Logistics, The Figures Updated April. 16, 2014
Hi Bob,
What fun to catch up on this thread!!!!
All the detail on these airborne guys really makes them look the part
These are going to steal the 'scene' I think
Randy
Hey Randy!
I have definitely put more detail in these than in any previous diorama I have built. They're not up to historical figure show quality like Euromilitaire or The Chicago show, but not bad for diorama figures, especially for 350 diorama figures. I set out to improve them even though there are a lot more than in any earlier diorama I have built. As I have said previously, this is more than likely the last one of these really big ones I'll ever build, so, I wanted it to be really special.
Thanks so much!
Bob
B) That's just mind blowing.
I get nervous about more than 2 figures and you do that many,at that quality - man what is the secret to your method. :drinks
I get the talent part as you do great looking figures, but can you pass on your methods for this kind of production line at 'high quality finish' results?
Do you paint all the same colors at once?
I need to know because it is a real show stopper for me on dio's with a lot of figures.
I need some of your
mojoman.
:dude
I know you wrote quite a bit a couple of pages back on motivation (i really enjoyed your insight) but I would also love to hear your actual method for this scale of painting (as in when the flesh and when the uniforms and how many at a time etc/ only if you can- sometimes int can get a little tedious so I understand if the detail is to much.
Ian.
Thanks Ian,
I doubt you need to learn anything from me, but, since you asked.
I build them in clusters and I paint them in clusters. No real rhyme or reason except speed. Time has always been my enemy on the big ones, especially the ones this big. At age 73, that is becoming more and more essential.
I always build the diorama first, not completely finished, but enough so that I can visualize the various sets of figures, (And vehicles, accessories), I need, the numbers of them and the posing for each. I remember back in the 70s, when I built my very first "Superdiorama", that was a nightmare. Organization is the only way to deal with it. So, I developed an organization and a pattern which has remained with me all these years. As to the figures, I break them down into groups. In this one, there are, (1) Marching American soldiers, (2) American drivers, co drivers, tank riders, etc. (3) Headquarters personnel. Generals, officers and staff supporting General Patton. (4) Both riding and marching German P.O.W.s. (5) Construction civilians, construction G.I. engineers. (6) German citizens, and (7) European refugees. Those are the seven "clusters" in this dio.
I select one cluster to build. I calculate the number of that cluster, then collect the figure kits and I have a massive figure parts box with hundreds, maybe thousands of torsos, legs arms and heads, not to mention equipment, left from seven decades of building models. As I build them , convert them and pose them, I look where they will go in the diorama, then create the right figure with the right pose and, even more importantly, I make certain each and every one is interacting with at least one other figure, usually more than that, as nothing looks worse than a bunch of single figures on a diorama having no relationship with the others. Normally, I can keep that all in my head for later reference. Sometimes it can be very complicated so I make notes.
When they are all built, I paint them in the same groups as I built them, simply because of the similarities in the colors of their uniforms. I begin with the flesh parts. I run through the group and give all flesh parts a base coat of acrylic light flesh. The next day they are ready to begin. Using flat black and raw umber acrylic paint and a 5 ought Winsor Newton brush, I paint in all the eyes. Next I mix large amounts of artist's oils on a pallet. I use titanium white, burnt sienna, and gold or yellow ochre in equal measures to make the first flesh color. Then I take a medium amount and place it to the right of the initial color and a smaller amount and place it to the right of that. Then I do the same to the left side of the initial color. Then, on the right, I add a medium amount of titanium white to that blob, and more titanium to the furthest blob. Then mix both. On the left side I do exactly the same but use burnt sienna instead of white, then mix both.
Now, I have five shades of flesh in a row from very dark shadow color on the far left all the way to a very light highlight on the far right. Then I take a smaller blob from the lightest mix, place it by itself on the pallet and add crimson red. This gives me a pinkish color for the cheeks and lips. I also add blobs of burnt umber, raw umber and gold ochre. These three colors are for hair and beard colors.
From there on out, it is basically old Henry Ford's basic assembly line. I go through each and using the initial flesh color, paint all flesh parts and around the eyes, correcting any miss strokes with the flat black and raw umber eye jobs. After I finish all of the cluster, I start over, and put in the first shadows, then the first highlights and blend. Then all with the darkest shadows and lightest highlights and blend again, and so on until the flesh parts are finished.
Then I separate the soldiers within the cluster as to uniform differences. With the paratroopers, I separated the 1943 pattern uniforms from the 1944 patterns and the ones with overcoats. That way I don't have to change colors so much on my pallet as I go through the assembly line. Once all the uniforms are painted and shaded/highlighted, then I paint the web gear with four shades of khaki, green and a sand color. No two WW II G.I.s had the same shade of web gear it seems, and all that variety in olive drab/khaki colors makes for a far more interesting and realistic appearance. You don't want to overdo any of this. It should all be subtle changes. Too much contrast jumps out at you and doesn't look real.
So, no mojo! Just the experience of painting thousands upon thousands of figures over all these years. I'm glad I developed all these systems early on as I can't work as long as I once could. There was a time when I could take some days off and work for 18 hours a day for a week or more. Those days are gone forever. About 6 to 8 hours in that chair kicks my ass anymore!
Some modelers go strictly for beauty and make gorgeous figures. Some modelers go for the technical and build fantastic trucks and tanks with every conceivable detail. I love looking at them and admire their creators, but, my goal has always been simple. Realism. realism to the point that when photographed well, the diorama can actually fool people, usually not modelers, but the rest of those people out there.
And that's my trick Ian!
Bob
... fabulous work... 
