depressed lemur Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Good evening chaps, it is now time for me to start this group build. So far I have failed one group build, and succeeded in a second, so hopefully this will be a second finish. For this group I decided to try something new, as I am rooted firmly in the flying arena of modelling. So, a previous attempt at a tank I thought was poor, and I have no idea what ships took part (though looking at footage it must have been everything that could float on the day) I have decided to try people. So, where to start on this? Quite frankly:- So I took a little trip to my LMS and picked up this (actually it was the fathers day gift from my son) Inside the box is a single sprue of pale grey plastic. and a small decal sheet sealed in its own poly bag. These are not multi pose figures, and are designed to set up a small vignette showing one helping a wounded comrade whilst the other nervously looks around. Facial detail looks to be good, whilst the uniform has fine and sharp detail. The BAR looks a little bland to me, but I will see how well it responds to painting. I have no idea how to even start this, let alone how to display it, but let us see what happens. I think I will probably start by building the legs and torsos, before spraying an undercoat and then take it from there. Any ideas will be most welcome, and thanks for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Interesting idea. Makes a nice change! Will watch your progress with these. I've never been very good at figure painting and that's why none of my planes have pilots! I shall be interested to see what you do with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 Thanks Plastic, like you I always leave my cockpit empty because I am not very good at figures, so I guess that I will be as interested in how this turns out as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 I'd suggest painting the heads and bodies separately and then attach them. Some go to the trouble of lobbing off the hands and hollowing out the cuffs a bit. Then re-attach (after painting separately) using brass pins. ----------------------------------------- Are you painting with an airbrush? regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 I'd suggest painting the heads and bodies separately and then attach them. Some go to the trouble of lobbing off the hands and hollowing out the cuffs a bit. Then re-attach (after painting separately) using brass pins. ----------------------------------------- Are you painting with an airbrush? regards, Jack Like I said, I have no idea what I am doing. Last night I stuck together some legs and a torso for one of the figures, and there are some annoying seams and mould lines to clean up, so I think I will attach the arm first and tidy them up before I start any painting.. I will probably use a combination of airbrush and hairy stick on this, and I have a couple ideas of how to use pre shading to help with the final look. I will be posting a couple of pics tonight to show where I am up to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Great to see some figures in the GB. I will be watching this. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mottlemaster Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 I lookforward to seeing your men take shape . I will follow closely as i have a few 1/72 Airborne to paint for my build and have little /no idea where to start. Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Always good to see a different take on a build, great stuff..........................Smudge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted June 18, 2014 Author Share Posted June 18, 2014 Due to mounting work commitments for all of our family there is less time to build than I would like, but there is still some movement forward. I have managed to remove the arms for the figure I am doing, and spent a happy hour or so tidying up the mould lines before sticking them on. I used a toothpick to align the hands, so hopefully the BAR will fit in the end. I don't want to remove too much from the sprue as, knowing my luck I will lose bits. Whilst waiting for the glue to set, I have started figure two. Which now looks like an odd extra from a Quentin Tarrantino film. and here are the two together More will be done tommorow, and updates will be posted. Thanks for looking. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Looking good.....Mould seams are your mortal foe in figure modelling, spare no effort to exterminate every last trace of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 I have managed to get a little while at the bench this week, but not got that much headway to show for it. The main thrust has been hunting down the damned mould seams. I always thought aircraft a pain, but this takes the biscuit! Anyway, a couple of days ago I managed to stick a few more bits together, and ended Friday with this. We are now looking at the lost patrol of Sleepy Hollow! I did consider hollowing out the necks to save the embarrassment of finishing off the faces at some point in the future. After some pondering on the head application issue, I decided to bite the bullet and stick them on. There were a couple of reasons for this approach. 1) This is my first attempt at figures since I was about 8, so wanted to plow on . 2) I was worried that there may be a seam to clean up later (unfounded in the end) and didn't want to try that and then touch up the damage. 3) The part to sprue joint would have meant touching up at a later date. 4) I want to get my preshading and highlighting even. Anyway, that's my excuse(s) So after application of some more glue, I now have three guys, as opposed to three ghouls. The high contrast seems to suggest that I have got rid of just about all the seams, but there looks like something on the hand of the wounded man. I will be giving these guys another short break, and then priming them ready for some attempts at preshading. Thanks for looking. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Installment Part the fourth. As I have alluded to earlier, making figures is not something I have tried since I was about 13. So, undaunted by my complete glut of ignorance, further progress (if you can call it that) has been made. I thought that if I make the whole kit parts up first, then this would be a good option, I have found that figures are not as easy as aircraft. So, first thoughts were for preshading. I had no idea how this would work, so dug out a hairy stick from the darkest shadows of my box and did this to the poor sods. Like I said, Undaunted by this seemingly obvious fiasco, I pressed on and whipped out the airbrush. The first problem was that I couldn't find any flesh tones (a bit of a drawback in figure painting), so had to ask my brother for help. All he had was a semi-dried up pot of Games Workshop Bronzed Flesh from the original pots (probably at least 18 years old) and set to work trying to make it flow. I managed, but am not happy, so future work will be needed. Moving on to the uniform, I was a little taken aback by not being able to find any indication of a painting guide!! Either there is not one, or the little bit of paper was kissing from my kit. A quick trawl of the 'net suggested a green smock with a pale brown trouser as a starting point. So I sprayed the legs using Me Hobby Olive Drab, followed by a spray of the tunic using Vallejo Yellow Olive. I was very happy with the Vallejo, as it sprayed very matt, and also was sufficiently translucent to show the preshading. The Mr Hobby, however, was not very good. It is more dark earth than Olive Drab, and had a very shiny finish. It looks too brown to me. What do you guys think?? Any help would be accepted here as I am so out of my depth. I also think that I may have to start using the brush soon, as an airbrush seems a little too "random". thanks for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 A very good start, but I agree you will probably have to resort to the hairy stick quite soon.....If you PM me with your e-mail address I can send you some reference materiel. Most of what I have is big on detail, but short on colour plates, here's the most pertinent: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
depressed lemur Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 PM sent. Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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