Decided to paint up a figure to enter in a contest coming up May 28.
Picked this Ultracast Tanker as a draw prize at last years contest. Have nothing but good things to say about the sculpts & quality of their figures, the excellent face sculpts make painting much easier. Or as you will see my technique of washes, highlights & minor blending.
Here is the Ultracast figure. No not my work by the picture on the package, the bar is set high:
Just one tiny air bubble on the belt to fix. Thinned Tamiya putty with Testor’s liquid cement for the very minor filling. The cigarette broke off so I sawed the smoke out from between his hands. Drilled the are between the thumb & fingers. Just one minor seam to sand on the back of his neck. A total of 5 parts as per usual:
Red oxide primer is my preferred color for figures. Gray runs the risk of bleed through, ok not the risk but if it does I would rather have dark red to deal with than gray. Its a automotive brand and will set 24 hours before base color is applied.
There you have it until tomorrow. Due to the timeline this this figure will be complete a week from Friday.
Cant wait to see it. I love ultracast’s products. I have yet to buy one but they are gorgeous. The one figure, the canadian standing looking back holding a rifle is such an awesome pose.
Finally got back to work on the tanker. Been busy fixing up two other previously built models for the contest on May 28.
Had to scratch build the dive flaps for a Ki-48 Oscar & re-do the bottom runs of track on a Marder II. Both suffered damage from wrath of the ex.
Here is two WIP’s, nothing too exciting yet insight into my style / techniques:
Had some filler to repair. My mistake was thinning the Tamiya putty with Testors liquid cement again, it melted the primer off! Oh well pressed on without re coating with primer. Made sure to get good coverage on next step:
Mixed Model Master enamel Sand with MM Flat Dark Brown for the coveralls base coat. Made sure to get good coverage and touched up any surface flaws along the way. The main thing is to get good coverage without loosing all the crisp detail!This way I have the highlight & shadow color in enamel without a need to mix.
After that cured a few hours I used Tamiya acrylic Flat Brown as a wash to darken the shadow areas & bring out the detail. Don’t cover the entire figure, try and draw it where the darker areas should be. For this light color uniform DO NOT USE BLACK! All ready the suit is looking ok, flesh & highlights are the next WIP installment.
My theory is less is more. Do not build up the paint in layers, each application should be that much closer to the finished product.
Productive morning, once the paint is applied its hard to stop or be distracted!
Flesh on with a mix of Testor’s enamel Red, Flat Dark Brown & Flesh. Skin shadows have been added with a Tamiya acrylic Red Brown wash. The coveralls had the black collar painted as well, now the base coat of flesh is on highlights (Top surfaces) of the coveralls painted with a ‘wet’ dry brush of enamel Desert Sand.
The ‘wet’ dry brush is to allow some blending, careful not to ‘burn through’ to the primer coat! The rule is only go over a area once, if need be more wait for the paint to set a bit.
Here is the 3 basic skin tone colors in enamel. Allow the mix to be changed up, that is leave the distinct colors separate to ‘blend’ on the go. Once again the application is thinned with mineral spirits to allow blending along the way. Cheeks, jaw & neck. Avoid over painting the shadow areas.
Head on his shoulders!
The collar was painted Olive Drab for interest. The shine is from the Red & Flesh which are both gloss enamels. The belt has been painted with Dark Brown enamel, thin is ok as some lighter brown showing through is desirable. Deep shadows added with a mix of acrylic Flat Black & Dark brown. Avoid over doing this step as you do not want the coveralls turning dark. Just pick out very deep creases & shadows. The belt was outlined in this with a pin wash.
Just noticed how the tanker looks blushed from the middle picture above to the bottom one.
Anyhow finished up (well 99%) and just needing a suitable display base & a cigarette (or cigar) for him to hold.
Now painting purists will not like this next step, so skip ahead to the results!
The eyes have it so to speak, here a industrial wax marker is used to add white to the eyes. Get it sharp as possible and do not fuss if they come out too large, the wax can be ‘trimmed’ down with a sharp toothpick. Once the whites of the eyes are satisfactory add a bit of color with a light blue pencil crayon in the middle. It does not look perfect under magnification yet from normal viewing distance it ‘tricks’ the viewer to believe they see the correct colors & details. The main thing is to not overdue the eyes! Less is more, for example look at the middle photograph in the previous post.
Now you have the pencil crayons out add eyebrows with a dark brown, the bottom lip was colored red the same way. Of course variations of the colors can be made to get different looks. Never ‘mass produce’ figures for the same scene, finish each as a individual.
The cap badge, buttons & belt buckle were metalized with a lead pencil. The belt and hair was painted with Gloss enamel Red. Do not mix! Just use the semitransparent goop that sits above the pigment. This was simply painted over the red oxide primer for the red / brown hair.
See full circle! I mentioned how each layer of paint applied brought the figure that much closer to the finish.
I actually held off with the completed photographs in hope for more comments, it seems the thread has 20x more views than replies.
the Good, the Bad & the Ugly comments_,_ suggestions or questions will all be taken in context without offense or attitude!
Thanks for checking out the thread!
*Contest on the 28th, will post results early next week!
I think of the wax crayon eyes as more of a 'risk free’ technique. After taking time to get the skin tones right it would be a shame to have white run or dab in the wrong areas.
Main thing is to get realistic flesh tones, highlights & shadows. Also without a crisp face sculpt these techniques are impossible to get decent results.
Another point I never mentioned is to avoid dull coat over sprays. They are ok for military vehicles yet when used on figures they tend to change the effect. That is why the appropriate gloss / flat paints are used. In hind sight I usually use Flat Red in the flesh mix, so only the ‘Flesh’ enamel paint is a gloss.
*Buy a jar of Testors ‘Flat Red’ enamel next time @ LHS
The green collar turned gloss (sometimes happens when a lot of mineral spirit thinner is used) Instead of dull coat I used a thinned white glue to brush on a flat finish, this turned the black collar a white color so touch ups were needed there as well.
SF- I have to agree that using wax pencil is one of safe ways to paint eyes on figures. I will have to give it a try one day.
I learned from one of modelers here Adam (Indy) and it worked out for me so far.
I spray flat clear arcylic paint on the figure to protect my previous work. Yes, it may have an impact to the paints like you said. I use LifeColor paints turning more dull and little darker which is OK with me.
Paint the eyes using MM Enamel off white or very light tan on the eyes. Then use arcylic black for the eye pupils. So that way if I didn’t do it right it can be easily wiped off on base of enamel paint.
Again, beautiful work on your figure… keep them coming!!! [:D] I will post my American GIs and tank commander I completed few weeks ago… can’t believe I forgot! [:$]
Thanks a lot for commenting & the complements, its greatly appreciated as I respect & admire your work as well.[Y]
Will post pictures of the completed display when time permits. In the process of painting up a 45 gal. fuel drum & hand pump for him to sit on. Along with a wood display & all the fixin’s [::DD0]
Planned on using it for a Marder II to hide a unsightly road wheel that is ‘floating’ over the track. (Gasp!) The new base with deeper snow will do the trick for that error.
Here is the display I built to show the figure, plan on actually having him perched on top of a Tasca Sherman Firefly in the future.
Realized the smoke is still missing… oh well its dangerous when sitting on a petrol tank!
The lighting is not the best so scroll up to see the preferred look in natural light as its night here now.
The drum & fuel pump is from a Tamiya Opel Blitz kit. Hose is wire insulation with the end scratch built out of a SS needle, the hose clamps are tinfoil strips applied with micro foil adhesive.
One more view for continuity, the rest of the posts have 3 pictures each as well:
36 hours till the contest, everything is ready as its going to be… and to quote the Hammer:
‘It ain’t ever going to be perfect’ Least they have door prizes & draws!
The contest went well, a late entry took the top awards in the category just when I thought it was in the bag!
Oh well that is how it goes in the model contest world, never expect anything & be pleasantly surprised when you do get a award!
That being said here is the gold winning figure, it also took the ‘Best Canadian’ subject theme award:
Due to the gas mask covering his flesh there was only his hands to paint, lucky break as his other entries were kind of lacking something in the faces. Like color, character & realism!
My Canadian Tanker earned a silver, not bad for a last minute figure. Always next year:
Thanks for checking out the thread, I will post pictures of the contest in a new thread called:
That’s a very average execution on a superb high-end figure ($45 Andrea)Here’s yet another example of the worth of show awards----judges taken by a striking model --nevermind the modeler’s work.
Must admit due to a ‘last minute’ figure & base I could have done better work if not trying to meet the deadline.
Its a catch-22 situation, that is the figure & base would have turned out a tad better if I had toiled for a month on it. Yet deadlines keep my ‘lingering’ projects in check.
Case in point is the 38(t) I completed last fall for ‘Weekend Madness 2010’ Out of dozens of armor entries it got by far the most attention & discussions started. Being only one of two 1/144 scale armor entries (the other my Panzer IV) It seemed to be a real eye catcher as modelers are not accustomed to seeing such effort in that scale.
The 38(t) earned a gold. The Panzer IV never won yet most likely due to me entering 3 in the ‘light armor’ category & winning ‘best of category’ with a 1/35 scale Marder II.
I will post pictures of above mentioned tanks in another thread, not trying to get off topic yet it was the point being made of deadlines do not necessarily mean second rate work.
