Older figures from Michael Roberts, Dragon, Andrea, and Tamiya

Part of the reason I put this blog up was to document for myself the progress I have made or not made. For me personally it is good to see my work through the filter of pictures. You can judge more critically the areas where you need to improve or clean up when you see it through a web browser with close up photographs. I know that I often miss things because I am looking at the figure for so long during the painting process that I just skip over things that are apparent later on. In the spirit of that idea I am posting some older works that I have not put up yet. These works are several years old so it clearly shows areas where I have improved and need to improve.

The first is a 1/12 scale Michael Roberts Ltd figure of a Napoleonic Era Trumpeter. Looking back over it I know that the white of the eyes are a bit on the large side and the iris and pupil should be larger. The red of the uniform needs to be a brighter shade of red as well. I am not certain but I believe this guy is a French Trumpeter but the uniforms are quite similar during this time period so he could be representative of another European nation.

Next up to bat is a 1/16 Tamiya Modern German Bundeswehr Tanker. I actually am very pleased with the way the camouflage pattern came out on this figure. I think it follows the pattern pretty well as used by the tankers of this era. The forehead on this figure needs some work and I think the problem is that I went with eyebrows that are too blonde and do not show up well.I would also update the base as it is pretty dull and lifeless. I can verify that at figure shows it might say on the admission form and they might tell you that they do not judge on the base, just the figure, but I assure that they do judge on the base. It really can not be helped, the base will affect their decisions. I was told that by several judges at a national show and it makes sense.

Next up is a 1/16th Tamiya US Infantry troop from the 1st Gulf War. I actually like this figure a lot. Again I think the camouflage pattern is pretty accurate (he is wearing a chemical warfare suit) and the face turned out pretty well. The thing I would change first is the base. That base I have on there just isn't cutting it. Other than that I am pretty pleased with this guy from 5 years ago.

Below are two pictures of the Andrea Miniatures 54mm Mad Karnik and Stonebrain Gozbog. They are goblins and what I wanted to do is make a vignette that shows the one guy on the left acting crazy and the figure one the right looking out of the corner of his eye at him like he is an idiot. I like the paint job and color selection on it and I would not alter what is already there. The only thing I would change on this display is to redo the base. Again, this base just does not cut it. I am beginning to sense a theme in this: Bases need improvement.

The last item up for bid is a 1/16th Dragon Florian Geyer Trooper on Horseback. Again, this one turned out pretty well on the camouflage. The tones on the face would be done differently today but all in all I think it turned out well.

New links

This is a link to a good friend of mine who is primarily a monster builder though he is also an excellent armor builder and all around modeller. He is an extremely creative and excellent painter and his site is definitely worth your time to check out. He has just started his blog and he will be updating with new projects and works. His site can be found here:

http://lynnshouseofmonsters.blogspot.com/

The second link is another good friend who is a master sculptor. His work is true art and not necessarily for miniatures. Definitely worth your time to check out:

http://alanbaughmansculpture.com/bronze,_steel,_stone,_terra-cotta,_wood,_sacred_art/sculptures.html 

Warriors 1/9 Resin Fallschirmjager Bust

This bust was done a year ago and I think that the camouflage turned out reasonable well. The face has a very aquiline nature to it and you could easily place that face on a Elven character given the nature of the features. All in all I am pleased with the figure and I think it accurately depicts the uniform of a German Paratrooper during the late war period.

54mm Teutonic Knight

This is an older paint job from a few years back. The figure I believe was produced by Andrea Miniatures but I am not 100% certain of that. It was a close out item from Squadron Mail Order a few years ago. The dirt on the cape was made from using several shades of earth tones from Mig Productions pigments. I would like to say the cross was done by hand but it was actually a decal from the Warhammer Space Marine sheet, and in particular, the iconography of the Black Templar's. To get it smooth and avoid the decal look I put a small amount of Vallejo High Gloss varnish just on that section where the decal would go, placed the decal and let it set, then put Vallejo Matt varnish over the whole area where the icon was placed. For example, the chest received the decal so I put the matt over the entire chest piece to, not just the area where the decal sits. That gave the entire section a uniform appearance.

1/16 Dragon Wehrmacht Unteroffizier (Eastern Front 1943)

This is another of the Dragon series of figures in 1/16th scale. I have almost all of the series except for two so hopefully I will be able to get them all painted and posted. Not much in terms of new techniques though I did try to really highlight the sculpt and shape the face to show anger and aggression. The face was already sculpted to show that so I just tried to emphasize the expression by working with the eyes and emphasize his scowl.

I would say comments and suggestions are welcome but that goes without saying. I must add that with the overwhelming response I am getting and massive amounts of comments on here I might need to ask people to slow down on their input. I would hate to shut down the Blog spot server again. Yes that is intended as ironic. Anyway here are some pictures of the kit.

Draconia Miniatures Droohan-Taff

This is a 54mm figure that I painted up to resemble a character cornered and turning to face his enemies. Sort of a back against the wall, last stand sort of vignette. I placed him in a snow setting as he seemed to have a Nordic appearance. Draconia makes a lot of fantasy figures but I think this guy could fit into a historical setting quite easily. The slate for the wall and grounds came from a new home construction site near my house and the log is a branch from the backyard. The twigs are from the floral section of Hobby Lobby that I clipped the ends off to resemble barren plants in winter. Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome.

Wargames Factory War of Spanish Succesion French Figures

This is a unit of the Wargames Factory War of Spanish Succession 28mm figures. They are painted up to match the Aunis Battalion. I do not play wargames so it could be wrong on some of the aspects of the uniforms but I did quite a bit of research to try and get it as close as possible. They are not painted up to a level of a single figure but they are passable for a table top standard. My goal with this type of project is to show them in mass rather than as a competition level single figure. That basically means I do not have the time nor the desire to spend the time on each individual figure as I do for a single display figure.

As anyone who has worked on these figures will know, even unpainted the eyes on these figures are huge. They are just sculpted like they are startled. I tried to get them down smaller but they still need some work. The close ups of the eyes make them look like they can see the future so I will probably go back and try to reduce them somewhat.

Despite that I would recommend them to anyone looking to get into the era of the WSS as Wargames Factory has complete set of infantry, cavalry, and artillery for this era. No figure is perfect and people have raised issues with them but for me the only drawback is the eyes and that can be overcome with painting. These are a nice solution to getting a lot of figures of this era done for a good price so check them out.

The plan for this project is three more infantry battalions of this size, one cavalry unit, and a unit of artillery. The other units will be different French regiments that were involved in the WSS.The long term goal is to have a matching set of British and Allied units to show the diversity of uniforms in this Old World conflict that is unknown to many in outside of Europe.

Tamiya 1/35 Rommel Vignette

This is an old 70's kit from Tamiya. I left it stock except for the two infantry men heads which I swapped out with some other vintage Tamiya heads. I really like the older Tamiya kits as they are essentially small dioramas in a box. They are rough and probably inaccurate for rivet counters but fun to build and paint up.

Panzer Grenadier (Kharkov 1943) Dragon

Been awhile since my last update. Here is a 120 scale Dragon Panzer Grenadier. Like all of the 120 Dragons it went together easily. I need to add a strap for his gun but other than that it is done. I used Woodlands Scenics Snow for the base. Suggestions or comments are welcome.