Thanks Richard, good to see you in these parts.

More work on the medic today. The harness, shirt and collar areas are now more or less done. I need a bit of profiling and deepening for the harness. Tricky to get a good shot to show what's going on there. The boots were also started. I ended up shaving down the upper wraps and removing the straps, I'll make new ones. The tops were reworked to look like something, laces will be made with stretched sprue. Before I glued the legs, I got the huge undercuts out of the way for the jacket. As you can see a bit of filler will be needed.








I needed to get the legs done up so I can glue the torso on in order to fit the medical bags properly. The left arm has a notch in it to nestle over the bag so a precise fit will be needed. Dry fitting also revealed how much work still needs to be done with the straps, no point in doing what won't be seen.

Kimmo

Wow! There's a lot going on here! Good stuff, folks. Some great techniques that I want to try out.

I'm ready to start...finally. I 'd like to build some of the Tamiya WWI Infantry. My ultimate plan is to modify one or more of the figures. BUT...I'm going to ease into it, so the first one will be OOB. The only modification I made was hollowing out the sleeves. But seeing what some of you have done, I may try this newfangled "undercutting" thing that all the cool kids are doing.







It's a start...

Chris

Hi guys,

Here's a quick update on my figures. Nothing exciting, just base coats after my attempt to paint faces. Here's where I am at for my German soldier:



I am planning to paint dot camouflage pattern and I painted on the base color from this set.


And this is how far I have gotten with my knight after the face. I added the brass trims on the armor plus the blue base coat for his tunic.



And for the weapons, I wanted to experiment painting wood using AK Interactive's Old & Weathered Wood set.





That's all for now. So, till the next update, thanks for looking.

- Joseph

Another session today, the medic is starting to shape up nicely. Got the arms cleaned and reworked, just needs hollowing out and the hands cleaned and shaped. Upper and lower halves now glued, I also got a start on the rear pack. I decided to shave off the tabs and buttons to make clean up easier. The pack and the figure needed a bit of shaving to get a good sit, its just tacked in place right now.









I'm hoping to get painting by next weekend, perhaps a tad optimistic, but you never know.

Kimmo

hello,
Wondeful work Kimo ! You gave me the taste to use your technique in the near future.
In the meantime I started the head of the other figure of the Alpine pair. I guess this one will count as I just started it during the campaign.
Sorry for the poor quality and the tiny appeareance of the head.

Keep on keeping guys !
KG

Thanks Julien. The technique is as old as figure modeling, well probably. Andy Evans reminded me of it in one of his fine builds and have been using it every chance I get. I really do need to get more figures done.

Kimmo

Some more work in today. The hands got cleaned up and the sprue shaved down, the thumb on the left hand was a little thin so I added a bit of stretched sprue and will reshape once it has set. I hollowed out the cuffs, I thinned to much on one so a piece of 5 thou was glued in to build it back up. More scribing and sharpening on the bags. The larger bag is a gas mask bag, I was wondering what it was and found some nice examples. I realized some of the detailing was off so it got reworked a little bit, not 100% accurate but more like it should be. Straps and snaps need to go on all three.








Might get another short session in tomorrow.

Kimmo

Started painting – just blocking in colors – acrylics. Minimal shading so far. No oils yet.

Will be (hopefully):
Russian green gas mask hood.
Sage Green Flight Jacket
Coyote Backpack
US 3 color desert camo NBC Pants





Going for the Red Eye SciFi look...

Finally making some good progress. The medic is mostly done, need to let the putty cure before I can redo folds and stuff. The head is from Legend, there's a minor issue at the back of the head/hairline, I need a think. Either I try to fix it and have the medic holding his helmet, or plop the helmet on and tilt it back so some hair is visible at the front, but the neck is basically covered. Had a heck of a time trying to get the bag to sit properly once the canteen was in place, ended up taking too much off the back and side so it got built back up. I used Citadel Green Stuff, works great and sands quite well once fully cured. The thin thumb was fixed an I also managed to get a coat of primer on both sets of hands and the legs and coat of the trooper.










I might just get to paint on the weekend after all, knock on wood.

Kimmo

nice job Kimmo! Looking "sharp"

I'm slowly crawling back to the bench. Will up the ante by including two new figs and a diorama base to go! Here is a blurry picture of my inital composition and the two new figures:


they are from masterbox's "german repair crew" so a little modification is needed to turn them into a BRITISH repair crew instead

I have a few hornet heads on it's way in (my first, should be interesting) and we'll see how it goes after that!

Nice works Gents !
To be nittle picking, for the first pair of hand in your post, it lloks the thumb of the right hand is "fat enough" but a little bit short in my opinion. Where the thumb of the left hand is too long in comparison and a little bit skinny. Sorry for the pinpointing here. On to the painting now !

Johan: aaahhhh finally you show us something ! The tank looks great. Eager to see your progresses !

ON my end I'm taking the snail speed, as I'm in the same month quitting my job, move to Spain and start my own business...

Best,
Julien

Not nitpicking, all observations are welcome. It's a little difficult to tell from that angle but it was definitely skinny when viewed from the side, and yes the other thumb might be a little short. Good luck on your new venture.

And on to today's update, the boots now have laces. I first marked where the laces would go with a sewing needle and then drilled holes with the smallest bit I have to give the sprue a good seat, then glued, let set, and bent over the front. Brushing glue on the sprue before bending makes bending easier btw. After trimming, I did the same for the other sides. The sprue softened quite bit, but there should be enough definition to see the under lacing. I'll trim the top laces when the glue has set.






The puttied gaps seem to have worked out nicely and you can see I've added the snaps on the bag and a few straps that were missing. Everything will get trimmed or shaved down when the glue has set properly.




I was doing some testing with the helmet. I thought the head looked a little undersized but it seems the figures in the Advance on the Rhine set are a bit bigger overall. The helmets are noticeably larger than what you get in the Bastogne set, so I'm still not sure which way to go. If I leave the helmet off, I need to add detail to the inside. The Bastogne helmets fit better but might still be a touch big. Decisions, decisions. More on that as it goes.

Kimmo

I came to the same conclusion for the Legend heads. they are nice but a little underscale. They are good for kids or teens.
Excellent work on the lace.

Best,
J

@ Johan, Looking forward to your dio! Aftermarket surgery can be a bit pricey but the results are well worth it! I think you’ll be really stoked on ‘Hornet’ heads/hands once you’ve worked with them!

@ Kimmo, Your shoelaces are untied!
Not sure I’m seeing a problem with the Medic’s head/hairline. However, your level of scratch-building/detailing is astounding … as always!


As you guys can probably imagine, with twenty figures (many different kit brands) in my one scene, I’ve been running into the varying scale issue. Ultimately, I hope that modifications, putty, painting and creative subject placement will help to disguise things a bit. ... And as commented in other forums regarding the matter … “People come in different sizes.” … Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

However, I just had to do something about the giant elderly ‘MiniArt’ lady in close Proximity to the ‘MasterBox’ figure!
MB 'Price of War' and MiniArt 'German Civilians' figure conversions.


So here's the figure height conversion: I removed material from the inner leg support, legs were repositioned upward and the coat was trimmed accordingly. Now Madame is approximately 3mm shorter than she was originally.



Cheers!🍺
—mike

Addendum: I've also been working on the 'Chain Smoker' (MiniArt 'French Civilians' figure). I scribed-in some details, drilled-out neck and wrist holes and added Hornet head/hands. Then, for a little animation, I reshaped his coattail to simulate the reference image.


Cheers!🍺
—mike

Even the figure gives a thumbs up for your work

on the scale topic, look at these guys!


the strangest thing here is that they are both from the same manufacturer

Mike, your old lady looked like a drag Queen. Fortunately you offered her some surgery

Julien

@ Johan, Where did you dig up that before/after photo of me? The “after” is the big guy on the left, of course!

@ Julien, LOL!

Haha, unfortunately I cant disclose my source!

Luckily enough this works really well for me in the diorama setting with the 2 scrawny troopers and the ehm, more well rounded pog's working on the tank

Hi all! I thought I’d give ‘Comrade Commander Boris’ a bit of detailing with an ‘Aber’ PE belt and some lead foil straps. … And threading that buckle was no easy task with my poor eyesight! All magnifiers on deck! … WHEW!!! Boris still needs shoulder boards and a lot of cleanup. More to come next week.



Looking forward to your updates! Have a great weekend!

—mike

Thanks Mike, looks like your stuff is coming along nicely as well, as are the rest of the figures. The height size issue is something that isn't discussed often enough in my opinion. People do come in all sizes and shapes so a little variety doesn't hurt, as long as equipment is consistent.

Here's where I'm at now. I added a few details, boot straps and buckles, a few grommets on the bags and belt and got him primed. I'm using AK primer, it dries quicker and is easier to sand than Vallejo which I normally use. With this much work, I wanted to check everything out and if needed to be avle to fix today. I need a few holes re-drilled. One weird thing with black AK primer is that it doesn't cover well or opaquely on the first pass. The primer looks to separate and take on a milky consistency on the palette, but, as you can see, this doesn't affect the end result and actually works to your advantage.








And with a second coat






I fixed the thumb by adding a bit of stretched sprue and shaping, he also got a cigarette. I drilled a hole right through to make sure something was visible on the other side. As you can see, the thumb has a wee step which will get fixed. And a teaser with the helmet, stretched sprue was run around the inside lip to simulate the liner after grinding out the helmet a bit. Some blending and then webbing and so on needs to be done.




I should be able to get base coats blocked in later today.

Kimmo

As promised, base coats are now on. I decided to get everything blocked in so I could get an idea of the overall tones. Before you ask what colours I used, I generally don't use anything straight from the bottle for figures. I like working with a "live" palette to get a little variety happening from the get go. You can see what I used in the background of a couple of pics. No two pieces of equipment or clothing are the exact same shade.








I got some work in on the trooper as well. The arms are and the hands have been glued in place to hold position, and tacked into the sleeves. Some work is needed to get a better looking grip.





Until next time.

Kimmo

Very nice Kimmo, admiring your pace!

Tak Johan. Up until now it felt as nothing much was happening because everything was taking so long. I'm starting to think I might actually get these done by next weekend and move on to something else.

Kimmo