unfortunately I haven't encountered the stuff in the bottle, but this stuff is way to thick to be able to squeezed from a bottle methinks

It has the consistency of toothpaste, more or less. No smell. I did find it sticks to plastic quite well. I did a quick test for zimmerit and was pleasantly surprised. If you click the picture you should get a larger version.



Sorry for the slight threadjack. Thought it might be of some interest to others who were thinking of trying Vallejo putty.

Looking forward to more updates on the figs.

Thats a good application of the filler for zimm. maybe it is the same stuff, it does look similar!

More Gear

So Ok, we have the basics of shading down, the very basics.
This section will be all about filling in the details on the gear.

I did take in progress shots of this but they were way to dark, so instead I will show the end result (unshaded) and then list the colours I used.




Front.
scarf-928 light flesh
Gas cape pouch-830 German fieldgrey ww2 slightly darkened with about 5% black and 5% 818 red leather

Back

Shovel-
Inner=black
Handle=880KhakiGrey Washed with 950black+982Cavalrybrown 1:1
Leather parts= 871Leatherbrown


Bayonet-
Scabbard 995German Grey
Leather-Black
Strap-880KhakiGrey
Hilt-871Leatherbrown 1:1 982Cavalrybrown

Gas mask Canister-
830GermanfieldgreywwII

Mess Tin-
Body-surface Primer70609Russian Green
Strap-880KhakiGrey
Strap ends-Black

Breadbag-
921englishUniform

Canteen-
Lid-Black
Strap-921Englishuniform
Body-818redleather

When it comes down to shading these items use colours that are relative to the colours used. say you used Green, Don't shade with white and or black, Highlight with a flesh, and darken with a darker green or grey, and move into black if needed.

I hope this helps

J

Gonna need more popcorn

Thanks Kimmo!, don't expect miracles though




Shading the Gear

After base coating our gear we need to start filling in the shadows. and adding some texture by using a satin varnish on some items to simulate the sheen of the paint that is applied to them and the sheen of the material they are made from. this is not usually applied to a figure of this scale, But I am all for adding visual interest.

When you are shading, be careful to incrementally lighten and darken your colour, the least convincing thing is a massive tonal shift. from maybe black to light flesh in onw go is wayy to harsh. so make sure to get those mid tones, and make sure to spend your time on the shading. as this can really bring your figure to life.

So attention to detail, Precision, Patience and good brush control is what we need here, as some of these details are hard to see let alone paint. If you have a magnifier to hand use it! I dont so everything is painted using normal sight. ( my poor eyes!)

After some careful shading ( I will go into detail after the photos) and i took the shots outdoor( good weather) to check out the colour under a more natural light.

one Item I am having issues with is the gas mask canister. Whatever I do, I cannot get any shading or wash right ( so for now it is going to be left until I find a solution)

also Note over the past few updates I have been building up the scarf with light coats of 928Light Flesh







the Shovel.
I added some Vallejo Satin varnish to the black area in the center of the shovel to simulate the sheen of metal.
The Handle was also varnished.
The shadows were done by adding black to the 871leather brown base colour.
the highlights were done with 845 Sunny Skin tone added to 871leatherbrown. and then for the final highlights and scratches I added 971GreenGrey to the mix

Bayonet.
I used 971Green Grey added to black and graduated the highlights up. I then Satin Varnished the hilt and handle.

Mess Tin
924Russian uniform was added to the surface primer RussianGreen and graduated up in certain areas

Gas Mask Canister
work in progress. So far I have added a few black and dark green washes,

Breadbag
for the shadows I Mixed 871Leatherborwn and Black to the 921EnglishUniform Base
and for the highlights I mixed in 880KhakiGrey and then 971GreenGrey for the upper highlights

Canteen
Still a detail or two to pick out here, but so far I Added Black to the red leather base for the shadows and added 851 bright orange and 928 light flesh for the highlights.

the black leather items were then coated in Satin varnish.
So the Belt, Ammo pouches and Straps.

Well if the Leafs can make the playoffs...


It's good to see how the paints act and interact. I got back in the game recently and have gone over to Vallejos because they brush nicely and don't smell. Posts like this will save me and others a lot of fumbling around in the beginning. Another great thing about Vallejos is that they dry quickly, so when you screw up, you won't have to wait too long to fix it.

True, Vallejos are very smooth and have a high pigment density, so cover well, even with the lighter colours that always seem to be a problem.


Scarf

I have been building up 3-4 layers over the past few steps of
928LightFlesh. I want a plain white scarf, this can be difficult to paint and shade. remember always use small increments for your shading and all will be fine!

Base-928LightFlesh
Highlight-951White
Shadow#1-928LighFlesh 90:10 871Leatherbrown
Shadow#2-928LighFlesh 70:30 871Leatherbrown
Shadow#3-928LighFlesh 60:40 995GermanGrey

Result..


Flesh Coat #1 and Adding your second Arm

I chose this step to add the second arm for convenience, the
details that needed to be painted that are hidden by the arm have been painted, and I wanted to add the arm before shading the entire uniform.
Before I added the arm, I gave all the flesh parts two thin coats of a dark flesh mix Consisting of;
860Medium Fleshtone 871LeatherBrown and 908Carmine Red
I mixed it up to create a warm sandy brown. (see below image)

Prepare your gluing surfaces by scraping off any offending paint ( so the plastic bonds.)


then carefully place your arm, making sure it is in perfect position!

( sorry for the repeat image)


I will be filling the arm joint and painting Flesh Tomorrow. Stay Tuned! and if you find this helpful share it with your friends!

Filling with a Solvent Filler


As promised here is a quick guide on filling with the likes of tamiya, squadron e.t.c any filler that smells pretty gnarly.

These can be mixed with glue to seek a better bond, or can be left as they are.

As we are filling a gap that is on a painted figure, we must fill with care.

apply carefully to the required location.



When Dry or very nearly so, Run a cotton bud dipped in nail varnish remover(ammonia based) over the area that has been filled, this should tidy up the surface.



If there are any bits of filler in hard to reach places, or in a detail nearby, brush them off, or scrape away with a scalpel.

then sand smooth


and then paint with a match of your basecoat.

Flesh

Ok, so everything on our figure is taking shape.
Now We move on to flesh.

this section is one of the most difficult to pull off. and its not just to do with the accurate and correct painting of the face arms and hands, It's to do with the colour pallet used as well. I am guilty in the past of having figures that look ill or ghostly. I focused too much on the highlights of the face and not enough on creating an even balance of light and shade using natural looking colours.

The colours you will need

860 Medium fleshtone
845 Sunny Skintone
815 Basic Skintone
803 Rose Brown
871 Leather Brown
818 Red Leather
809 Carmine Red
928 Light flesh
950 Black
Gloss Varnish (optional)

and a useful item to have here is a acrylic retarding agent.
I use Windsor Newton Slow Drying Medium.


all you need to do to get longer drying times and easier blending is to mix some of that in to your paint, ( only a little. a very small amount)


As NOted before, my base flesh tone was
860 Medium Fleshtone
871 LeatherBrown
908 Carmine Red
mixed up to create a warm sandy brown.


A quick note, I really like Calvin Tan's Face painting. here is one of his fantastic tutorials.
http://zyclyon-tutorials.blogspot.sg/2009/03/painting-head-by-calvin-tan-head-is.html


My Next step was to add Sunny Skin tone to the mix at a 1:1 Ratio and paint the higher areas of the face. leaving some in shadow


The Eyes come next, having painted the lower mid tone of the flesh, add 928 light flesh to the eye area. Pure white is too bright.

next up add the iris and pupil with brown and black

It is advisable to have the figure looking slightly to the side otherwise we have someone with a daft look! ( guilty of this on this figure...)
Tidy around the eye area with your dark flesh mix and add in any shadows you may have accidentally overpainted in the previous steps

add a little gloss varnish to the eye.

Next up mix more sunny skin ton into your flesh mix, lightening it some more. and apply to the points on the face that are naturally brighter, ( the places that reflect more light: Cheeks, Ears, Brow, upper lip,Chin)

(dont forget to do the same to any other exposed flesh areas)
Add in a little Carmine red to Medium fleshtone and work a little into the central facial shadows. we only want traces of paint here to add a little red fleshiness.
mix rose Brown, Carmine red and Leather Brown into your flesh mix to create a dark pinky flesh lip colour.
apply only to the lower lip, then lighlight with the same colour lightened with basic skintone.


add some lighter highlights with sunny skintone, and then some more mixing in a little basic skintone.

fnisih off with some very thin, very precise highlights of pure 815 basic skintone. paint your strap ( if applicable)
with the hands I like to highlight the knuckles, and the tendons that run from your knuckles to your wrist.


I Hope This is helping someone!

uniform Shading up tomorrow!

All this just reinforces the fact that I need to invest more in Vallejo paints haha. Great stuff

-Conor

You can never have too much help. Unless it's from an electrician when you need a plumber.

Thank you so much for this article , you have been a great help to a very poor figure painter

firstly a thankyou to the kind followers of this guide.
secondly an apology for my absence, thing have been troublesome at home, and modelling has been at the back of my mind.


a little updated information. This Blog will follow the construction and painting of the rest of the figures in a skeletal way.

they will be intergrated onto a base alongside Broncos Panzer II D

Next up, shading and final detailing

Life has a nasty way of interfering with the important stuff.

Great SBS! I really need this!
Dan

James- I must congratulate you on a superb SBS thread, there is useful info here (and inspiration too)- your webbing gear is just incredible. I noticed you were talking about color references too and I find this really important when doing figures- for German figures I got myself a great book called 'Deutsche Soldaten' by Agustin Sainz- I use the internet to find refs too but I guess I like to have a book to flip through as well!

I'm looking forward to seeing the next steps and the small scene you have planned.

Very nice build so far!
Now, can you show your les paul?

More bad news! I had photographed the shading steps for the uniform, but they went missing

But luckily, i till have more figures to paint to demonstrate! unfortunately, you'll all have to wait a little longer!

Taesung, I had to sell it, also I really admire your work!

Argh.... shading uniform is what I need ;-) but you do all the kit first, us that correct?

There is a gent that is inquiring about painting figs. I thought this was one of the best tutorials I've seen so I bumped it up. I would like to see James get back to it one day??
J

I was going to spend some time looking for a figure painting tutorial, and here is a great one! I'm trying my first one with model master paints and using Renwall figures to try them on!

Oh noooo, you do brilliant so-specific-detail-steps dealing with these figures, makes me realize so many errors I have when building figures, neither in assembling nor in painting! I learn a lot from your topic, thanks for sharing. I keep my eye following this thread. Carry on friend

Kind regards,


Garry

That's why I bumped this article buddy,so you could use it.
Have fun!
J

never posted on here, thought that was great many thanks regards allan