Gents,

My debut SBS on this amazing forum. I'm still in shock from the closure of Military Modeling Magazine's forum so I've stayed quiet and watched for years...

Evolution Miniature’s 1/35th modern Russian soldier is the subject of this unfolding step by step. Please feel free to comment and criticize, but remember a fine scale figurine is just like an AFV; there are many steps that need to be taken to achieve its full potential.



The figure itself builds up very nice, only a few joints to bond. I used VMS's Flexy 5K CA for RESIN to put the figure together, this stuff is really awesome.



I then thinned out some Milliput Standard with 99% isopropyl to fill in the gaps where the arms met the body. I use an old brush to paint the “milk” into the gaps.



Once this is done, I gently clean the joint with a Q-tip dampened with distilled water.



I have to say the model itself fits very nice, it was easy to line the joints up properly. The only issue, which we will discuss later, is the hands and Ak-47.



After letting the Milliput cure overnight I continued to wet sand the joints with various high grits of sanding paper and sponges. I recently picked up the God Hand P-600/1000 sanding sponges, and I have fallen in love. They are made of a weaved fabric, it leaves the surface soft and smooth; perfect for finishing work.



At this point I called it for the night, and retired upstairs for a whiskey and a long thought on priming and base colors.

Thanks for stopping by, lots more to come!

Cheers

Lewis

looking great so far mate, can't wait to see your next post

Thanks for stopping in! Big one coming right !

Cheers

Gents,



After priming the figure with Vallejo Surface Primer Black (73.602) I let the model cure for 36 hours. My current workshop is in a basement, so I find it can take an extra 12 hours for primers and varnishes to properly cure.



A zenithal highlight is then achieved by lightly misting the figure from above with Liqutex’s Titanium White Acrylic Ink (432) . I use my workhorse Airbrush; a Grex XB 0.3 to achieve the finish. I spray the paint neat, un-thinned, and again let it cure for 12 hours.



Since I primarily paint subjects from WW2, I don't have the most accurate paint scheme for a modern Russian soldier. So I've decided to allow my creativity to take control of this project while keeping it as realistic as possible. So I grab my five year old size 1 Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush and base coat the figure with Vallejo Bronze Green (70.897). I know this colour is usually used for British armour, but I find it to be a great starting point for this project.



Now I normally add a tiny drop, just the tip of a brush, of Tamiya Flat Base (X-21) to all paints when working on a figure. I find Vallejo paints have a super strong satin finish once dry. This is not helpful when painting figures; it makes it really hard to see highlights and creates too much capillary action, turning your finely tuned glazes into a wash. For this project I decided to try Vallejo’s Matt Medium (70.540) to both flatten the paint and thin it. I normally also use Vallejo Thinner Medium (70.524) when thinning paint, so I figured the Matt Medium would work as two auxiliaries in one. I was wrong. The finish was way to satin for my liking, but I have decided to continue using it for the remainder of the project.



The flak jacket was picked out with Panzer Aces Canvas (314) and the tactical vest was painted with Panzer Aces US ARMY Tank Crew (318). The front ammo pouches were then painted with a 50/50 mixture of the previous paints.




The backpack was done with Vallejo’s German Fieldgrey WW2 (70.830), and the smaller pouches on the front of the figure were painted with a mixture of what was left over on my wet pallet. I Then lightly highlight the web gear a heavily thinned glaze of Panzer Aces Highlight US Tkcr (322). I am planning on doing the majority of highlights and shadows with oils paints, so I back off and keep the flow moving.



I drop down a smudge of Vallejo Flat Red (70.957) and desaturate it with some olive brown colors I have on my wet palette. The face mask is then gently painted. My base dilution is always at least a 1:2 ratio with thinner, because I don't want to clog up details, but at the same time I don't want to break the paint down and have it turn into droplets of colored water. Two to three thin coats should be your goal; it allows you to utilize the zenithal highlight.



I now take a deep breath, and decide to commit to painting the flak jacket in a desert style digital camouflage. My reasoning is it will break up the chest, and lead the eyes towards the head of the figure. As with most camouflage projects : IT ONLY GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER. So I jump in head first with Vallejo German C. Beige WW2 (70.821) and a 4-0 kolinsky sable.



With that done, I quickly moved on to Vallejo Burnt Umber (70.941) and continued forming the pattern. I gently prick the model and move on. Not allowing myself to get caught up on the smallest of details. It will all be toned down with a varnish and unified later on with a filter.



I went one step too far by trying to add some extreme high points with Vallejo SilverGrey (70.883) but stopped after just a few. Maybe American desert fatigues would have worked with this high point, but it wasn't working with this project so cut it off immediately.



With the camouflage done I took a breath and touched it up sparingly, like I said it will be unified later. I was then struck with a jolt of inspiration and decided to paint the helmet as if it was draped with a United Nations cover.



I lightened Vallejo Prussian Blue (70.965) with Silvergrey to obtain a nice rich blue. As per usual {?} it took a few coats to get good coverage. I then gradually added more SilverGrey building up the raised points on the helmet. The goggle strap was then painted with heavily thinned Vallejo Black Grey (70.862). The goggle cover was also painted with a light mixture of a few paints I had on my palette.



Thanks again for stopping by. This is where we are as of tonight. I picked out the handle of his knife with Vallejo Orange Brown (70.981) and Black Grey.



Don't forget to brush your teeth after every meal



See you all later! Still plenty more to come!

Lewis

Gents,

With fresh eyes and a cup of coffee I move on to completing the fatigues. The base coat of VMC Bronze Green has done a great job so far. My only real issue has Vallejo’s Matt Medium; is just not cutting it, hence all the glare. After studying a few more references I begin to fill in the lighter areas of the model.



This lighter shade of green is made up of roughly 70% VMC Bronze Green, 20% PA US Army Tankcrew and 10% VMC Burnt Umber to add some richness to the hue. Again, I thin the mixture with a 1:3 ratio of Matt Medium. I start on the back of the figure after checking paint flow on my thumbnail. It's always best practice to this, you don't want to be testing on the façade of your creation.



I made the executive decision to flip the colors on the tunic. I felt it would clash with the tactical vest, creating a wash of drab. I then placed the rifle and hands on the model to see what would be covered, I was starting to get OCD with the cuffs at the end of each sleeve, and ironically the area I was stressing over will be covered…




Panzer Aces Highlight US Tkcr (322) is my go to for straps and pouch edge highlighting. I make sure it's thinned, so that it naturally blends with the paint underneath. Think of this step like the finale of painting a modulation scheme on an AFV, pick out all the raised details. It will tone down once varnished and washed.



I also started glazing in some shadows. VMC Bronze Green was darkened with VMC Burnt Umber. Note these were “leftover” paints on my wet palette so no exact mixture can be provided. These glazes must be extremely thin! To the point where you think there is nothing on your brush. Just dab it on a piece of paper towel and slowly build up those shadows.



Looks like we are finally starting to obtain a decent looking figure, still lots of work to be done. I haven't decided how I am going to address the leather boots, but I think at this point I'm done with acrylics.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Lewis

Very interesting guide. Do you have an idea how to paint Desert Marpat 1:35?
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/284519&page=1

Gents,

After varnishing the figure with Ammo’s Lucky Matt Varnish ( A.MIG 2051) I let the figure cure for 24 hours. It is my first time using this varnish, and so far I am very happy with it. No hairs or loss of color. My only issue is I flooded a few areas which left the figure slightly more satin in certain areas. Not a big deal since we are continuing on from this point.



I begin to re-establish the base colors of the uniform with a very light oil filter. I picked up the GREEN TONES SET of Oilbrushers from AMMO during the D-day sale. They are great for speedy work, but in the end I prefer 502 Abteilung oil paints for their versatility. I find the AMMO oil paint to be to wet. This will come into play once we start highlighting and blending.



Remember these are filters, so they are super super diluted with white spirit. One issue you will come upon when working with such a small amount of product is that near the bottom of the palette the paint gets richer due to the build up of pigment so you wont get an even coat, and will be left with an unwanted build up of color. Not a big deal, we can just blend it in after it's dried a little.



Today I used Olive Green ( A.MIG 3505) and Field Green ( A.MIG 3506) for filters. I save the final color Dark Green (A.MIG 3507) for later use; having a dark green ready will save us later for touch up. Olive Green was used on the lighter areas of the uniform while the field green was used to saturate the darker areas of the uniform. Try and keep these filters as clean as possible, we don't want these colors to bleed into each other too much, our washes will take care of that. If you do, just use a clean brush with white spirit to clean the area. I was a little lazy on a few of the select folds, but these will be highlighted as a whole, so it shouldn't be an issue.



I also lightly filtered the flak jacket with AMMO's Tan for 3 Tone Camo Filter (A.mig 1510) I cannot over stress how thin these filters need to be..



With that done, I need to wait another 24 hours before we can move onto the next stage: oil wash. So I prep an assortment of ABT 502 oils on my palette and leave them overnight on a piece of cardboard to drain excessive linseed oil off. This will help the oils dry faster and keep their finish matte.



And for those curious, the three green paints in the center are from the AMMO Green Tones Oilsbrusher set (A.MIG 7502)

Thanks again for stopping by! Were coming to the home stretch!

Lewis

MakiWawa - Thanks for checking in!

Hmmm

I would start with your mid tone. Then dot in your high tone and finally on the edges of your high tones add your low tone... Try it on a piece of extra sprue. And remember to unify it with a light filter once complete. Your varnish will tone it down too. So don't be overwhelmed at first.

Gents,

Between the oil washes , Covid-19 and other projects I spaced a little on this figure; sorry for the wait.

After re-establishing our color palette with glazes of various shades of green I began highlighting the figure. I decided to try something new since the fatigues are relatively all the same color. ABT 502 Buff (ABT035) was loosened up with a little white spirit and gently applied to relevant areas. Work in chunks, to avoid allowing the oils to stain the base color too much. Once applied I blended the highlights with a Princeton Velvetouch filbert (3950FB-4) , a brush that was personally recommended to me by Scott over at Small Soldier on YouTube.



After allowing the highlights to cure for 3-4 days, I blend them further with a very thin glaze of light green, this is a skill you see fantasy painters doing all the time. After that was done, I began to work on the AK-47. An assortment of brown was still on my wet palette so began wet blending some wood colors on the stock and handle of the weapon. As I mentioned earlier I Primarily work in the ww2 era so I don't have too much stock in accurate colors for this build. The metallics were done with a Vallejo Metal Color Steel (77.712) and highlighted with Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium ( 77.701) . I normally swear by metallic pigments for weapons and gear, but decided to try these out since I just picked them up. At first I was very unhappy with them, at least for figures, these pants are amazing for AFV and dioramas, but like most metallics they have a thicker pigment, which can look clumpy if not properly thinned. Once that was done I washed the weapon with a black wash to tone it down.



The weapon was tacked on with VMS 5k resin and left to cure for a night. I was surprised how well it fit, since I mentioned it would be an issue at the beginning of this article. It’s not a perfect fit by any means, I'm starting to think the figure itself is a knockoff, but that is a story for another time.



With that, I am calling this figure done until a later date. I know the boots are still just a base color, but I have a little diorama in mind, which I will post here once I start. So it will get done. I want to say thanks again for stopping by. Please feel free to ask questions regarding figure building, I have been doing this for close to 20 years. This was a fun little quick build and paint. I hope you enjoyed it! I’ve got a few Verlinden figures I'm about to prime for the next article!

Any photography tips would be appreciated!

I need to step that game up!