Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Maryland Continental Painted

Well, here's the first set of pics. I repainted the face, as I'm in the middle of experimenting with warmer colors. I've added more orange/brown to the flesh tone, and have carried the color up more to the upper cheeks. It's subtle in the picture, but it's more pronounced in person.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Keep'em clean!

I may have posted on this subject before but it's worth repeating. Keeping my brushes clean is a never ending battle. Being primarily an acrylic painter, I know the havoc those paints can play on brushes. To clean my brushes, I use "The Masters" Brush Cleaner and Preserver. I use this cleaner after each paint session, sometimes more than once, depending how long I sit at the workbench. I can paint a dozen or more figures with a few "work horse" brushes before they start to show wear. Combined with an obsessive cleaning routine and painting with above normal dilution rates, adds life to a quality brush.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Carl Reid's 1st Regt., 11th N.Y. Fire Zouave 75mm

This was a monster to paint! I swear, the flag took longer to paint than the figure. The figure is from Carl Reid Sculptures and depicts a standard bearer of the 11th New York Fire Zouaves, 1861. I wasn't sure about the "super hero" pose at first, but it grew on me fast. It got me to thinking about poses in general. How else could this pose have been done, yet be interesting enough to build and paint? I couldn't think of one...Carl, simply did a wonderful job with this sculpt. The face is lean and tough looking, fitting the subject perfectly. The bare arms were screaming for tattoos, popular with the street toughs who filled the Fire Zouave ranks. I have some more work to do with the ground and mounting the piece to a base.

Monday, January 21, 2013

"Turkenlouis"

A classic Puchala figure in the queue to be painted. I bought this fella a few years ago because the subject and pose is so elegant, it's just screaming to have color. The subject I'm not familiar with, but the title is Ludwig Wilhelm I, Margrave of Baden. Anyway, he's been primed.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

An Oldie but Goodie

In keeping with trying to post something every or every other day, I'll bring up some old notable figures that are buried on my blog. For those that follow this blog regularly, if I post an old project, I'll start the title with OBG (oldie but goodie). This guy is one of my all time fav's. He's a Napoleonic French General of Division, based on a study by Detallie. I just love the pose and character of the face. Just wish I could photograph him again.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Another Conversion

Here's another conversion I put together. The conversions were built while working on other projects. They were built slowly, using left over putty...I don't like waste! The subject is a soldier from Napoleon's Vistula Legion. The legs are from ARTMI, the upper torso and czapska from Historex.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Maryland Continental, 1781

In honor of the Battle of Cowpens, fought on this date in 1781, I present this new sculpt of a Maryland Line infantryman. Part of Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan's hodge-podge command of militia, volunteers and regulars, who stood toe to toe with "Bloody Ban" Tarleton's disciplined Regular and Loyalist troops. The Continentals earned victory after a successful bayonet charge counterattack.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Future Vignette

I started this project a couple years ago. I don't like having unfinished sculpts laying around so I may get back at this soon. At least finish sculpting the figures. The vignette is inspired by a drawing done by our hero, Edouard Detaille.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

More Historex "Conversion"

This is a figure I built a while back and is just waiting to be primed. The upper torso, knapsack and water gord are from Historex. The head is from Nemrod. Legs and arms are scratch-built. If I have time, I may have him painted up by MFCA this spring.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

My first sculpt-Confederate Soldier

This fella was built in late 1993 or early '94. It was my first real attempt at sculpting a figure. It was about that time when I was in awe by the works of Shep Paine and Bill Horan (who's pieces were gracing the pages of practically every figure magazine out there) and it they were my first true inspirations. The body is from the Airfix Multipose figures, stripped down then re-built up using Milliput. The face was painted with oils (Why? Because everyone was doing it!)The rest in Polly S acrylics (anyone remember that line?).

Friday, January 11, 2013

On the workbench-APG auction piece 2013

My drawer full of Historex bits and bobs were screaming for attention. The piece was inspired by a Edouard Detaille study of a French Infantry Officer late 1700's. This was a fairly easy "conversion" with most of the scratch build work being done on the hat and arms. With a little imagination and elbow grease, Historex body parts can still make a decent figure.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

F&I Highlander Painted!

I was afraid the kilt/tartan pattern color would clash too much with the jacket, but it turned pretty well. I forgot to mention in the last post, that the head came from the old Historex line. It has some neat character and goes well with the subject.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Highland Sergeant,78th Regiment (Fraser's) F&I War

Happy New Year! Personally, I hope this year is MUCH better than the last. To start off a new year of blogging, I'll begin with a piece I finished before the MMSI Show. In fact, the next few projects I'll be posting were finished months ago, playing catch-up if you will. I would like to thank everyone who visit my blog. I check my view stats from time to time, and it's encouraging to know that people have interest in my work. Thanks again!

Big ol' pile of heads and armatures for the St. Privat project.