Advance to Arnhem 1/16 scale

[Steve Ski]

Ok Gents, I've been more like ghost on this forum, so long actually, it's changed since my last visit. 19 months since my last paint session, so I'm tardy, but the Mrs. has her new kitchen! And so, what's more important than a happy wife, Nuthin! I rest my case yur honor!

RM1601 Resin, 4 figures plus groundwork. http://www.reedeesminiatures.co.uk/products/1-16-120mm

This excellent vignette, first in a series, was recently sculpted by Steve Reedees and is now available through his website. The historical photo below was used as his guide in creating this scene. It's not too often you find vignettes in 1/16 scale that are directly related to an actual photo and I think Steve pulled this one off superbly.

Using Steve's own words to describe the scene: " The first release is RM1601 which is taken from a photo taken 17 September 1944 during Operation Market Garden at Wolfheze Village. It shows a Bren gun section of R Company 1 Para taking cover in a Bomb crater during their advance along Amsterdamseweg (Leopard Route)."

"Corporal Alfred Reynolds, second from left, who commanded the Bren gun section was seriously wounded a few hours after the photo was taken, he fell into German hands a died from his injuries a day or two later."

The fate of the other three is unknown.

More historical data on this scene and the unit involved was posted on Planetfigure.com by Martin Rohmann, a "fixture" over at Planet Figure, known for his incredible ability to dig up historical information on battles and campaigns. Martin has found a Grave Registration Report Form and a photo of Corporal Reynolds' grave marker. Thank you Martin!

Personally, I think Steve did an incredible job honoring the memory of these Chaps and the unit involved with this vignette. Now I will attempt to do the same with this SBS and get to "sniffin paint and gluin my fingers together" in the process. This is my first go at British uniforms or camo patterns, so I'll be going through the learning curve as we go along. Buckle up, here we go...........

What's in the kit?

Here's what comes in the kit, four superbly sculpted figures in gray resin, and an excellent rendition of the crater seen in the historical photograph.

What I noticed right off was the clean mold work and the sparse amount of seams that requiring filing. These figures were molded with care and it shows. There's even "locking lugs/ keyways" on all the arms and torsos, as well as a lot of the equipment, which makes for some real easy assembly. Another note of importance is where the arms meet the torso, the uniform folds actually overlap areas of the torso. There really isn't much putty work to do when you have resin that locks together so cleanly. Pretty impressive.

First figure up, Corporal Reynolds!

Here we have the "Corporal Reynolds" figure completed. There wasn't much clean up to be had, really. There will always be some kind of mold lines visible in some locations, but very minor in this case. About the only real clean up for me was scrutinizing every little nook and cranny for any left over resin bits from the molding process. I used a dull dental pick to get any tiny bits that were found, but it wasn't much.

The rifle mold was incredibly clean as well, but you still need to be super careful around the rifle strap so you don't end up breaking it. It's a delicate area and I did have a small amount of slag to remove, but mostly it was just little "feathers" of resin reside. I did bore out each and every rifle muzzle like I always do. Take your time when doing this, it's a delicate area as well.

I added a strap for the Corporal's back pack as seen in the historical photo. I used a strip of pewter for this because it's just much easier to mold and shape than other materials. I dug out a bit of the resin on the pack for the strap ends and super glued them in place. Once the glue was set I formed the strap to a more natural appearance. I'll be readjusting that strap after the paint process, but for now, it's good to go.

And lastly, each figure will be mounted on scrap plywood for ease of handling during the painting process. I always drill deep into the boots and install a sewing pin which will remain for final mounting into the crater when we're all done. Corporal Reynolds is now ready for primer and paint.

One last note for all the figures in this vignette. I used Elmer's wood glue to attach the heads for easy removal after the initial priming. I always like to paint the heads separate from the figures and a lot of times any flesh areas as well, if they can be kept separate without much difficulty. Nothing worse than trying to twist a brush into a tight spot, right?


More to follow soon, Ma Brothas. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Here's the next run...........


The Second Figure

As mentioned in the intro, we don't know the names of the remaining paratroopers, so we'll number them as we go along.

Figure two was a straight forward build with minor clean-up. I like to keep the parts in this plastic tub lid so I don't have them flying all over the bench when I'm working. I really am tired of the carpet monster eating my resin parts, so this lid works wonders, lol.

Once the figure was cleaned and assembled I mounted him on the plywood. He is now ready for priming and painting.

More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Third Figure in the Line-up

The third figure has been cleaned and is ready for assembly. As you can see, the " locking lugs/keyways " are visible on most any part needing to be attached. This really does make for ease of assembly. Steve says it doesn't take much more time to add these in the molding process and feels this little added bit makes a difference. I agree with that and I'm glad he's making the extra effort to add them into the process.

What I did not mention earlier is the use of Testors Grey Contour Putty. Why am I using this you ask? Experimenting with this I found that just a "very small" dab near the edges of the arms and gear will ooze out at any visible joint location. An example would be where the shoulders and arms meet. Such a small amount comes out and makes for easy, clean, joints without having to try to putty up any troubled areas. This also makes for a really solid firm adhesion of the joints and torsos. I used this for most of the gear attached to the figures and this also makes the transitions of straps easier to complete.

The molds are so clean on this set that there wasn't much putty work to be had, but this Testors Putty did the trick for me. "A little dab'll do ya", as they say, lol.

The first pic shows just how the uniform folds actually overlap the torso, right there above the armpit area, beauty! Also, this is how I add the Testors putty to the arms, third photo.

Notice the slight bit of oozing out of the putty in small areas like the shoulder and wrist. Once this stuff sets up it easy to wipe or scrape off leaving a smooth transition. So, why haven't I done this before, seems to work quite well.

Ok, figure numero tres es finito! He is now ready for a primer coat as well.

Here's the trio so far. One more figure to go, the Bren gunner.

More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Bren Gunner

Ok, the Bren Gunner is ready for clean-up and assembly. Like the last three figures, clean-up is minimal. The gun bi-pod and carry handle are on a separate sprue. The only issue I had was making sure the Bren actually fit into it's logical position as intended.

Here's the Lad, all assembled and ready for duty. I followed the same process as the last three crew members. This one assembles in the same straight forward manner, just like the rest. The pose may look a bit odd right now, but once he's in the crater it will all make sense. And no, he's not doing the side stroke, in case you were wondering, lol.

In the crater he goes, and the fit is perfect. Each figure sits within the crater nicely, naturally. There weren't any odd angles to play with and there wasn't any need to adjust any figure poses. The hard work was already done.

Fitting the Bren was a bit like playing with fiddly bits. My sausage fingers were getting in the way every time I tried to adjust the weapon to the figure. Unfortunately I broke the left blade for the front sight in the process and the trigger guard as well. Nothing that can't be fixed in a jiffy. I just used the scrap resin from the kit and whittled out new ones.

This Bren is pretty dang accurate, like as in, spot on. It's a beauty. Steve has one heck of a line-up of weapons available in several scales on his site and they are all top notch. This one is no exception.

So, this wraps up the assembly portion of the vignette and now it's time for some paint.



Tanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Flingin Paint! Steady ar she goes mate, slow speed ahead!

Boy, it's only been nineteen months since I've done any figure painting. Missing a bunker season of "sniffin paint and gluin them fingers together" can get to ya, if ya know what I mean. But, whether it's been six months or nineteen months I pretty much have to relearn my prior techniques every season. Call it a warm up before the workout. No worries, this will be a crash course of sorts. Remember, I have my trusty can of "Easy Off" oven cleaner just in case.

I always try to incorporate new techniques with each new set of figures. There's a heck of a lot of incredible talent out there to learn from, all having their own way of flingin paint, so I study their work and try to learn from "them".

Worth mentioning

I'll be starting back up where I left off at the end of my last bunker session. I've mentioned this before in my Sub Gun Deck SBS; During the Fall/Winter of 2018-19 I started working a new technique I picked up from a canvas oil painter. Strange, I know, but the concept is the same, just in an incredibly smaller scale.

The lessons I've learned from watching the oil painter "Daria Callie" seem to work well so far, at least for me. The only difference is the blending, or not blending, of the oils in the process. One key noticeable difference in how she paints on canvas and how most of us paint faces on resin. Most of us oilers use an acrylic color base before we apply the oils. Daria uses a grey base tone to keep the neutrality of the colors more readily visible during the painting process. I see her point.

Note: I do not use this technique for uniforms or gear, only on faces and flesh tones. This is my weakest link, so this is my focal point needing of much more improvement.

I've worked this technique several times now and it seems to work well for me, as long as I remember to use an acrylic primer for the flesh tones or seal the oil based primer before working the oils. Why? I use thinner quite often when I work the oils and the primer can disappear on you quick if you neglect to seal it. The oils will have nothing to cling to and off it goes with each stroke of the brush, yikes! I gotta remember that,..........

Palette and the line-up

So, here's the palette for the flesh tones with numerous blended tones to choose from. Taking notes from Daria's videos I start with the five basic colors; Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Burnt Umber, Ultra Marine Blue, and Titanium White. Yes, even on this little palette I used a small palette knife to mix the tones, works just fine. My palette is just a piece of thick poster board covered with wax paper. After each session I place the palette in a cheap plastic sealable container and into the freezer or refer it goes. This keeps the oils workable for an extended period of time.

As you can see I have "'Ol One Eye" in the background for moral support. He was my first attempt, trial run if you will, at using this technique. I was impressed with the results and also how quickly he began to take shape. Sweeeet!

The Sub Gun Deck Captain head was done using Daria's technique as well. So, if you can get past the visible brush marks, lol, you can see the flesh tones look acceptable for a serious first run. Still more work to be done, of course.

First up to bat are the faces, always. Painting the faces first gives me the confidence right up front. Large scale figures will show you all your mistakes and will shout at you quickly, lol. I'm not afraid to start over to correct a blatant and obvious boof. I'm still learning and I've got a long way to go to get to where I'd like to be in this Sport.

Corporal Reynolds was my first choice, he has a great expression on his face, IMHO. I got a ways into the process of oiling and realized I had not sealed the oil based primer, doeee....................... I tried to fix the mistake, but you can't get oil to stick to resin worth a hoot without that primer under it. Heck, I already jacked it up, so why not keep going, get the bugs worked out and see how much I've lost over the past nineteen months.

I might add that I acquired a set of number six reading glasses. They're dang near as thick as Coke bottles, but boy howdy, I can now see the fine point of my brush up close without having that Optivisor hanging off my head. Working into the eye sockets is much easier now, so I just might see some improvement in my weakest area. I'm optimistic.

Looking closer at the top and sides of the nose, temple areas, and under the eyes you will notice the small spec areas of missing primer. It looks horrendous up close, lesson learned, once again. But, over all, the tones are looking decent and the blending appears to be working ok. I think I'm getting warmed up. I still have brush strokes to clean up, but I see progress in a positive direction. Good practice run, wouldn'tcha say?

Ok, off to the shower you go buddy! Well, I toldja, it's only been nineteen months.......... Ah, no worries, we're still having fun and that's what it's all about. If you've never used oven cleaner before it's an easy process. I don't wait long before I scrub off a coat of paint. Just make sure you try to get all the paint out of the crevasses and eye sockets, under the nose, etc. Try to get right back down to the resin, you don't want any paint build up to deal with later.

Ok, Cpl. Reynolds is all cleaned up and ready for a serious run at putting down some paint.

Let's see if I can bring the Cpl to life. Remember now, faces are my weak point. I intend to make them my strong point. Isn't that how practice works? Yep, here we go...............................



More updates to follow once the paint starts flyin again, and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Five Runs, we're on!

You'd think after three oven cleaner baths I'd get this dang technique figured out, but no, I had to go for a fourth bath, sheeeesh! I was gettin a little worried there for a bit,........................... Actually it's been an issue of my thinner working against my primer, not the oil painting technique. I have to clarify that. I'm having a lot of fun working Daria's methods. Be advised this technique is a bit more difficult working in smaller scales below 200mm. I ain't giving up yet, no by a long shot.

Trying to keep in step with the technique I'm learning I ran an acrylic undercoat of Tamiya XF-20 Medium Gray instead of relying on my Floquil primer to "hold until relieved". Sorry, been watchin "The Longest Day" and "A Bridge Too Far", HA!

My old method was a desert yellow or tan color acrylic undercoat, but I do like the gray undercoat much better, for obvious reasons, clarity of the tones applied.

Now, since the eyes have always been my sticking point I attacked that issue first. I picked up some #6 reading glasses, as mentioned before, and they are working very well, and they're cheap. I could even get #7's, but we're good for now. Using a salmon and white acrylic mix I covered the eye socket and then placed a very thin dark toned line across top and bottom of the eye sockets. Then I placed a super dark brown mix for the eyeball outline, followed by a tinted blue iris, etc. After the eye ball was acceptable I ran a light red and salmon color across the base of the eyes for a slight flesh tone. In between each application I hit the face with an old hair dryer to completely dry the prior paint layer. Uh, don't forget the glint in the eye!

Ok, the eyes have it, so we're off and running. It's still a bit of a dark flesh tone in these pics, but we'll take care of that right quick. As you may notice, I really didn't take a whole lot of "in progress" pics, but the blending process is just like any other oiler work, smooth transitions.

Once I had my tonal base set it was just a matter of lightening up specific areas and highlighting others. I'll let this face sit for a few days while I work the neck and back of the head, etc. The other three heads will follow the same process until they all have had a good 3-5 days rest from the final oiling. Then I'll go back and detail any crows eyes, wrinkles, lips, or 5 'o clock shadows, etc..

So far, I pretty happy with my results and it feels good to be back in the "saddle" again, if ya know what I mean. Hmmmmm, ..........hey, he's kinda got that "Mel Gibson", thing goin on,eh? Ok, maybe not that good, but there is a resemblance, wouldn'tcha say? lol.

There's still a long way to go, but we just got started on the meat and tatters of this build, so more to follow.


Tanks for watchin! Cheers, Ski.

 

[Iron Mike]

Pretty awesome, welcome back!

 

[Steve Ski]

Ok, sorry Gents, that was a lot to chew on right up front. I'll be posting updates regularly as I go along. It's been a great seasonal start-up for me, and long over due. Think of it as,.........you know, ..........we're addicted to styrene and resin and I'm finally getting my fix!

Thanks for watchin gents, mucho apreciado! Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Good to see u again Mike, Tanks!!!!!

 

[moon puppy]

Wow what a return!
Welcome back Steve, glad you like the new space and got your password recovered.

 

[centaur567]

Some of the best face painting I've ever seen. Gary S. XLV MMXX

 

[Steve Ski]

Tank Gents,

MP, it's been a long hietis, but I'm "back in the saddle again!"

Centaur, thanks buddy. You are too kind and your compliment is greatly appreciated and motivating.

I'm actually right smack dab in the middle of the pack working my way up, lol. I'm learning from the intense "paint sniffers" and watching their work, studying, examining, practicing what I see. It's only a matter of practice. It really is that simple, and it's a real hootin ditty worth a fun! This Sport has always been my tops, if ya know what I mean.

Ruck Over Bby! Tanks Gents!

 

[Piet]

Top !

 

[errains]

.... That's Awesome!!!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

The paintwork is looking great Steve!

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks you Gentlemen! More to follow soon.

Cheers, Ski.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Glad to see you back at the bench, Ski. Those skin tones are nice and the slight sheen of the face looks like that guy had been fighting hard despite the cooler temps outside.

Cheers,
James

 

[Steve Ski]

Hey James, good to be back, lemme tell ya! The sheen will disappear soon, oils are like that. I'll keep er rolling as long as the snow flies.

Cheers, Ski.

 

[Steve Ski]

Bren Gunner

Ok, so he getting closer, the Bren gunner, but after a few hours I'm calling him good to go till the final touch ups. I do need to tend to his hair, though. "Oh no,........not the hair!", from the movie "Four Feathers", remember anyone? Ok, never mind............

I went ahead and continued on with flesh tones for the Cpl and the Bren gunner to close them out for right now. The other two will be worked right away. I'm in that face painting mode, so they all get done now, while I have the momentum going, so to speak. Tones a slightly different, but so are yours and mine, right?

I'm not particularly satisfied with the Bren gunner's face, but he's going along for the ride, unless I get the gumption to work him a bit more. He's messin with my head, no pun intended. HA! This happens at times, yall know what I'm trying to say here, it happens to everyone from time to time, if we've been "sniffin paint and gluin our fingers together" for any length of time. His side profile is ok, but his facial features are still requiring attention.

Ok, that's it for the short update, I'll post more as I go along and thanks for watchin. Feel free to add constructive criticism, I'm all ears.


Cheers, Ski.

 

[Iron Mike]

Looks good to me, I'd be tickled.