Airfix Scots Grey in 54mm Scale.Finished.

[Ted]

Nice tidy painting. 

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,

Hewy,Ted,thanks chaps.

 

We're soon going to be ready for some of the accoutrements.

 

 

The sword is going to be a focal point,it needs to look right.The kit item looks good but I'm going to refine it a little https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1796_Heavy_Cavalry_Sword .

 

 

It should look something like this

 

 

There has been some face painting.Various Humbrols were used for this,mixing subtly different shades in miniscule quantities was a bit mindstretching given my propensity to not waste paint and probably wiping more off the stirring rod than was used on our mans fizzog.I've never been much good at this bit and macro photography is cruel but this does look a lot better without magnification being as it's 1/3 the size of my thumbnail.

I'm still very taken with the quality and level of detail in these kits using tooling made before the wide availability of cad cam methods and equipment.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,more painting.

 

The Carbine should look like this

 

Photo from the Royal Armouries website.

 

 

The pouches have had a coat of satin black and the bags have had a slightly brown white.

 

 

The second attempt at Horseys coat was still not what I was after,a very thin wash of grey was brushed over the initial dapple coat but it dried gloss and I'm after matt.Otherwise it's very nearly what I'm looking for.

 

 

Before she went into stripper the saddle cloth halves were positioned with the aid of blu-tac and glued

together.

 

 

Silver paint has been put on to the tack furniture and buckles.

 

 

Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

[Troy Smith]

On 08/06/2021 at 20:31, Alex Gordon said:

 

Good progress and neat work, one suggestions.   add upper and lower eyelids and narrow the eyes, as he look a bit pop eyed. 

One method I read about, point out that unless really close, you can't see the white of the eye clearly, and just use the flesh base, and add pupils and lashes. 

Another trick is to do the pupils as a short vertical stroke, and then shape the eyelids round it. 

 

refreshing my memory , here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235072084-132-airfix-paratrooper-officer/

I did the entire flesh first, and added eye details and eyebrows with neat burnt umber oil, diluted with the minimum amount of lighter fuel to get it to flow.  I found it was possible using a very  fine brush to do very thin lines.  

Funny, made me look at the box art again closely

this does have eye white, but note how small an area it covers. and how the upper eye lid/lash is darker/thicker.  

 

Just a suggestion, plus, it's easier, as you can concentrate of flesh blending, and then add the fine detail.  

 

When you mentioned about the thin plastic card supplied for straps breaking down, do you mean unused in storage? 

 

really enjoying this build, I have a part done one of these dating back to, 1981 I think...  

 

cheers

T

[GREG DESTEC]

Great progress Alex, keep it up👍

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a spot of progress to show.

 

@Troy Smith  Troy,thanks for chipping in old chum.May I introduce you to Jacques who crossed my bench in 2005 or so and was my first venture into these goodies.The straps and belts were all done with the supplied plastic card which never did sit down properly.These all started breaking up around 5 years ago of their own accord without any handling,provocation or daylight.The card itself is fine in storage as evidenced by the two slips I have of it that date from the '80s.You can be forgiven for thinking that this one was weathered,in fact what you can see is the accumulation of crud from unsympathetic storage.You made a good job of your Para by the way.  

 

 

Greg,thanks old fruit.

 

I've done a bit more to the base.I probably should fight shy of broadcasting on T'internet that I'm in possession of a bag of grass lest there is a knock on the door but I borrowed this from school (it's getting worse with the telling isn't it) to give my base a covering.

 

 

Some diluted PVA glue and some dropping of lumps of the stuff later and we have this.Of interest to note is that I didn't alter any settings on the camera but it turned my cutting mat blue all of its own accord.

 

 

I've never made any shrubbery before so I thought I'd give that a go too.I've read quite a lot in the Diorama department elsewhere on BM and this is my attempt at it.

 

 

Some upholstery padding was teased out

 

 

and dunked into some diluted PVA.

 

 

It was then dropped into the mixed herbs jar and rolled around a lot.

 

 

There was not a lot of coverage so I gave it another dunk in glue and another good shake,rattle and roll in the jar.

 

 

I'm not going to use this one,expectations and reality are not coinciding.It's not as easy as the professionals make it look is it.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Troy Smith]

48 minutes ago, Alex Gordon said:

These all started breaking up around 5 years ago of their own accord without any handling,provocation or daylight.

hmm.  One I have seem OK,  though I know in some cases, i just cut the instructions up and used the paper instead.   I have a pair of 95th Rifles on my kitchen window shelf,  which I think are circa 81, and i think that's plastic.

Jaques, apart from the wear n tear, again, has the 'pop' eyed effect from the whites.  I used to do them like that, (I've been meaning to do some pics of some of my retro tat) but the tip about just using the flesh for eyes is from this, though being rather lazy, I like my burnt umber oil wash with lighter fuel, and re-highlight with base colour method   

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Painting-Scale-Figures-Sheperd/dp/1853104965

 

Same chap who those great dioramas which were included as inserts in some if the bigger Monogram kit in the 70's, 

which are here

http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com

 

Most of these I have not seen before... but turned in the search.

http://www.boxdioramas.com/sheperd-paine

 

Not sure how well the burnt umber was  would work the Napoleonic uniforms,  though I have some old Airfix polythene napoleonics, which I 'had since I was a child, had undercoated with Halfords grey, and forgot about, I have been cursing the grey, as I then tried putting Vallejo off white over them....  

one things, the one polythene Imperial Guard are a really impressive set, 14 poses, i they, and the US Paratroops were the same year, 1975, and were the only Airfix sets with that many poses, most had 7 or 8.

 

I digress as per usual....  my main modelling activity has been trying to make decent Acrylic matches for Dark Earth and Dark Green....  which is another story.

 

Base looking good....  just had a memory flash of getting some grass cuttings from a golf course green (it was incredibly fine)  to jazz up the base of Polish lancer when I was 10....

 

Look forward to the next instalment

 

[PeterB]

This business with the card degrading reminds me of the problem with the flexible "vinyl" tracks on my old tanks. They seem fine in the box after many years storage but once painted and glued on they go brittle in some cases but not others. Could be the particular batch of plastic being unstable, or maybe it is a chemical rection to the paint? Incidentally I have just remembered that some of the first thin plasticard I bought went brittle after 30 years!

 

I still have a few bags of scenic "grass" from the days of my model railway layout - I suspect it is painted sawdust. You could also get some "electrostatic" grass though how that worked I have no idea - apparently it "stood up" to give a 3-D effect. I may still have a bag of some so called foliage I got to make trees and bushes - it seemed to be thin foam rubber so has probably crumbled to dust by now but I gather the idea was that you stretched it until it was a very thin, almost cobweb like layer which you glued onto a frame of "twigs". You could also buy etched frets of "leaves" but that must have been very tedious to assemble.

 

Pete

Edited June 14, 2021 by PeterB

[Ned]

Snap!

 

Bought by me in 1980. Number of dioramas ever built by me - 0.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,some more to show.

 

Troy,thanks old chum.I made Jacques before I read about using flesh in white for the eyes.The pupils were done with a hairy stick,the use of a pencil point never occurred to me and was probably in the same magazine article as the paint mix tip.I do remember Shep Paine being a frequent contributor to FSM and some of his offerings being quite breathtaking.

 

Pete,thanks old fruit.The sawdust grass never seems to look right to me but I've never really seen it used in a way that doesn't stand out.As far as tracks go I don't have any of those I built as a kid so I can't compare on that one.The plastic card had been painted with Humbrol 34 so I wonder if it is something in the paint that has caused brittleness.I do know that white spirit can cause problems if used in sufficient quantity.

 

Ned,thanks for chipping in.I've never built a proper diorama either,a mate of mine does and the level of detail he achieves is beyond my abilities.This is one of his;

 

Diorama by Simon Elmer.

 

Anyway,the saddle cloth has had a length of stretched runner glued to the underside of the joint to reinforce it.

 

 

The straps were going to have to be made sometime,this seemed as good a time as any.The kit provides a slip of 5 thou plastic card to use for this,for reasons already discussed I'm not going to use it.

 

 

Masking tape was cut into appropriate width strips and stuck to the inside of a Ferrero box lid.

 

 

This gave me somewhere to store and paint them.The leather brown was the Humbrols 10 and 174 mix and the white was Humbrol 34.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Troy Smith]

On 17/06/2021 at 22:26, Alex Gordon said:

the use of a pencil point never occurred to me

me niether...one to try  

I dug out the Napoleonics box, I knew I had 2 Polish Lancers 'as new' apart from the price on the box top in felt pen, 25p each,  in the early 80's in a shop in town,  which was cheap even then,  and knew I had a part done Scots Grey, which I had just cut the paper for the straps, constructions is OK but the paint needs stripping, and the saddle ins not in the box      but was cheered up as I had forgotten about the Scots Grey I also bought for 25p with the Lancers.... 

 

I did have a go at painting a 7th Cavalry horse fairly recently,  for some horse painting practice, except I didn't note down the colours....     I have another that polythene horse  I should have a go at.   The moulding is very impressive on them BTW.  

 

I like the tip on the attaching the masking tape to a clear bit of plastic.

 

One final point, I find Vallejo Model colours very good for figure work,  you seem to be a dedicated enamel user,   though I recently spotted some ex-shop stock cans of Airfix paint and was tempted to buy some.  The only can I di have is M7 Flesh, which i still argue was a better colour than the very salmony Humbrol 61.....

 

The figures with the thin plastic straps seem OK though.   

 

Look forward to the next installement

T

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a bit more paintwork this time.

 

Troy,I prefer enamels because there is a lot longer working time on them and they seem to bite on to plastic more readily than acrylics which are just a skin over the surface.When I got fed up with lousy Humbrol a few years ago I started buying Vallejo,I'd used them once or twice to good effect and they were available locally.I found that they weren't really matched up to BS,RLM,ANA,MAP and so on which Humbrol were but their acrylics weren't available at all so I stuck with the enamels and started using a newly acquired airbrush instead which upped my game beyond recognition.Saying that my hairy stick skills were,blowing my own trumpet,not to be sniffed at when using the now long gone Super Enamels giving me results like my F 102 and A 37 .The current Humbrol is not as carefree to use as it used to be and it's the poorer for it.With all that said my local Vallejo stockist changed hands recently and isn't restocking so I have to trail 20 miles each way to Lincoln if I want paint of any variety.

 

Anyway,to business,Horsey now looks like what I wanted,try hairy sticking this with acrylics.I used Humbrol 140 Matt Gull Grey and it came up first go.  

 

 

The saddle blanket had its coat of grey a few days ago.

 

 

I cheated with the blue striping

 

 

but I'm not bothered 'cos it worked.

 

 

The mess tins had a slight sink mark which I couldn't pass off as a dent so it was levelled off with Milliput and painted with Metalcote Polished Aluminium. 

 

 

Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[Troy Smith]

11 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

Horsey now looks like what I wanted,try hairy sticking this with acrylics.I used Humbrol 140 Matt Gull Grey and it came up first go.  

Looks fab.   Whoever the sculptor for Airfix was in the mid 70's was darn good.   (I think I have seen the name somewhere) 

11 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

,I prefer enamels because there is a lot longer working time on them and they seem to bite on to plastic more readily than acrylics which are just a skin over the surface.

Indeed, Vallejo are particularly fragile until very cured, being one of the latex acrylics,  thinned with water Tamiya acrylic bites a little more, and makes a good undercoat.  ,   Though when i was searching for some Iso propyl alcohol to buy (now the sanitizer demand has dropped off)  I did note some dentured ethanol, one of the undrinkables  added was 1% MEK, or Methyl Ethyl Ketone,  which is a type of plastic cement.   I did wonder if that stuff would help the paint bite into the plastic...  hmm.... 

Anyway, the main thiner I use for acrylics is de-ionised water + about 5% flow improver.

I really like the fast working time for them, the water does help this, and there are retardant's.  Flat brushes really help a lot, normal brushes really don't seem to work as well on large areas.

Anyway, discussion like this is why I added that sig line about if it gets the result you want, it's the 'right' one....  

 

As an bizarre aside,  I used Tamiya acrylics on leather jackets in the 80's, and it was much more durable than enamel.....  which would crack and flake, the Tamiya microcrazed, which made almost part of the leather.    

 

 

I was going to say there is nowhere to buy paint locally, though the town toyshop has a Humbrol enamel, and did do their acrylics, which I'm not very impressed with, though the little pots in starter kits are handy for groundwork if nothing else,  ...and they have now changed to dropper bottles, so maybe the paint has changed?

A place in eastbourne does, or did do, Vallejo,  but that's 15 miles and I very rarely go there,  but that easy enough to get mail order, the main reason I have blinkin' loads of vallejo was buying sets that were reduced in Creative Models weekly specials....

11 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

I found that they weren't really matched up to BS,RLM,ANA,MAP and so on

Damn right.   I  made brush outs to check against chips,  but recently noticed that they then often seem a bit lighter when brushed onto a model.  This was specifically RAF DArk Earth and Dark Green,  which NONE of my acrylics matched....  including ones that should, like Xtracrylix ...grrrrr....

 

This has led to a couple of weeks getting to grips with coming up with my own mixes.....  I have limited supply of Tamiya, and a loads of Vallejo which mostly don't really match much....

I seem to be making progress though,    Only got to find mixes for the rest now.. 

 

Back to the subject of the WIP,  one useful trick is to use a razor SAW like a comb on manes and tails, as this adds a load of very fine grooves, making them more hair like, I was doing this on my polythene horse, also works on bearskins.  I noted the Scots grey kit has two tails,  so you have a spare if you want to try it.

 

There was another technique for bearskins, which involved some kind of fluffy bandage, paint with liquid cement, add bandage, peel of later leaving fine fluff,  paint with oils thinned  with lighter fuel...maybe even the place i first read of this idea...    Don't of you have tried it with enamels, should work well.....

saw this in a old Military Modelling magazine, from the mid 70's,  I was lucky enough to be given a huge stack of magazines a few years ago. 

 

This got me thinking, the tips column was by Stanley Catchpol,  some searches have not turned up that article, but some tips are here by the chap who used to illustrate his articles, some of which maybe of use for the current project, particularly straps.  (further searches turn up that Stan catchpole was a pseudonym, and was a Fosten brother,  the article is credited to Brian Fosten) 

https://www.historexagents.com/shop/tips_hxkits.php

 

Seems there was a book that collated his tips as well....    Your threads do send me off on tangents..... 

 

HTH

cheers

T

[Troy Smith]

@Alex Gordon......   I just noticed this should have read...

"Back to the subject of the WIP,  one useful trick is to use a razor SAW like a comb on manes and tails, as this adds a load of very fine grooves, making them more hair like, I was doing this on my polythene horse, also works on bearskins.  I noted the Scots grey kit has two tails,  so you have a spare if you want to try it."

 

A razor would work but be very slow!    Also, a drybrush over these with a suitable colour brings out the added texture.   I tried it first to add some some fine feather detail to an Airfix Bullfinch.

 

cheers

T

[Avereda]

Mighty fine horse and a mighty fine thread this, though I wish I hadn’t seen those Sheperd Paine books - is there a cheaper alternative?

[PlaStix]

Absolutely superb progress Alex. It really is looking fantastic. Lovely modelling as always.

Kind regards,

Stix

[AdrianMF]

The horse looks fabulous. I used to use a red hot pin in a pair of pliers to do hair effects.

 

Sisal string my be your friend for grass effects at this scale. The electrostatic stuff looks good for well tended grass in 1/72 but in 1/32 I think you need something a bit coarser.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,just a little progress this time.

 

Troy,thanks old fruit.The sculptor for these kits certainly made a good job of them,there's a certain sublime quality that I can't quite identify.I have been known to thin acrylics with cellulose thinners to good effect.I did give the razor saw method a quick go but it didn't make a really discernible difference so I left it.Thanks for the link,I'll go back and have a longer look in a bit.

 

Avereda,thanks old bean.Those books could certainly command a lump of the hobby budget,as for alternatives I don't know.I gave up buying books a long while ago,I just don't have the space to keep them.

 

Stix,thanks old chum.

 

Adrian,thanks old lad.I might just give the pin method a go but I will need to acquire a candle from somewhere.

 

I've had a bit of an offer up to see how things sit.

 

 

There's something not quite there with the posture.

 

 

 

 

Out came the saw and this bit made me wince.

 

 

The legs will now hang a bit more something like but the way the torso is inclined is somewhat reminiscent of trapped wind.

 

 

Perhaps the pop eyed expression on the face isn't so far away after all.

 

 

This brought to mind a comment my dad made years ago concerning the weight of equipment carried and its effect known as the "splitaxxe gallop". 

 

 

Anyway thanks all for looking in,more soon.

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a little bit to report.

 

Following the wincefest that was putting a saw through the place Goldfinger was going to put a laser cutter I had a bit more of a scrape around on the basis that weight on the saddle would make things a little more conformal. 

 

 

The saw kerf has had some plastic card glued in to start filling the gap.A spot of creative Milliputting will tidy up the raw edges.This all now sits a little more convincingly.

 

 

The next thing to do will be to make the torso join appropriately.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[PlaStix]

Hi Alex. I admire your attention to getting the sit right.....even if it did make my eyes water!! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a bit more progress to show.

 

Stix,thanks old fruit.If that made your eyes water wait 'til you've seen the next bit.

 

A goodly chunk has been filed off the rear to allow the tunic tails to hang more vertically.

 

 

This worked to a degree but the bit I was trying to avoid became unavoidable,I was going to have to take some off the front.

 

 

This was starting to look more like it.

 

 

If you are squeamish look away now.

 

 

 

There's been some Milliputting.I started with an oversize blob which squashed out quite convincingly when the two bits were pushed together.The excess was then trimmed off and the remaining rounded off and feathered in with a wet scalpel blade tip.

 

 

The two bits were then separated and the shaping refined.

 

 

 

Our man now doesn't have a paunch

 

 

and sits a little more upright.

 

 

Once that has set further sculpting will be needed but its a start.Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon.

[PlaStix]

That really is coming along beautifully Alex. Wonderful attention to detail.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a spot more tiddly painting to report.

 

Stix,thanks old chum.Now that the F 84 is finished there should be a bit more time for this one.

 

There has been light sculpting and grey paint in the trouser department.

 

 

Middle Stone and blue

 

 

and gold and satin black.

 

 

Those bits really are tiny.The blue trim around the waist was masked and painted.

 

 

The thing with this build is drying time.Anyway here we are tonight.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a spot of offering up this time.

The torso has been superglued to the legs and the arms have been blu-tacked to the shoulders.I'm not convinced that the posture looks natural.

 

 

The bridle hand needs to be nearer to the centreline and the sword arm doesn't look quite right to me.

 

While I was mulling that over I glued the peak and the tassels on to his titfer.The face was blu-tacked in place.There will be paint around the periphery to hide the white bits.I might treat him to nostrils too.

 

The posture hasn't improved

 

and now he looks like he's riding a motorbike.

 

Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

[Troy Smith]

14 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

.I'm not convinced that the posture looks natural.

The great thing about this build for me, but less for you, is a reminder about doing the basics of getting a figure naturally posed before all that lovely painting. 

14 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

The bridle hand needs to be nearer to the centreline and the sword arm doesn't look quite right to me.

Good analysis.  For the sword,  get a heavy bar, and stand next to a mirror, and see how you hold it,  I'd suggest the sword arm further back, and bent more at the elbow, and the bridle hand closer in to the centreline.   

I'd go image hinting but it's  hot and I'm feeling lazy....