Dear Planeteers,

First installement on my interpretation of Andreas amazing 90mm German ww2 sniper.

Impressions of raw kit
Well i must say fantastic the resin sceneray consisting of a ruined building with sad looking broken childs doll is fantastically cast and after priming the detail leaps out at you, it is good that AM are giving the third reich series such realistic groundwork, i made some enhancements consisting of extra broken pipe work made from chopped up cotton bud sticks and i have also added some wires to the scenary, again to slightly enhance the ground work, i have colour printed a selection of WW2 Soviet and German propaganda posters that i plan to use one of on the front face of the ruin.

The figure itself is well cast and sculpted and the fit of parts is effortless, much has been made on the planet regarding the size of the KAR 98 against the size of the figure, really i think that it is a question of perspective, and of course the sniper could just be a big lad !!!, i do not think that it detracts from the piece. Some with miltary experience may think it unlikely that a sniper (or ideed a well trained infantryman) would expose his rifle barrell through a window, as most soldiers and certainly snipers are trained to fire from as far inside a room as possible, my take on this is kind of "so what" he could be snap firing against a rush of Soviet infantry as opposed to hunting high value targets??? i have attempted a limeted conversion / enhancement of the figure, using the process in Calvin Tans excellent book "modelling waffen SS figures" i have attempted to sculpt a camo helmet cover and i have wrapped the rifle barrell with a piece of gauze bandage soaked in diluted PVA glue to break up the shape of the rifle (shape,shadow, shine etc)
This has given a nice textured net like finish.

I am using Calvin Tans painting technique on this so the pics so far are black sprayed undercoat and off white drybrushing. I am sure that most will paint this as a snow scene, however to push my boudaries at painting Camo i am going to give him a plane tree helmet cover, Autumn oakleaf or blurred edge camo parka and peas pattern trousers...........

Any way can reccomend this as a figure full of potential and possabilities that represents good value for money in my opinion

Hope i can do him justice will post with progress

Best Regards to all

Kirky

G'day Kirky,

Thanks for the review of the kit. I don't understand why you posted pictures that are out of focus. It's hard for anyone to make any comments (positive or negative) if you can't see the figure clearly.

G,day Tony,

Yeah sorry about the pics, will try to repost some later or edit my original, i think a couple are okay


Love your Aussie commando by the way, a quality figure and paint job, think the photos are often the hardest bit, and i am to IT what Hitler was to world peace and understanding if you catch my drift

Sorry and best regards

Kirky

Looking forward to seeing this paint up kirky. I haven't read Calvin's book so I am interested in this technique.

I agree with you on the pose, why not, there's loads of reasons he could be seated like that.

I've just read on another thread the old chesnut about amount of WWII German subjects produced, can't see the problem myself, if that's what people want... and the quality of this figure, and especially the Alpine figs surely it's a good thing. Whoops, started to go off on a tangent there, sorry.

Roger

No worries Kirky, and thanks for your kind comments. You might consider investing in a new digital camera with auto-focus zoom and all that techno stuff. Love the sniper figure and looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out. While not normally interested in WW2 German subjects, I'll make and exception for a sniper, and SS camo is very interesting.

Please at the very least rotate your images so they are upright, and don't post out of focus stuff. It amazes me in this hobby where people go to such lengths to get the most minute detail just right, and the colours as close as they can, that they would post up out of focus images and think they are ok and somehow useful.

Kirky,

Here are a few articles for you on model photography. It can be difficult at first, but with just a few changes you can produce pretty good photos. Hope this helps and thanks for posting.

The articles below are slanted towards aircraft modeling, but the exact same ideas apply to figures.

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/photobg_1.htm

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/photorp_1.htm

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/photomr_1.htm

Brent, thanks so much for the advice links , really helpfull and constructive - much appreciated.

NZ gunny - Have already apologised to Big Tony - am trying my best stand by and hopefully my next ones will be better.

Brent thanks again chap

Best Regards to both

Kirky

If you want any specific advice on photography just ask, I've been a photographer (amateur and professional) most of my life, including five years as a military photographer.

I'm interested in the painting technique you are trying as I haven't read that book either.

Dear All,

Second installlment on the WIP Waffen SS sniper, hopefully the pics are slightly better although i am sure that they are less than perfect (will keep trying) the Parka is almost complete with the autum blurred edge oakleaf pattern. This is a crazy camo to paint as to begin with you just cant imagine it being at all effective, however as i added the layers it became more and more disruptive, a real challenge though. have worked up the ground work also but still much to do...............

Peas pattern trousers and facial features tommorrow. hope you can see the general effect.


Best rgds

Kirky

the photos are improving, here's a quick post that covers some important points that I posted over at Timelines a while back:

Note that although a particular camera model is mentioned, the settings are still the same on most cameras:

I think some of your photos may be out of focus because you are too close to the subject and the lens can't focus that close.

A couple more hints,

1. Get a bigger background and move it further back from your subject.
2. Try using manual focus, how easy this is to use depends on your camera, but it will give you more control.
3. Lighting - Ditch the camera flash and get either two lamps (you'll need to match your white balance to the type of lamp, otherwise the colours will look way off, but that's not too hard), or use natural light from a window and a reflector. The window should not be in direct sunlight, either a window away from direct light, or light coming through net curtains as you need fairly soft lighting. The reflector is just be a white piece of paper. Position your figure in the most advantages angle for the window light to provide the best looking illumination, usually coming in from the front and a bit off to one side of centre. Experiment by moving the reflector around and you can see the lighting changing until you get what you want.

Place the reflector on the side of the figure opposite the window and as close as you can while still having it just out of the frame. By moving the reflector closer or further away from the figure you will see the intensity of the soft fill light changing.

If you go for the lamp method, you can also use the white paper reflector to tweak your lighting. It produces quite a subtle bounce fill effect and can be used to minimise those dark shadows by bouncing some light into them.

I hope this info is of some help, I know it's a bit off topic!

Thanks mate, i will give it a whirl, going to have a play with the stills mode on my missuses digi vid cam and see how that goes, cheers for the advice though, will post again tommorrow once i have done the trousers

Take care and thanks again

Kirky

Do you not have a real digital camera?

Photography of this kind is where the quality of your kit comes into play.

You wouldn't use a 2" house brush to paint your figures, would you?

I mean a 2" brush does a great job painting window frames, but you wouldn't use it to paint a figure, it's no W&N Series7.

Horses for courses really.

Look Mate , yes i do have a digi cam that is clearly on the way out, no i am not stupid i would not use a 2 foot brush to paint a figure with, i am trying my best but i am not made of money, to begin with you seemed helpfull now to be honest you are just p*ssing me off, find someone elses thread to highjack - or even better start posting some of your own stuff, something that you dont seem to have done yet !
I come on this forum to enjoy my hobby and other hobbyists creations, not put up with thinly veiled sarcasm

Kirky

Calm down mate, it was just an analogy. Modelers tend to think nothing of spending a lot of money on the best brushes and paint, high quality figures etc, just trying to point out that it's the same with photography, just like painting your figures you need to correct tools.

Close up photography is tricky at best and I'm just trying to help out.

I'll leave you to it, have a nice day.

My digital camera is shit. I used to use the one we had at the place where I work because it had a macro option, but when that went down they never replaced it. This seems to be the problem with digital cameras............once the pack up that's it!
no tinkering, no replacement parts, just straight in the landfill!

My brother trained as a photographer in the RAF (old school...wet film). Digital hit just as he was leaving the forces, but he embraced it and learnt the ropes. I'm hoping to persuade him to donate a 'hand-me-down' camera that'll fit the bill for my needs.

Like you Kirky, I'm not made of money. I've got a 2 year old daughter who's got the right to new toys and clothes before daddy can spend anything on his 'hobby'.

All the best,
Jon.

Well done Kirky,

A great effort on a very challenging piece. You should be very proud of the results you've achieved.

Gents,

Thanks for the encouragement even though my photos were not great.

I have started the thread again with some better ones (i hope)

To sum up a craking figure, Nap i agree that this will be popular at the shows, i may even have to get motivated and go to one this year !!

Thanks again Tony, Nap et al , its support like that which makes the forum such a great place.
Jon mate my little girls just coming up to one, my best creation glad someone understands the money issue surrounding cameras etc, NZ gunny, sorry i got a bit waspish, but we aint all military trained cameramen with cameras that can detail the sea of tranquility on the moon !!! personally i was an arty gunner and part time infantry bod !! closest i came to photography was a good sight picture in a SUSAT


Thanks again gents and best wishes

Kirky

Now that made me smile Cheers Kirky