First attempt at figure building/painting.

[Gavalaar1980]

Hi all,

Firstly I'm not a regular poster on here because I don't get the time due to a busy working and home life. On average I only get time to build 2 models a year!
This is my first ever figure build and paint job. It's a Tamiya 1/16 scale German ww2 machine gunner. I did the painting according to the instructions and didn't deviate with colours etc. I really enjoyed the build, it took about 2 months and was overall fairly satisfied with the end result. I'm planning on doing another figure next so would appreciate some pointers as to where I could possibly improve on painting etc?

Kind regards,

Gavin.

[boatman]

Very nicely painted looks real very well done
chris

[adt70hk]

Nicely done Gavin for your first attempt.

ATB

Andrew

[Tim Marlow]

Nice clean job on him. Well done. The eyes have come out very well, especially for a first attempt.
As to pointers for the next one, I suppose it comes down to where do you want, or think you need, to improve? There are a great many ways to paint figures. In turn, these give a great many different results, all of which are valid. There are some excellent figure painters on here, and I’m sure they will all help you achieve your goals. I would concentrate on a couple of things you want to improve on and ask for help to achieve those aims….

[Jim R]

.......and was overall fairly satisfied with the end result.

And so you should be. That's a neat, well painted figure. Especially well done for a first attempt.
I'm certainly no figure painter but I think the boots and the bottom of the coat could be dirtied up a bit. Just some earth coloured pigment or powdered chalk pastel on an old brush and rubbed onto the boots and coat bottom.
I look forward to your next figure.
Jim

[Gavalaar1980]

Very nicely painted looks real very well done
chris

Thanks Chris.
Have you built anything new recently?

[Gavalaar1980]

Nicely done Gavin for your first attempt.

ATB

Andrew

Thank you Andrew. I've only ever built aircraft up until now. I've now converted to figures!

[Gavalaar1980]

Nice clean job on him. Well done. The eyes have come out very well, especially for a first attempt.
As to pointers for the next one, I suppose it comes down to where do you want, or think you need, to improve? There are a great many ways to paint figures. In turn, these give a great many different results, all of which are valid. There are some excellent figure painters on here, and I’m sure they will all help you achieve your goals. I would concentrate on a couple of things you want to improve on and ask for help to achieve those aims….

Thank you. Yeah that's right, I guess it boils down to how much extra detail you want to add. I was thinking about painting the tunic buttons but was apprehensive about making a mess of it so kinda went with 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!'.

[Gavalaar1980]

And so you should be. That's a neat, well painted figure. Especially well done for a first attempt.
I'm certainly no figure painter but I think the boots and the bottom of the coat could be dirtied up a bit. Just some earth coloured pigment or powdered chalk pastel on an old brush and rubbed onto the boots and coat bottom.
I look forward to your next figure.
Jim

Thanks Jim.

Yeah I thought about adding some realism, such as weathering. However, I sometimes think that if you keep adding detail you might make a mistake and I didn't want to potentially ruin a good job. Would need to practice weathering on a dummy model first. The key to modelling is not to rush the job plus I'm methodical by nature. Feedback appreciated. G

[adt70hk]

Hi Gavin

Tim Marlow did a BRILLIANT step by step on figure painting last year. It works up to 1/35, so have a look here...

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/s-model-1-72-3-7-cm-pak-36-auf-renault-ue-build-simon-t-tribute-group-build.36367/post-534602

ATB.

Andrew

[Gavalaar1980]

Hi Gavin

Tim Marlow did a BRILLIANT step by step on figure painting last year. It works up to 1/35, so have a look here...

https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/s-model-1-72-3-7-cm-pak-36-auf-renault-ue-build-simon-t-tribute-group-build.36367/post-534602

ATB.

Andrew

Thanks for that, will give it a look.

Cheers. G

[Tim Marlow]

Painting the tunic buttons and other detail needn’t be too daunting Gav. Painting figures isn’t a one shot deal. If you go “over the lines” a bit you can always use another layer of the coat colour (or whatever the base colour is) to cut them back to size. As long as your paint layers are thin ( yours look fine, by the way) you won’t obscure detail.

[boatman]

Thanks Chris.
Have you built anything new recently?

HI Gavin no as im still building my hms tiger in the ships under constuction section
chris

[Steve Brodie]

It all depends on how far you want to go with the figues, however one thing that can make a huge difference is in the eyes. Never use pure white for the eyeballs, use a very pale grey of off white, very pale skin tone. try and paint a thin dark line on the top of the eyeball and then a light pink line around the bottom eye lid, and in 1/16th scale try and add a pupil and then a highlight spot.

[Gavalaar1980]

Painting the tunic buttons and other detail needn’t be too daunting Gav. Painting figures isn’t a one shot deal. If you go “over the lines” a bit you can always use another layer of the coat colour (or whatever the base colour is) to cut them back to size. As long as your paint layers are thin ( yours look fine, by the way) you won’t obscure detail.

Yeah, that's right, I did go over the lines once or twice and simply touched it up again with the relevant top coat colour. I must say it's addictive this figure building, the end result is most satisfying. I've already ordered my next project!

Thanks for the tips. G