheers

Huw

Gino, is good seeing you back in action again.

Cheers,
Pedro.

Geweldig dat je weer aan het schilderen bent. Zoals je ooit tegen mij zei: " het gaat er niet om hoeveel figuren je schildert, als je maar schildert en steeds beter probeert te doen". Wel nu, je bent weer lekker en vooral goed bezig.
Jammer dat het fantasy figuren zijn

Marc

You will not get bored with these...but I bet you will be smiling more at two of them at the moment.

I hope the Captain proves to be less hard work from here on.

Paul

Thank you all for the great replies. I suddenly feel a lot less lonely and in contact with the"world".

Hello captenglish,

well, I only needed some filler at the gab between his ear and his head. Although, after another close inspection I decide I will a layer of cloth under his head as this shows a slight gap. This afternoon I also ordered their big ork with the canon on his back and a bunch of little orks. I hope to be able to paint all their pirate orcs as they are realy spectacular.

Hi Huw,

Thank you very much. I'm indeed having a lot of fun. At the moment I'm not too much concerned about how long it will last. I'm thankfull for every minute I can do some modelling and enjoy it to the fullest.

Thank you Pedro. I'm glad too

Hoi Marc,

Inderdaad, het aantal telt niet echt, maar als je gemiddelde onder per jaar ligt is dat toch niet echt motiverend. Er zijn gewoon véél te veel schone modellen voor 1 mensenleven. Hopelijk kunnen we in de hemel, of in mijn geval waarschijnlijk de hel, oof wat modelbouwen.

Alléé, fantasy is zo plezant. Ge moet u niks aantrekken van "juiste kleuren" en wat ge allemaal niet kunt verwerken in je stukjes. Ongelofelijk bevrijdend. Ge moet dat ook eens proberen man. En niemand die zegt dat ik geen historische meer gaan doen hé, kijk maar naar D'anjou. En ik heb nog genoeg historische figuren in mijn privéstock, vooral WWII, voor als het weer eens begint te kriebelen.

Hi Paul,

Well I do hope that most of the casting problems are gone now. I'm very motivated to paint D'anjou too. A lot of colours, like the reds and blues, I haven's painted in a very, very long time. So far the red turns out way better then what I feared for, so I keep my fingers crossed; but not while painting of course

Thanks to you all once again and I hope you'll have at least the same fun as I have while painting,

Gino

Very nice selection you've started on.
The D'anjou figure has certainly caught my interest, as I have one in my GA. Looking forward to seeing it develop.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hi Andrew, D'anjou is a great figure, especially since there's only 1 hand to paint (for some reason I don't like painting hands ). How was the casting on yours? Mine was realy awfull, almost like they want to state : hey this is a free figure so we have used only secand class casting. Really disappionting. I did replace the chain of his pocket watch with a PE part.

cheers,

Gino

Hi Gino,
I've just had a look at my 'Figurines' D'anjou. It hasn't been out of its packaging since I got it.
I must admit, following your description, I was expecting the worst.
However, I found it to be a very good casting with no obvious blemishes.
Perhaps yours was an end of Friday run.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hi Arj,

Thanks for the info mate! That's typical my kind of luck. It's so bad that on some pictures there seems to a "ghost" of the mould line which is not visible in real life. I think I spend way too much time on cleaning up, about 20 to 30 hours for a 54mm figure, and then still it shows s*&t like this.

If someone can advise a quick and effective way to clean figures I would appreciate it a lot.

Cheers,

Gino

They're all looking fantastic - Really looking forward to seeing how the "Brass Monkeys" turn out (love the wall) - and yes, r.i.p MCA
Phil

Hi Phil,

Thanks a lot mate. I've made a new wall out of Balsa foam which is much better looking in my opinion. So, I think you'll know what the title is refering to? I hope he'll apreciate my mini tribute, where ever he might be now.

Take care,

Gino

Hi Gino

Great to see some of your work.
Do you think you'll be popping over to Euro this year. I've not seen you for a long time.

Malc

Yep, definitely know what it's referring to! As far as where MCA might be right now, I'd like to think he's playing bass in Prince's new band...
Regards,
Phil

Hi Malc,

How are you my friend?

I doubt I'll ever make it again to Euro. At the moment my health won't allow it and according to dokter and professors it will only get worse as I get older. I can't remember anything from the last time I was there, it was so exhausting to me. There's only one show I can visit, Crisis in Antwerp as further away is getting to exhausting. I'm very thankfull I'm able again to paint a bit; couldn't do even that for a couple of years.

Cheers,

Gino

Hi Phil,

Or, knowing him, he might be rapping over it! And the two of them might be dissing Michael Jackson and so, probably with some help from Eazy-E, 2 Pac and all the others whom have departed way too soon.

Take care,

Gino