Verlinden 200mm Samurai Bust

[Guest]

I first had a go at this bust about a year and a half ago, but for some reason it didn't stand the test of time and ended up being binned. As Historex are selling their range of Verlinden busts for under £20 each, I thought it wouldn't be too extravagant to have another go.

The kit comes in four parts, including the plinth:



The usual almost perfect casting, and excellent detail on the various parts.

I decided to start with the head, and that's when I realised why I'd been iffy about the last one. Basically, it's not a great sculpt and after giving up on my first attempt to paint it I scraped it down and took a scalpel to the eyes, the parts in particular that were giving me a problem ( the box artist had obviously had problems there too):



I decided to change my palette slightly for this one, using a lot of Vallejo Black Red mixed in with the Flat Flesh, and using a lot of Off White on the highlights. I found that this head would only really respond to a graphic treatment, and after hours and hours of work, this is the best I could come up with.

The rendering of the rest of the figure really is excellent, so hopefully this will be a case of the sum being greater than the parts.

[Richard48]

Hi Peter.
I was just going to inform you about bargains at Historex mate.Another bargain mate.You are a machine my friend.Peter the painting maestro.
Good stuff mate.
Richard

[Steven000]

Looking good as always peter
Cheers and have fun

[JR]

Peter.
Normal seat please, or standing space if your going to be quick ! Hope this time you will finish him.:thumb2:
John.

[Guest]

Hi Peter good luck with this one though you don't need it, if it does go belly up which it won't, throw it my way please, only joking wouldn't have a clue what to do with it.
Old Puffer Pete.

[Guest]

Richard - Cheers. As for the Verlinden busts on Historex, when they're gone, they're gone. After that it's silly prices on eBay.

Steven - Hi. Certainly having fun, thank you.

John - It will be fairly quick. Three days, is that worth sitting for?

Pete - It's never going to be great, but it looks like it will make it to the finish line.

Here is what he looks like now:



I've now got most of the armour done - just the shoulder guards to paint and attach. Quite fiddly because of the detail, but fun to do. I decided to paint the wooden prayer beads green as I thought the box art made them look like a string of garlic. The bit of hinged metalwork on his back is a bracket for taking a standard.

Also found a hair extension which I might use to liven up the back of his head. We'll see.....

[Peter Gillson]

Nice, as always.

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Another cracking figure even though you are looking at a back cabinet filler.

Your display must be a really good journey over the past couple of years and the way your painting has evolved.

Even your back cabinet work is a show stopper for the rest of us all.

Have a good day with the final pieces and a hair piece too!

Regards

Steve H

[Guest]

Peter - More adventures in bust-land (oh, er.....).

Thanks Steve - The sculpt of the face bothers me and perhaps it needed a different treatment from my usual method to make something of it. Still.......

[Guest]

Hi Peter if that's not great I don't know what is and I very relieved :smiling6: to know that it's not in the post.
Keep up the not so great work :smiling4::smiling3::smiling5::tears-of-joy:.
Old Puffer Pete.

[Guest]

Didn't you have a bad experience of this genre a while ago?
This one looks good; glad you have re-visited the subject.

(Unless my middle-aged brain is mixing things up again)

[Guest]

Old Puffer - Many thanks. You should try doing a bust - you never know, you might enjoy it!

Dave - Yes I had a couple of failures - the first a Verlinden 120mm figure, and the second a female Samurai by Best Soldiers. I saved some of the elements from the last and have used them on this figure, which is now finished:



I ditched the kit shoulder armour and replaced it with the Best Soldiers set, which was bigger and had more detail. I also used the Best ponytail to add a bit of interest to the back of the head.

Not sure what to think of the final result, but I did enjoy working on him.

[Guest]

It looks good to me!
They're aesthetically one of the nicest subjects for figure modelling, but also very challenging to get right.
I did one and vowed 'never again'.

[Guest]

Cheers Dave.

I don't particularly relish tackling the decoration on Samurai figures myself. A bust is just about enough.

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Another cracking build and painting lesson.