Pegaso 90mm Timur's Cataphract

[Cadman]

Being somewhat frustrated with a lack of postal action, Spain to China, and looking for something to do over the weekend apart from staring out the window at the rain that's been bucketing down these past several days, I had a poke around in my stash cupboard and found Pegaso's magnificent kit of a Timur's Cataphract lurking way at the back. Now, I've done 90mm Foot Figures before....

 

....but never a 90mm Mounted Figure. 

So with a little trepidation, I started assembling this large and fairly heavy white metal kit last Thursday and finished him by Friday night.

 

 

And simply not being inclined to embark on a conventional paint job, he got several abstract coats of different colored inks on Saturday and Sunday.

 

Then two coats of thinned gloss varnish this morning.

 

Granted, it's not everyone's cup of Earl Gray, but I just love how this turned out. It's such a very unusual finish, and a real head-turner for the visitors who paid us a visit this afternoon.

 

Also very unusual is that tin lid base - but that's just a temporary arrangement until I manage to track down a solid wood coaster that fits the display table.

Something similar to the one I used in my Dueling Samurai vignette.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd post a few photos of something that's really quite different. Next figure I assemble and paint will be done very differently though.

Cheers

H

[Roger Newsome]

That is a very clever and eyecatching effect. It's nice to see a bit of imagination and it worked out very well. 👍

[Cadman]

8 hours ago, Roger Newsome said:

That is a very clever and eyecatching effect. It's nice to see a bit of imagination and it worked out very well. 👍

It almost looks like an antique. 

I've been trying a few experiments with finishes recently. Some work, some don't.

These two were definitely a success. That tin lid has got to go though.

😝

 

 

[Jim Wasley]

Your talent again shines through,I myself have thought about using inks as a final wash, about 99% of everthing I use or buy has to be bought online(thats the thing about living in a small town),and sometimes it's nice to see an item before buying,no interaction than this site,so I do enjoy seeing your work and others,gives me great insperation,and your work surely does that,also love the wooden bases you use to display the figures,Cheers.

[Cadman]

1 hour ago, Jim Wasley said:

Your talent again shines through,I myself have thought about using inks as a final wash, about 99% of everthing I use or buy has to be bought online(thats the thing about living in a small town),and sometimes it's nice to see an item before buying,no interaction than this site,so I do enjoy seeing your work and others,gives me great insperation,and your work surely does that,also love the wooden bases you use to display the figures,Cheers.

Hi Jim,

It hardly takes much in the way of talent just to squirt some inks through an airbrush - but I'll be more than happy to accept any kudos that happen to be flying around.

😁....😎

I used Andrea inks on the 90mm figure because these tend to dry with a slight sheen - and when I think about it, that was a complete waste of time cos I finished things off with a couple of coats of gloss varnish anyway.

🙄

Colors were;

Brown

Blue

Green

Red

All these were thinned with water and then I went for a smooth transition from the top down.

Contrary to what you'd normally do, I deliberately allowed the colors to pool toward the bottom of the figure. You can see that in the photos and the effect is quite pleasing.

😄

I only once saw what we'd call a hobby shop in one of the local shopping malls - and it was shut down next time we went there, which was a bit of a drag.

So all my kits; plastic, resin and white metal have to be imported, as are almost all hobby supplies such as Vallejo, Andrea and Scale75 paints, most hand tools and some glues. I can find liquid superglue no problem, but superglue gel is like, non-existent, so it comes from the UK. They do have 2-part epoxy locally though, and it's really good stuff - really strong, as I found out when I removed that tin lid base from the figure earlier today.

Even going on-line and ordering hobby related items from one of the Hong Kong shops is a bust because these are treated by Customs as international orders and have to go through the same import controls as anything else. So I now deal with three UK-based on-line retailers around 95% of the time with only occasional orders going elsewhere. Saves a lot of heartburn and most shipping boxes from the UK make it to my door safely enough - as long as the orders are kept to a reasonably low financial value. 

 

It's my wife who buys those display tables for me. She gets them at this enormous bric-a-brac mall way over on the other side of town. Any time I've been there the place always seems to be full of Russian's. Presumably they buy up a lot of Chinese curios and send them home. For resale? Maybe; but I've never asked any of them so I don't know for sure.

The tables are getting more expensive these days, but that's just the same as everything else. Cost of living has gone through the roof since I first came here back in 1996.

 

In common with yourself, I also draw a lot of inspiration from the Britmodeller website. There's a considerable number of quite excellent modelling skills get shared here, and there's always something new to learn. I find the reviews section particularly helpful.

 

Best

H

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Cadman
added a comment

[redcap]

Brilliant job and I have this figure too and it is magnificent isn't it.

 

The standard of work on your piece and in so short a period of time is a great credit to your artistic skills.

 

Gary

[Cadman]

9 minutes ago, redcap said:

Brilliant job and I have this figure too and it is magnificent isn't it.

 

The standard of work on your piece and in so short a period of time is a great credit to your artistic skills.

 

Gary

Cheers Gary.

By profession I'm an Electrical Engineer and I have some Mechanical background as well. It's the engineering that goes into Pegaso Models that impresses so much. They're just really well thought out.

Here's some photos I took on Thursday with a few notes added when I sent the images off to certain cyber-mates to demonstrate how this model goes together.

The way that Pegaso use the horse armor to help support the figure borders on genius.

  

And I also like the fact that the kit base is in two parts. It's a feature that provides a bit of adjustment if you don't get the alignment quite right.

 

Of course I didn't get it quite right and had to use a spacer to fill the gap between both half's of the base.

 

These next two are from Friday night. The first one is prior to the reins being attached; a job I loath on mounted figures because you need about six hands to support the reins while waiting for the glue to take a bite.

 

In fact, I couldn't find the kit reins. This kit has been sitting in that cupboard for about six years while I wound myself up to tackle it, so I guess The Pixie's must've stolen them.

I used the foil off the top of a wine bottle. Seems to work okay.

And here's the photo taken at much the same angle with the home-made reins attached.

 

I do believe that was the last of the construction photos with those details at the bottom of the horse armor added.

The model got the first of the ink washes on Saturday morning.

And here's how he looked first thing Monday morning.

 

Quite simply, a magnificent model.

Cheers

H

[Gorby]

That looks stunning!

[Cadman]

21 minutes ago, Gorby said:

That looks stunning!

It is stunning mate.

😀

Don't know when I'll get a chance to work on the next one though - and I've a follow-up figure order coming in from the UK, maybe end of this week, beginning of next.

However, it's a nice dilemma to have.

[Jim Wasley]

13 hours ago, Cadman said:

Hi Jim,

It hardly takes much in the way of talent just to squirt some inks through an airbrush - but I'll be more than happy to accept any kudos that happen to be flying around.

😁....😎

I used Andrea inks on the 90mm figure because these tend to dry with a slight sheen - and when I think about it, that was a complete waste of time cos I finished things off with a couple of coats of gloss varnish anyway.

🙄

Colors were;

Brown

Blue

Green

Red

All these were thinned with water and then I went for a smooth transition from the top down.

Contrary to what you'd normally do, I deliberately allowed the colors to pool toward the bottom of the figure. You can see that in the photos and the effect is quite pleasing.

😄

I only once saw what we'd call a hobby shop in one of the local shopping malls - and it was shut down next time we went there, which was a bit of a drag.

So all my kits; plastic, resin and white metal have to be imported, as are almost all hobby supplies such as Vallejo, Andrea and Scale75 paints, most hand tools and some glues. I can find liquid superglue no problem, but superglue gel is like, non-existent, so it comes from the UK. They do have 2-part epoxy locally though, and it's really good stuff - really strong, as I found out when I removed that tin lid base from the figure earlier today.

Even going on-line and ordering hobby related items from one of the Hong Kong shops is a bust because these are treated by Customs as international orders and have to go through the same import controls as anything else. So I now deal with three UK-based on-line retailers around 95% of the time with only occasional orders going elsewhere. Saves a lot of heartburn and most shipping boxes from the UK make it to my door safely enough - as long as the orders are kept to a reasonably low financial value. 

 

It's my wife who buys those display tables for me. She gets them at this enormous bric-a-brac mall way over on the other side of town. Any time I've been there the place always seems to be full of Russian's. Presumably they buy up a lot of Chinese curios and send them home. For resale? Maybe; but I've never asked any of them so I don't know for sure.

The tables are getting more expensive these days, but that's just the same as everything else. Cost of living has gone through the roof since I first came here back in 1996.

 

In common with yourself, I also draw a lot of inspiration from the Britmodeller website. There's a considerable number of quite excellent modelling skills get shared here, and there's always something new to learn. I find the reviews section particularly helpful.

 

Best

H

 

You receive something that comes in a box/packet and create a work of Art,takes more than a squirt of paint, so Kudos to youCheers. 

[Cadman]

1 hour ago, Jim Wasley said:

You receive something that comes in a box/packet and create a work of Art,takes more than a squirt of paint, so Kudos to youCheers. 

Thanks Jim.

You know, I've been tempted to paint the figure's face and visible parts of the horse conventionally but decided this would detract from the finish.

I also re-watched some episodes from the 2014-2016 TV series Marco Polo, (yet again), for a bit of inspiration, and okay it's TV with all that implies, but I noted that quite a few of the Mongol horsemen are depicted wearing face masks. So perhaps the finish isn't quite the fantasy it appears to be at first glance?

PS. I was pretty disappointed that the TV executives pulled the plug on Marco Polo after only two seasons. It was, and still is, a brilliant show.

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189461/

Edited August 22, 2018 by Cadman
added a comment

[Jim Wasley]

23 hours ago, Cadman said:

Thanks Jim.

You know, I've been tempted to paint the figure's face and visible parts of the horse conventionally but decided this would detract from the finish.

I also re-watched some episodes from the 2014-2016 TV series Marco Polo, (yet again), for a bit of inspiration, and okay it's TV with all that implies, but I noted that quite a few of the Mongol horsemen are depicted wearing face masks. So perhaps the finish isn't quite the fantasy it appears to be at first glance?

PS. I was pretty disappointed that the TV executives pulled the plug on Marco Polo after only two seasons. It was, and still is, a brilliant show.

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189461/

They say great minds think alike(that would be you and my wife 😉)we also watched the Marco Polo series on NetFlix and were disappointed when it finished and they never made a 3rd series,read it was the most expencive series Netflix ever made,another series we liked was the Musketeers,hope to buy and paint  some figures of them one day,I try to keep an eye out for details that may help with my painting,I build AFV and it's funny now how I watch more were the mud may end up on them and other minor detail than to watch an over all scene.Cheers. 

[Cadman]

18 minutes ago, Jim Wasley said:

They say great minds think alike(that would be you and my wife 😉)we also watched the Marco Polo series on NetFlix and were disappointed when it finished and they never made a 3rd series,read it was the most expencive series Netflix ever made,another series we liked was the Musketeers,hope to buy and paint  some figures of them one day,I try to keep an eye out for details that may help with my painting,I build AFV and it's funny now how I watch more were the mud may end up on them and other minor detail than to watch an over all scene.Cheers. 

There's no doubt that I use film and TV time and again for ideas, and like you it's the details I tend to concentrate on and try to learn from.

For example; I'm not a great photographer, but even that has improved just by observing how a director frames a shot, or the angle at which it's taken.

The old 1949 film noir classic, "The Third Man", is worth watching, not just cos it's a great movie, but also because the stark cinematography is so similar to a modern graphic novel, and that's a technique I often like to try and emulate.

John Ford's, "The Searchers", taught me how effective taking a photo using an open doorway as a frame can be.

Boorman's, "Excalibur", provides inspiration in his use of color throughout the movie - I keep meaning to do a small scene with 54mm knights riding through an orchard of cherry and apple blossom trees while Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is blasting out of the speakers.

I could drone on, but you get the picture, (groan, pun intended).

And you've just reminded me that it's been ages since I built an AFV....😀 

 

[Jim Wasley]

4 hours ago, Cadman said:

There's no doubt that I use film and TV time and again for ideas, and like you it's the details I tend to concentrate on and try to learn from.

For example; I'm not a great photographer, but even that has improved just by observing how a director frames a shot, or the angle at which it's taken.

The old 1949 film noir classic, "The Third Man", is worth watching, not just cos it's a great movie, but also because the stark cinematography is so similar to a modern graphic novel, and that's a technique I often like to try and emulate.

John Ford's, "The Searchers", taught me how effective taking a photo using an open doorway as a frame can be.

Boorman's, "Excalibur", provides inspiration in his use of color throughout the movie - I keep meaning to do a small scene with 54mm knights riding through an orchard of cherry and apple blossom trees while Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is blasting out of the speakers.

I could drone on, but you get the picture, (groan, pun intended).

And you've just reminded me that it's been ages since I built an AFV....😀 

 

Thanks for your replies,you can drone and groan on all you like,I also like the classics especially the B/W's,in another life time I was heavily into photography long before digital,loved working in the darkroom to process a photo,was lucky enough to see some in print,I saw everything in 35mm format,though in the Marco Polo series my wife did say I had to close an eye on the scantily clad women,I told her it was all in the name of art and it gave me ideas for my figure painting(don't know that she believed me?),and Carl Orff's music really gets the blood pumping,thanks again kind regards Jim.

[Cadman]

1 hour ago, Jim Wasley said:

Thanks for your replies,you can drone and groan on all you like,I also like the classics especially the B/W's,in another life time I was heavily into photography long before digital,loved working in the darkroom to process a photo,was lucky enough to see some in print,I saw everything in 35mm format,though in the Marco Polo series my wife did say I had to close an eye on the scantily clad women,I told her it was all in the name of art and it gave me ideas for my figure painting(don't know that she believed me?),and Carl Orff's music really gets the blood pumping,thanks again kind regards Jim.

Cheers Jim,

I guess I'm really just bouncing ideas around.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Cadman