king derelict

This took my eye when I was ordering the last figures from Art Girona. I'm not sure its a wise choice; at least to me, it seems hard to capture dynamic motion in static figures which is why I like the A-G casual poses. The little scene appealed so I ordered it and will see how it works. I'm not sure the Spanish civilians were always enchanted with their French invaders so I have thought about adding a knife hilt to the back of the dancers skirt to make it a little edgier but we shall see. There seemed to be a lot of spare time while other things were drying so I opened the bag and started fiddling I decided there was no good reason to leave the dancers arm separate so I glued into place and the fit was good enough to not need a pin. Similarly the way the guitar and arm fit onto the soldier they seem self supporting and didn't seem to require a pin. The soldiers head was pinned as is becoming standard practice for me. I plan to build the bases into a single piece at the end of the painting. The shaded primer has been applied and shows another nice set of A-G castings. I've started with the initial glazes on both figures. I'm trying to generate two different skin tones. The painting notes describe the dancer as a gypsy so I am trying for a darker tone than the French soldier. His rather agonising posture is because he will be sat on a stool in the fullness of time which should make him a little more relaxed. Now I am at a point where my lack of knowledge about Napoleonic uniforms runs out and I'm not helped that for this kit A-G only provide a front view (and I also think some of the details are shaky) The French soldier is described as a Line Infantry Grenadier and the uniform looks right for that. I believe that epaulettes, facings and cuffs would be red, cross belts White with red borders possibly. Any information on these items would be very gratefully received Thanks for looking in on yet another miniature. Alan

A bit of general tidying up of the outfit. I found I had missed one of the light grey panels on the waistcoat so I tidied that up. I fiddled with a few ideas to better delineate the shoes and the hose from each other and in the end I put a very dilute cork brown wash over the shoes and let it dry in the folds as dust and I think it has worked out well enough. I remember my shoes at school looking like that occasionally I'm still working on the face. There isn't a lot of room under the hat brim to get to the eyes but its coming together slowly. Got a bit of that Dali look going. Thanks for looking in and the supportive comments Alan

The big bits are finally together. The nacelle to wing joint left a lot to be desired but its done and actually hasn't required a lot of filler to blend it in. The canopy has been masked and fitted. The fit was very good but the canopy frame lines were very badly cast and impossible to see in places so there is some guesswork there. With the main gear so far back no worries about tail sitting on this one. I have gone round a few cycles of fill and sand and I think I am now going to try a thin coat of matt grey primer to see how things are progressing. Thanks for looking in, the likes and helpful comments Alan

Thank you Dan. Thats great information about the Soviet finish. Alan

Thanks Mike That is good information about the Vallejo putty shrinking. I didn't have to use a lot of it this time so hopefully the shrinkage will be acceptable. I ordered some Tamiya putty to try and some Mr Surfacer 500 for the very small stuff. Its getting to be quite an armory. Alan

Your metal finish experiments are looking very good. And a lot of useful information from @CDW and @DocRob. I'm getting dangerously close to having to commit to a path with the Yak. Alan

Working on the scenery is a good thought. That requires more creativity and imagination and less precision so prefect while you get the new glasses and things settle down. Besides I always find that to be great fun. Alan

Thats very sad news for those of us that have watched the progress of thi fantastic work. The vignettes you have shown so far have been spectacular and it seems such a shame to lose it Is there a way to space out the figures already completed to populate the diorama and still tell the story? I'm now having to use 5X magnifiers for models which give a limited depth of field but work reasonably well and are cheap. Very best of luck. This has been a firm favourite to watch. Alan

Another great seascape Mike. It looks really good with the smoke plumes. alan

Thank you very much Mike. They are great little side projects that are completely different from what else I’m doing. They can be picked up for an occasional half hour and they don’t take up a lot of space when finished. alan

I tend to be a bit hard on brushes and mess up the tips. I bought this brush cleaner and it does clean well but it also does a good job of reshaping the brush tips. General Pencil General 105-BP Pencil Masters Brush Cleaner & Preserver, 1 Pack, Clear sorry for some reason I’m struggling to get the link to copy but it’s available on Amazon. alan

Those nail brush sets are great value and seem to stand up well to use. I bought a couple of sets including one that look like yours and I like them a lot. They have been great for the faces and details on the white metal miniatures. alan

Lovely work on the cockpit Jav alan

Great work. The panel lines and weathering are terrific alan

Glad you all came through okay Craig. Your new pup can chalk up her first hurricane. The reach of this storm was huge, would have covered the whole of England and Wales apparently. Looks like a lot of flooding and wind damage out there. alan

Thank you OC. Time to tackle the face alan

Thank you very much OC. Now I have to get my nerve up to tackle the Beverly Alan

I hope you are safe from damage or injury Ken alan

Thank you very Mike. I’m going to practice this before committing. Sorry Rich, won’t digress again alan

Thanks Mike. I’m now at the point where your notes on filling gaps is very helpful. Actually although the nacelle to wing joints are nasty they seem to have cleaned up without leaving too much of a gap. Tailplanes fit quite nicely and the wings look as if they will be much better than the Condor. So far I’m using Vallejo putty and letting it dry overnight before attempting to sand it back. alan

That’s good news OC. It sounds like the best outcome from a scary situation. alan

I look forward to seeing this build with interest. I’ve been curious about the Profipack kits and I’m trying to work up to a Naural Metal Finish on the Yak. alan

While glue and paint was drying elsewhere I started adding details to this fellow. First I added more glazes of dark grey to teh cape and I think it is now where I want it. Then it was onto the violet details and the white shirt. I've picked out the cast in sword handle. Now I need to add the violet ruches (is that what they are?) on the sleeves and try to seperate the hose and boots a bit better. Then the face and hat. Thanks for looking in and the helpful comments. Alan

Thank you all for confirming my thinking. I went with teh Vallejo Dark Grey and it seems to be working out quite well. Alan

I closed up the fuselage which required a lot of iterations filing the cockpit bucket and nose landing gear bay to fit. The nose landing gear bay was a pale shadow of its initial shape by the time I had got it to fit I made up the wings from the upper and lower halves. Again the sanding sticks and files were an essential part of the process. I then had a look at the engine nacelles. The kit provides a first stage compressor and a final turbine stage with spray ring for the afterburner. They don't fit. I had to do some significant work with the files and reduced the sides almost to teh spray ring before it would fit. Those oval turbine wheels never really caught on! I originally thought I would paint the nacelles separately from the wings but fit checks showed that a lot of filing and filling was going to be necessary so I thought I should get it together before the primer goes on and get the gaps sorted out. The compressor / turbine discs wont be seen unless someone is very determined. Dry fit suggests the wings will actually go on okay. My fancy forward instrument panel is lost forever now that teh cockpit is closed up I'm moving a bit slowly with this one because I am letting the glued joints set overnight to withstand the violence with the sanding sticks that will follow. Thanks for looking in and the likes and comments Alan