Scale Model Shop

**Guest** · 26 July 2013, 12:09

Practice John???

You are kidding??

I'd be ecstatic with that mate, figures is a frustration for me.

**john i am** · 27 July 2013, 12:13

Thanks Colin for your comments I very much appreciate it when people take the time to leave feedback good or bad or point out any tips or tricks that maybe of use to me or others cheers John :grinball1:

**Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds** · 27 July 2013, 12:27

That's a cracking figure, I'm no expert at figures but trying my hand at them also. You've done a great job.

All I would consider is a little shading on the uniform be it with washes or highlighting, and it may be the camera flash but does the uniform have a sheen to it?

Adrian

**john i am** · 27 July 2013, 12:45

Cheers Ade it does have a slight sheen I coated it in Klear to protect it I could spray again in flat to tone it down the folds in the uniform (dark areas) I pre shaded in black primer and tried not to overfill with the finished colour I think it as worked to a degree. I'm not sure which wash to use to darken these areas also the highlights (raised detail ) would that be just field green mixed with a percentage of white applied any help is greatly appreciated and thanks for your reply cheers John

**Ian M** · 27 July 2013, 16:41

It looks pretty good on the whole, but as others have already said, the shadows and highlights could be a bit stronger.

The few times I have painted a figure I tend to think I have gone over the top, but as it dries the effect is not as harsh and it looks ok.

I don't tend to use washes on figures either. I darken or lighten the paint with various shades of grey. From almost white to almost black. Mixing a retarder in the paint makes it work a bit more like oil paints and gives you time to blend out the colour.

A few highlights in white at the end to finish off. Though be careful with those, it can go very wrong. Last a good coat or two of matt varnish.

Hopefully our new member, Paul P, that is rather a lot better than I will ever be, can join in the fun and tell us that I am doing it all wrong LOL

I have not seen him post for a while so he might be one of those lucky buggers that is on holiday!!

Ian M

**Guest** · 27 July 2013, 16:49

I found this article very useful, although it looks as if you don't need much help. Cheers Derek

Painting a 1/48 pilot figure by Pete Wenman

**john i am** · 27 July 2013, 17:53

Cheers Ian for the advice and Derek for the link very interesting and helpful cheers lads

**Guest** · 28 July 2013, 18:09

Hi John, a great looking figure and has been said it could do with some variation between the highlights and the lowlights, are you using oils or acrylics because they have different methods of toning. With a figure of this scale there is an enormous amount of detail that you can get in.

If your using acrylics you need to set out your paints mixed and ready to go, and you need about 6 colours for the uniform

1 base colour

2 base colour plus small amount of whit

3 base colour plus a larger amount of white

these are for the highlights

4 base colour mixed with a little burnt umber

5 base colour mixed with more burnt umber

6 burnt umber

You have to imagine that light is coming from directly over your figure, so that on creases lighter shades are on top and darker are underneath. you can get a good idea of where you need to shade by shining a lamp directly over the figure.

Paint your base coat and then start with the shadows so underneath each crease add your first darker shade leaving a small amount of your base coat showing and then the same again for the darkest shade

Then go on top of the creases and repeat the process with the lighter shades, You will probably find that you can see a distinct line between the shades so the next step is to mix 6 more colours and they are intermediate colours so mix a bit of 1 with 2, 2 with 3 and so on and with these colours just wash them over the lines between the previous shades and you will find that they blend the colours together.

there is also dry brushing, for instance if you look at the hair it looks like you have used black which is a very harsh colour, a better colour for dark hair is burnt umber mixed with a little black, then when its dry add a bit of white to the base colour, and using a flat brush, wipe as much paint as you can from the brush onto a tissue, and then brush it over the area of the hair, it should then just highlight the raised areas, this technique can be used for anything, but try not to use straight black its very harsh.

For his document case, and a good colour for leather is burnt umber mixed with a little raw umber, just add a bit of orange for the highlights and do the shading in blue, you will find that the orange gives it a worn look and blue is much better for shading burnt umber than black.

There is also a little tip for making things like the edges if collars and where two bits of material overlap and that is to wash it with a burnt umber wash, used very thinly and lightly apply it to those edges, it really makes them stand out.

I think you have a very sound base to paint a great figure there and your work is very neat it just needs to be made to look not so new. as you say this is a practice figure so practice

heres a picture of the colour sgt that i finished a short time ago, as you can see on the jacket i base coated it with red and then darkened the lower part of the creases with mixtures of red and burnt umber in some places going down to straight burnt umber and for the highlights i used red and added orange sometimes going up to yellow.

Dont be afraid to experiment, if it looks wrong just paint over it, but be creative and look at actual things like leather belts and boots for ideas. or look at how your cloths look under certain lights, its all there in front of you.

Hope i havnt waffled on to long and i look forward to seeing what you come up with

Paul

**john i am** · 28 July 2013, 19:18

Not at all Paul I am very grateful of your in depth guide and that you have taken the time to help me so a big thank you for that. I have printed your guidance for future ref as I have another figure to do soon I will post when completed so once again thanks everyone who offered their help and guidance

**Guest** · 28 July 2013, 19:26

By the way John I meant to add if your paint comes out with a sheen get some Testors dull coat, absolutely brilliant stuff to protect the finish and leave a totally matt finish

Paul

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