Somewhere on the Russian Steppe

[mike walsh]

Thank you for your Words.

Its been a very long time painting a lot of figures at one time and I may have bitten off too much I can chew with this project.

The intention is to spend the time and detail each figure and move to the next. The mountain of work begins with the daunting exercise of painting all the resin heads arms and hands in oil paints.

Michael

 

[mike walsh]

Hello All,

Just to let you know I have not dropped the project and shelved it as a shelf queen.

Here are some progress images of where the figure status is.
The figures have been given a base coat of Vallejo Acrylic and Humbrol enamel paints with a second layer of paints to enhance the details of the raised sections of the uniforms, arm and leg pose/movement.
In between paint coats there has been a small black pinwash applied with a fine paintbrush placed in the arm and leg creases. This is critical to enhance the figure pose. Use a 0 or 00 brush to control the use.
The black wash consisted of small amount of Mig Black wash and Mig odourless thinner.

The arms, faces and hands have all received an oil paint base layer with highlighting done with white, red, burnt sienna and white in very small amounts.
To try and keep the skin colour in uniformity I dip the brush into the base colour and try and blend in to get the skin tone.
Practice and be patient with this method because it has taken me many years to get to this standard from starting into the hobby in 1987.
Notes
Oil base colour
Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna,Yellow Ochre
Apply onto all skin areas and then use a fine brush and lightly remove excess oil paint.
Highlight
Burnt Sienna for cheeks and lips , Spectrum Red, Yellow and Yellow ochre.
The yellows mixed with red seem to give you an orange looking appearance.
This stage please use a fine brush and remove excess oil and then let it settle for a couple hours or a day.
Go back again with the pin wash with a 00 Brush in super fine amount. The wash goes into the ears lips/mouth and eyes.
Use the wash in extremely small amounts because it will bleed the oil paint and there goes a good paint job. This application is the same for the hands and any skin areas.
Sort of building up the appearance of the skin in stages.
Final stage
Highlight with the white and Burnt sienna which will give you a pinky appearance. White and Burnt Sienna work better as there is more room to change and blend the skin tone.
Note if getting too pink through in a mix of yellow and red blended to give you an orange and blend with the white.
Its all down to Practice and tweaking Your Own Paint Style.
Mine - Is a copy of the Mighty Francis Verlinden who gave me inspiration in the Hobby way back in the day.

Still working on the first German with the Mg and its a long Haul.

 

[bob letterman]

Looking great Michael!

Keep on keeping' on! Believe somebody who got there! It will happen!

Bob

 

[moon puppy]

Thanks for the detail instructions Michael.

 

[errains]

These guys look great Michael and as I'm about to start a few mini-men myself this info is timely.

 

[mike walsh]

Thank you,

Michael

 

[bob letterman]

Hey Mike,

Any progress on this one?

Bob

 

[mike walsh]

Hey Mike,

Any progress on this one?

Bob

Hi Bob,

Apologies for the late reply, trying to keep a low presence in the background slowly getting the men and vehicles together.

I have been a little distracted with work with the mother in law moving in and my man cave being packed up to a point where the Man cave of 17 years is moving to a bigger man cave with an extension purely devoted to the hobby and a very understanding wife. Have plans in at the moment and the collection is all packed up

Over the last 2-3 weeks there has been work on the uniforms and detailing. The couple below are ready for flat clear and weathering. Figure on the left is the Old 90's something figure from the 4 figure set from Dragon in Operation Barbarossa with a hornet head. The figure on the right is from Tamiya's late release infantry set and they come up nice straight out of the box.

The intension is to have a little variation in the uniforms to show that they don't blend with each other.
Here is the progress stage of the figures. There has been a couple of nights getting back into the swing of things with painting Oil paints for the faces and hands.

The Tamiya Panzer 38T has just received it's first wave of washes and detailing. Over the next week or so I'll go through the stowage pack below and see what I can get on the kit. The 38T is in line to have some further detailing with the AK Weathering pencils to increase the small minor chipping over the tank body but too much to have it stand out. Trial and error.

Stowage pack for the 3 38T's

Michael

 

[Iron Mike]

Nice progress! That stowage ought to stay pretty fresh in there.

 

[moon puppy]

Adding the variation really makes it interesting. Go Mike GO!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

 

[mike walsh]

Thank you for your comments.

Michael

 

[mike walsh]

Hello again,

Here is the first completed Kit for the year and the first in 16 months.

 

[errains]

Nice to see you back on this super project Mike! This little old 38 is looking great.

 

[Iron Mike]

Looks really good, nice weathering.

 

[moon puppy]

Outstanding!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Looking good Mike!

 

[mike walsh]

Thanks guys.

One down and 2 to go.

 

[jeaton01]

Very nice, Mike. Lots of hours in those figures.

 

[Brokeneagle]

this will be a really detailed scene when its done. Can't wait to see this one completed.