I just thought I would post some pics of my latest little vignette - Master Box's German MG Team; Kurland. I should explain, I don't do figures very well, at least, not to the level of the posters in this group. Mainly, I do aircraft, AFV's and a few ships now and then. But, when I get a little "builder's block", my answer has always been to put together a little scene, just a little vignette, and somehow, the creative juices start flowing again, and I'm off and modeling. This kit caught my eye.

I'm a big fan of Master Box kits. They always seem to have vignettes in mind when they product a kit, and I love it. This kit was no exception. The main reason I bought it was for the Machine Gun itself. It looked cool on the box art, and I wasn't disappointed when I finally saw it. It is a beautifully detailed kit on its own. The figures were nice, but did need a lot of clean-up, and a couple needed some careful dry-fitting, but all in all, very nice. The seperate "hoods" on their jackets was a nice touch, and gives them a little something extra, IMHO. Paint used was Model Master Enamel. Like I said, I only wish I could do figures better, but, at my level, I was very pleased with the results.

A friend made the base for me, testing out a new router bit. The ground-work was Woodland Scenics Blended Turf, a little Fine Buff Talus, and some bristles donated from a paint brush for the tall grass. Here is the result:





And finally, here it is in my display case, joining some other "builder's block" projects. Very sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. It is all the fault of the user, not the camera.




Cheers,
Mike

Mike Nachman very nice vignette!With witch paint figures is painted?
Others work,olso looking greate!
P.s:sory for my bad English

WE all aren't Rembrandt, Mike, myself included.
The main thing is to have fun, and enjoy painting them, and making these little vignettes.
I agree, Master-box, seems to have vignettes in a box, in mind, when they design their sets.
Nice job on the figures.

Mike,
Great job on those figures...I actully have that set myself for the same reason, the box are rocks and the poses are great!

Your figures are looking good, and your faces especally look good. You may want to try getting some smaller brushes to do cammo, and also try using thinned enamels to add shadows and highlights. I used to use oils, but im starting to go back to thinned enamel paint (model master as well). Just take some very dark brown, put a blob on a pallette (a yogurt lid works great), then add some mineral spriits or paint thinner (i use cheap wall mart brand) untill you get a translucent paint. then use a small brush and add to the cracks, shaddows, etc. Take your time, and layer on multiple coats for darker areas. After that dries, do the same for highlights but use a very light sand (NOT white)

you can actully use the same technique with faces...

key thing is have fun, and keep pushing your limits with new techniques!
Andy

Thanks, guys, for the comments. It is most appreciated:

smitsan - I use Testors Model Master enamel paints, exclusively. I generally brush paint all my figures, but this time I airbrushed the first, dark green base, and hand painted the rest. Thank you for your very nice comments. Your English is fine, not to worry.

Dave - Thanks much, and agreed. I really do enjoy these little vignettes, and I always have fun doing them. For where I am now, in terms of experience and talent, I'm happy with the results I am getting, but when I see the real Masters showing their work here, I admit I get a little down on myself. But, I always remember, it's a hobby, and fun is the desired result.

Andy - Thank you very much, for your kind comments. I have been trying to work on the "flesh" parts of my figures recently, and have made a little progress. Your idea to use enamels for shading/highlighting is interesting. I had played with oils a bit, but on my test pieces, the terpinoid I used for thinning kept eating through the dullcoat, and ruining the underlying paint. I kind of gave up on the idea. But, maybe all enamel all the time is the answer. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a test run. And you are right, I do need some smaller brushes...this camo job really brought that home to me. I am internet shopping big time.

Thanks again, guys. It's nice to know you can always count on the Armorama family for good advice, and a kind word.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike. Great little scene.
The most important fact is that you had fun. The thing with figures is, you need to paint them more often, to improve. Ive got figures to standard where Im happy (but still have a long way to go) ... but Im getting loads of help from some gifted figure painters also ... but when long lengths of time lapse without any figure work, the quality goes back. Looking at what you´ve done already, theres some really nice scenes, so maybe you you should think about planning in some small vignettes like this, maybe twice every year, or even more regularily?

Hi Frank, thanks much. You know, you are absolutely right. When I started this vignette, I could tell that the third figure I worked on was coming along much nicer than the first. It was just a matter of my getting used to figures again. And a great idea to do more of them, more regularly. They started as just a little "pick-me-up" when the modeling juices dried up. But my wife does like them better than anything else I do (she likes that they tell a story..lord knows she's heard enough of mine over the years, but she still likes stories ). I will have to break out a few more figures from the stash, and get busy.

Cheers,
Mike