The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

planecrazyman61 wrote:

Purplethistle wrote:Anyone else looking at the box art and thinking, "Kenny Rodgers?"

if you can find a figure that looks like Dolly Parton to go with it you could do an Islands in the Sun duet vignette just don't forget to add weight to the back as counterbalance

Or have him as 'The coward of the County'

Purplethistle wrote:

planecrazyman61 wrote:if you can find a figure that looks like Dolly Parton to go with it you could do an Islands in the Sun duet vignette just don't forget to add weight to the back as counterbalance

Or have him as 'The coward of the County'

I could see him tearing to shreds a bunch that gang raped his girl (pretty much without excessive consequences, even if there were fatalities, since this would have been "only proper"; he might have ended up owing a large weregild though, which might explain the "shopping trip" to Britain), but this whole initial "turning the other cheek" business could only work in an environment where non-violence is considered a virtue by a significant part of the population. I think 8th century Scandinavians would just consider it tactically unsound

I could point out that a certain modeler frequenting this board seems to have a thing for building musicians, so Dolly and/or Kenny could happen. Are you dropping hints about a future project..

I wouldn't think so, Country Music's not exactly my scene. I just habitually look for conversion potential in any figures that I see.

Nothing picture-worthy this weekend, but the casting issues on the figure are all but dealt with, and the base has had it's edges sculpted up a bit. Painting should start for real next weekend.

rob_van_riel wrote:Painting should start for real next weekend.

See? Told ya..



The base was mainly done with some leftover Gunze acrylics a fellow builder didn't want anymore, while the legs were mostly Vallejo, with Gunze for the windings. The white basecoat on the exposed flesh is Lifecolor. Yes, that makes for a chaotic mess, but all those paints I bought for testing are going to earn their keep

I'll add some bit of static grass to the base later, to liven things up a bit there.

That is a rather good looking start, looking forward to the next pic. I envy figure modellers,

I would agree, this is a promising start. Figure painting is a modelling skill like any other and needs practice - I haven't got round to giving it a proper go largely as I get distracted by other subjects!

As Shawn says, building and painting figures isn't that special. It is, however, just different enough that you need slightly different skills (in addition to a common base for all aspects of the modelling business), and a slightly different mindset to go with them. Please don't ask details about that mindset thing, I don't understand myself, but I do know that I can do either figures or aircraft on a given day, but if I try to work on both, there's trouble

It's the flesh and the eyes I find difficult, Rob. Particularly the eyes. I've had figures looking like they've sniffed a whole lot of illicit white powder!!

ShaunW wrote:It's the flesh and the eyes I find difficult, Rob. Particularly the eyes. I've had figures looking like they've sniffed a whole lot of illicit white powder!!

Oh yes, flesh tones are a real so-and-so, and eyes can be challenging. In the smaller scales you can get a way with just a pair of black dots, but from 1/32 up, that doesn't cut it anymore. Can be 'interesting', especially when the sculpting isn't that great. I tend to start with an oversized blob of white, and then a black line down the centre of the eye. Then, depending on media in use, wipe off everything outside the actual eye, or paint over the excess. I'll try to remember taking snaps of these steps, but no promises..

Don't leave white showing above and below the pupil, or the white powder comes into play (may not be bad, for one of the chaps here it would have been appropriate, but the sculpt didn't include extremely wide open eyes).

With skin, the key is to realise that there's half a gazillion subtly different colours in a human face, and to avoid making it a single colour. Two or three tones with little contrast and a faded transition between them, even if the colours themselves aren't all that good, will make a world of difference.

Still, eyes and skin I've just about covered. Mouths, on the other hand.. The risk of distorted grimaces is still large..

rob_van_riel wrote:I tend to start with an oversized blob of white, and then a black line down the centre of the eye. Then, depending on media in use, wipe off everything outside the actual eye, or paint over the excess. I'll try to remember taking snaps of these steps, but no promises..

Ha! I remembered



The left eye seems to continue onto the side of the face in the picture, but in real life, that extension is merely a hint paler than the rest of the surrounding skin (as in, I can't see any problem with reading glasses and practically nose-to-nose with the figure - good enough..).

That looks much better than the dot in the middle technique that results in the much maligned "popeye" look.

hi Rob nice start to the painting and thanks for the extra pics showing your techniques
cheers craig

That is coming along nicely. Not long finished a book about the Vikings that said blue and black were avoided as colours, unless you were a revenger when they welcomed (as a warning, I suppose). Oddly enough, the Vikings seemed to have loved colourful clothing.

I persuaded him to put his tunic on properly.
Pale blue basecoat, then washed with blue-ish medium grey.

Please ignore the other two; they live on the same bench, and sometimes in the same photo



Interesting how the savage barbarian is rather cool and composed, while the sophisticated French gentlemen look like they're about to blow a fuse

Just equipment and hair left to paint now; a few more sessions of work at most.