king derelict

Suddenly I seem to have found the time and enthusiasm to get some solid progress on Mr Nabo. In fact I think I am going to call him done apart from a little work on teh base. I dry brushed gold over the light orange base for the cloak fringes and some of the gold cloth parts of the tunic to differentiate between the solid metal plates and pieces I think its fairly effective. The eyes are not quite perfectly aligned but I think for a first figure I am going to leave well alone. I have just realised that I still have his sword to paint and attach but I don't plan anything further on the main body. This one is actually easier that the daffadar - the sculpting is so good and the colour delineation is easy to work with. And of course I now see a couple of misplaced dabs of gold that need to be tidied up and then its back to the Indian trooper. I have really enjoyed working on these miniatures so another shipment is on its way from Girona. This does nothing to diminish the stack of unbuilt kits but hey its my birthday very soon and I deserve a gift (well as well as the new car I bought yesterday hem hem) Thanks for looking in and all teh helpful comments and likes Alan

Thank you OC. This has been a huge learning experience but its a great figure to work on. Yep I remember the incentives to work a calendar year without taking a sick day - and thus exposing your coworkers to whatever was going around Alan

Thank you Jack. Art Girona sculpted an impressive face to work with. Covid has departed and some enthusiasm is back Alan

you do such beautiful work and describe it so well Alan

After an interlude in the real world I'm back working on my Flowers. Not a lot to show. After the paint / masking disaster I stripped the paint off and resprayed the black primer. I took advantage of the rework to paint the lower hull black which seems to be correct for Zinnia rather than the hull red I used initially. I have sprayed the decks dark grey, masked and sprayed the light grey and grey / green. Now I need to mask and add the dark grey. Not much to show really - still getting back to the furthest point. This caught my eye. Some very interesting pieces up for auction if you have an interest in things Royal Navy. A lot of famous names there. The estimated prices suggest bidding might be a bit fierce Trinity Marine (irostrum.com) Thanks for looking in Alan

It seems a long time since my last post. Life beyond the model work bench has kept me otherwise occupied. Some good and some not so wonderful \Work out at the test stand got rather frenetic with some high risk testing which ended as these things do - somewhat prematurely. That finishes my contract to support so my time is back to being largely under my control again. My cousin from North Wales visited for two weeks after Memorial Day. She chose her dates well. It sounded like she missed two weeks of rain in Wales and we had two weeks of sunshine. Admittedly a bit hot but the sea was clear enough for snorkelling and she went home with the requisite tan. I felt rather unwell driving home after dropping her off at the airport and found I had Covid again. The symptoms cleared up quite quickly this time but its taken ages to get over the tiredness and the lack of interest in doing anything remotely constructive. Today I finally found some momentum and made a start on the flesh tones on Nabopolassar. I put the basic shades down and managed to work around the eyes. I need a few lighter shades to highlight and some darker parts. The lips need to be darkened and then hair and beard etc. The nail art brushes are a great help for the small details and seem to hold their shape well Thanks for looking in and likes and comments. Its good to finally be back Alan

Thank you Mike, DSPIAE products seem to be well made generally. I've bought a few of their tools and like the quality. I'm still learning to use the hand rest but its definitely a help with the miniature figure painting. I think it might help me place small PE parts too. Alan

Your printing is thoroughly excellent Mike alan

The enhanced masts came out very nicely Mike. Great work alan

The shading looks very nice alan

Nice, careful wear details. alan

I always liked hussar uniforms. You did a great job on this one alan

She looks very good. A great result from a less than average kit. Congratulations Alan

Looks very nice

A beautiful model; the finish is great and the photography is superb. The shots with teh reflections are especially nice. Alan

Yesterday was another day that tries the patience of men. I was adding some highlights to the tunic of the Yellow Boy and the glue (Gorilla Glue) I used to secure the base to the pill container being used as a handle cracked away and the figure dropped. It landed hard, the base separated and the head fell off again. I decided to try 15 minute epoxy to resecure everything and had just placed the head back and thought it was settled when it fell off AGIN. Only this time it landed smack in the little tray of mixed epoxy and got a liberal coat. I gave it a liberal spray of alcohol which I had handy and wiped it off as best I could. Of course most of the paint came off too. I switched to five minute epoxy and tried again and this time I think I got a good bond. Activity was suspended for the day to reconsider and repair the shower. I initially thought of going back and air brushing the black and white undercoats but I suspect I wasn't able to get all the epoxy off and if so then over spraying it was going to obscure details. I decided to use white primer hand brushed where needed and after it was dry, this morning, I started repainting. I may have lost some of the pre-shading on the turban but I think its good enough to carry on. I can try using different shades to deepen the folds. I see a couple of spots on the face which may need attention too then back to qorking on the details I got ambitious and started adding the basic paint to Nabopolassar. In some ways it might be a simpler figure to work on. Its a great sculpt regardless.. The tan colour is an undercoat for the gold decorations that will follow - at least that's the idea. Thanks for looking in and for the likes and comments Alan

I will be very interested to see how the shading works out on a horse. I have a Historex one in the pile which I bought to finally satisfy an early teenage want. As I remember back in the late sixties Historex recommended using oils. Alan

Mark I think its the same sort of thing. I think it will only be useful for working over a small area but that's really what I want it for. It certainly firms up my uncertain brush when it comes to painting details. This is the guide that was inside the box Alan

Exactly; its a bigger canvas to showcase your skills Alan

Thank you OC, I think your suggestion is better than just using brown or black washes. I watched a couple of videos which recommended the same technique Alan

Run a layer of paper soaked in dilute white glue over the foam and any cracks will be lost beneath it. I tend to think of the foam layer as the base and refine it with paper towel etc alan

Thanks Jav. That is a good tip. I have seen some great painted figures with pop eyes and it turns them into cartoon figures. I would rather leave the eyes if I can't get it right. I'm still working up the courage to attempt the pupils Alan

I hope that works out for you OC. It does seem a lottery buying from China via eBay. I'm in the same situation. I've generally been impressed with DSPIAE modelling tools and ordered their magnetic paint stirrer. It sounded like an interesting idea. You drop a small steel rod in the paint bottle and a motor on teh base spins the rod round extremely fast. Mine arrived and I gave it a try. It wouldn't even rotate the rod in the paint. Thinking the paint might be too thick I tried it with water and got a similar result. So far communication has been great and they apparently have a replacement on the way. We shall see. I should have listened to @Egilman about paint stirrers.😄 Alan

A quiet Sunday morning and a bit more progress. I completed the turban, started the belts and cummerbund. I got brave and added the whites of the eye which I guess commits me to doing the pupils. Some touching up to do with the belts but I am happy with the face. I added a black wash to the beard and I like it. I need to decide on the next step. The guide picture shows a lot of fine detail patterns on the sash and the turban. Thin stripes of red and brown on the yellow. I'm inclining to just going with some broad stripes seeing as this is my first figure and I want to end up with something I feel okay with rather than a shameful mess. I suspect the guy that painted the figure for the guide might have done a few other figures before attempting that one I'm also looking for a bit of advice. I am wondering whether to try to use a wash to bring out the details and whether to spray a clear coat onto the figure before attempting the wash. Any thoughts or advice? I bought this rather odd-looking device after browsing the DSPIAE range. Its a hand stabiliser to try to control motion when painting detail or using tweezers on small parts. I'm still adapting to working with it and it seems very helpful. I will definitely be using it when I get brave enough to try to paint the pupils. Thanks you all for looking in and for the encouraging comments and suggestions Alan