Advance to Arnhem 1/16 scale

[Steve Ski]

Thanks Jed.

Hey Joe, I find a little prayer goes a long way when I get into a crack and the paint just isn't flowing correctly.  Give credit where credit is due, right?

[Steve Ski]

Thanks Guy! The second face was a lesson in frustration, a real fight. I don't know if it's the pronounced features or what, but I finally got him done. The first pic seems a bit dark in the temple region, may be lighting, but I'll go over him after the initial layer is dry. If I play with them too much the oils become crusty, flake off, creating clear spots down to the primer, and brush marks start to arise and are very difficult to remove without jackin the whole shebang.

This new method of following Daria's technique isn't easy, it's taking a lot of effort to stay on track without diverting back to my old methods. If it starts going south I have to walk away, reassess, and then get back and finish whatever I started, that day. I could run the risk of complications due to the oils setting up on me. The oils are often thinned out slightly and that is a delicate issue as well. Over the years I've found that messing with it too much in one setting is not recommended as described above. Long story short, relaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx..................

Tanks Bro!

[ARMORGUY]

I know the oils can be pretty frustrating to work with. They are very forgiving but do have cons as well. The issue you described can lead to troubleshooting as in my case in the past, sometimes a figure ended up messed up. Please hang in and try to find out what works well for you. I use two layers of mat Humbrol enamels and let dry for 24 hrs. When I get to the oils I never ever thin them down as thinner makes the paint more oily and transparent. I paint with pure oils and work one stage at a time. My figures dry overnight on the radiator in my living room, protected from dust with a piece of alu foil. The foil dome bounces back the warmth around the figure and I can proceed the next day without any problem. BTW thinner like mineral spirits slow the drying time and paint with thinner in it is easily polished up while brushing,  which is a setback as shiny spots are difficult to cover later on.
My two cents brotha Steve. 

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

This is so fun to watch.

[Steve Ski]

Good points Guy. I'll have to try that aluminum foil trick. As long as it ain't on my head in the form of a hat, I'm good, HA! Remember, I give all my figures a shot of Dull Coat after the oils dry completely, so there's no shine issue, but even Bruce mentioned the Mineral Spirits. I've got it, I recon since both of you mentioned it I aughta give it a try.

I'm a crusty 'ol stubborn dog sometimes, HA!

Cool Bruce, more to follow

[Steve Ski]

Ok, so I took one looked at my mineral spirits,........ Nope, not gonna do it, stick with what I know and not mess with the "ball" in the middle of the game, next time round, right?

Ruckin On Bby!

[JCON]

Do what works for ya brother!!!

[Steve Ski]

Ya Buddy, I'll save that for experiment day.

[JED]

They look pretty good to me, I've used oils in the past and am in no means an expert. My oils were squeezed onto card to help draw out the oil and I used distilled turps (turpentine) as a thinner. As I say it's been a while but I'm certain the oils dried matt. I am tempted to get some small tubes and try again,

[Steve Ski]

You are very correct Jed, I agree. I try to keep the oils from drying out, especially with 4 faces to work. The palette goes in the freezer for longevity. I hate mixing blobs to match the prior, doesn't always come out the same.

[Steve Ski]

Team Member #2

Back at it again, finally. Unfortunately there were a few winter chores that kept me from the bench, snow being just one of them, so taking off from my last stop did mess with my momentum. I had to wash this mate's face twice already.  Ain't nothin but a thang, right?

Working with the same method as the other two I was able to get the main facial features taken care of. The punch list will be the same for this face, just like the last two, and will be done when it is fully dried. I went ahead and gave the chin strap a base leather tone for facial clarity. There's still plenty to do here, but we have the major work completed.

So far so good, I'm liking it ok. I'll be going over this face closely to see if any more details are needed before closing him out.

 

Here's a few shot of the trio. I'm going to leave these guys alone until the last face is done. We're making progress.

I might add that I am enjoying working with this painting technique. What I'm finding is that after a period of time I'm not having to revert back to my notes or videos. If I feel I'm starting to lose focus I quickly look up at my photo references and examples and they bring me right back in line. I'm still not out of the woods yet, but I do see the clearing up ahead, HA!





Ok, off to finish team Mate number 4, so more to follow soon.

Lastly, if you see any obvious discrepancies or areas requiring attention, please holler, I appreciate the constructive criticism.


Thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

They are looking awesome!

[Steve Ski]

Tanks Bruce!

[JCON]

Up to your usual standards Ski... excellent!!!

[RLFoster]

Outstanding!

[ARMORGUY]

Awesome... Outstanding paint job so far Steve. You don't need lessons my friend, you're a natural, I mean... look at these guys faces full of character, the eyes...
You are defo a figure artist! 

[JCON]

I concur with AG's assessment...

[Steve Ski]

Too kind AG and Joe, too kind, thanks! I'm vamenosin por numero quarto mue pronto! Gotta get to the body parts.

Thanks you Mr. Foster!

[jimrichards]

Hi Steve
Wow, this is a whole other world of model building than what I'm in.
Lookin forward to watching this.

Jim

[Steve Ski]

Thanks Jim, more to follow.