Nabopolassar King of Babylon and Daffadar, Skinners Horse by king derelict - Art Girona - 54 mm

[king derelict]

19 hours ago, Egilman said:

 

For the prices they charge they had better be.... (I get their catalogue on a regular basis, but only buy if absolutely needed and they are the only source)

I get that catalogue. Full of stuff you must have - but thankfully the prices stifle any impulse buys

Alan

[Jack12477]

4 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I get that catalogue. Full of stuff you must have - but thankfully the prices stifle any impulse buys

Alan

Ditto ! 😇

[CDW]

Those are some fine-looking figures, Alan. Very sharp details.

[king derelict]

17 hours ago, CDW said:

Those are some fine-looking figures, Alan. Very sharp details.

I am quite impressed with the details although I have read some mixed reviews since I bought them. They have a wide range of figures across history. I bought them from Art Girona i Spain and they arrived very quickly although I have found you can get them in the US. I just need a few nights off from work to make some progress

Alan

[king derelict]

A bit of time today so I watched the Night Shift video about the glazing painting technique then fired up the air brush.

I'm not sure how well this has come out; maybe not enough white on the Yellow Boy and too much on Nabopolassar? We shall see. 

 

000 size brushes on order hopefully getting some time to start painting this week.

The universal clamp works well for holding the figure. Thanks @Jack12477 for the suggestion. The one from Micromark arrived yesterday and to my eye is identical to the one from Walmart. Well spotted @Bob Cleek. The Micromark one is a universal clamp for modelers; the Walmart one is for jewelry makes. Stick it to the modelers as usual. 

Its handy having the two; I can just swap the handle between figures to alternate work.

Thanks for looking in, the comments and likes

Alan

 

[Old Collingwood]

7 minutes ago, king derelict said:

A bit of time today so I watched the Night Shift video about the glazing painting technique then fired up the air brush.

I'm not sure how well this has come out; maybe not enough white on the Yellow Boy and too much on Nabopolassar? We shall see. 

 

000 size brushes on order hopefully getting some time to start painting this week.

The universal clamp works well for holding the figure. Thanks @Jack12477 for the suggestion. The one from Micromark arrived yesterday and to my eye is identical to the one from Walmart. Well spotted @Bob Cleek. The Micromark one is a universal clamp for modelers; the Walmart one is for jewelry makes. Stick it to the modelers as usual. 

Its handy having the two; I can just swap the handle between figures to alternate work.

Thanks for looking in, the comments and likes

Alan

 

Tell you what mate  -  you have  brought  out the  details  in those Two   - lovely  work mate.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

I agree with OC. The details look great on both figures.  Glad your vices arrived [pun intended] 😊

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, king derelict said:

000 size brushes on order hopefully getting some time to start painting this week.

Another tip for you and anybody else who hasn't discovered it as yet: There is a wealth of fine detail brushes available at a fraction of the cost charged by modeling and artists' supply stores, in fact, at almost "disposable brush" prices, to be found listed for sale to manicurists. It seems there's a lot of fine detail painting now fashionable in the manicure business. Check out the manicurists' "nail art" sites for ultra-fine brushes of all types, particularly lining brushes. See: Amazon.com : nail art brushes and Nail Art Brushes for sale | eBay

 

 For example: Nail Art Brushes Nail Liner Brush Liner for Nails Easy Hold Thin Nail Art Design | eBay, $7.91 w/ free shipping:

 

Edited May 6 by Bob Cleek

[king derelict]

On 5/5/2024 at 3:00 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Tell you what mate  -  you have  brought  out the  details  in those Two   - lovely  work mate.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. here's hoping this will continue well.

 

Alan

[king derelict]

On 5/5/2024 at 3:47 PM, Jack12477 said:

I agree with OC. The details look great on both figures.  Glad your vices arrived [pun intended]

Thank you Jack. The vice was a great suggestion (and its legal)

 

Alan

[king derelict]

21 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Another tip for you and anybody else who hasn't discovered it as yet:

Thank you Bob. Thats another great tip which I will definitely try. Reviews are generally positive. it looks like it pays to think a bit laterally instead of just jumping to the model supplier.

Alan

[Roger Pellett]

These Art Girona figures are well done.  I like Indian Army subjects and would love their Mounted Corps of Guides figure.  Maybe someday.

 

I have a simple method for mounting 54mm figures to paint:  A small block of wood glued to the bottom of the base of the figure with Duco Cement.  when the figure is done an Xacto knife or palette knife slid between the figure base and wood block separates it easily.

 

Roger

 

[king derelict]

I've always liked the 19th century Indian Army units. Flashman and all that but they do have an air of romance about them. They seem a bit underrepresented in the model world. I missed the Art Girona guides figures; they look great but expensive. I'll see how much I bodge the Yellow Boy first.

An uncle had a squadron of Indian lancer lead soldiers with pivoting arms when i was a kid. I wonder what happened to them

Alan

[Jack12477]

Alan, are you going to use acrylics or oils to paint these figures? If acrylics, you might want to invest in a wet palette. I use the Sta-Wet brand from Michaels about $18 with 5 sheets, 8.5"×7"×1. Refill packs are about $9 . I use mine extensively, very worthwhile accessory, it will keep paint wet overnight. 

[king derelict]

3 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

Alan, are you going to use acrylics or oils to paint these figures? If acrylics, you might want to invest in a wet palette. I use the Sta-Wet brand from Michaels about $18 with 5 sheets, 8.5"×7"×1. Refill packs are about $9 . I use mine extensively, very worthwhile accessory, it will keep paint wet overnight. 

Thanks Jack. I was planning on using Vallejo Acrylics. I already have a set and they seem to have the colours I need. I was reading up on figure painting and decided I needed a wet palette. I think I might be able to slide into Michaels before I head to work tomorrow. Thanks for the tip. Much appreciated

Alan

[Jack12477]

Vallejo is the brand I use also.

[king derelict]

7 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

Vallejo is the brand I use also.

Thats encouraging. I anticipate plenty of arm exercise shaking them. They seem to need a serious agitation to get a good consistency

Alan

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, king derelict said:

They seem to need a serious agitation to get a good consistency

Invest in a medical grade paint shaker, or stainless steel balls... Or the budget alternative, a bottle of Copperheads.... I generally put 5 in a bottle, it doesn't take much shaking to get a good mix that way, gives you creamy smooth paint when combined with a medical grade shaker...

[king derelict]

24 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Invest in a medical grade paint shaker, or stainless steel balls... Or the budget alternative, a bottle of Copperheads.... I generally put 5 in a bottle, it doesn't take much shaking to get a good mix that way, gives you creamy smooth paint when combined with a medical grade shaker...

Thank you very much EG. Copperheads were a new term to me and several Google pages about snakes didn't help much but a belated guess got me a bottle ordered with the wet palette. Thats a great help

Alan

[Egilman]

Yep, Copperhead BB's .177 cal. (4.5mm) Steel covered in Copper....

Cheap and very effective... I bought a bottle of 1500 4 years ago for under $10.00 and still have over half of them...

 

Mfg. by Crossman of Air rifle fame for a goodly number of decades.... You can get them pretty much anywhere, Wally World is where I get mine... 

 

Or you can buy the Stainless ones, for three times the price for only a few hundred from the model paint manufacturers...

 

In this particular case cheaper is better.... {chuckle}

 

But seriously, if you have a large collection of seldom used paints that tend to settle out in the bottle a paint shaker is a fantastic way to revive them, especially if you have a few copperheads in the bottle, there are several do it yourself shakers online and several cheaply made ones from the model supply companies... But liquid shakers are old old tech, they have been using them in the drug manufacturing industry for over 5 decades, those are the ones to get, built to last... Yes they are pricy, but they seldom fail or break... You will probably never need to get a second one....

[king derelict]

On 5/7/2024 at 5:19 AM, Egilman said:

But seriously, if you have a large collection of seldom used paints that tend to settle out in the bottle a paint shaker is a fantastic way to revive them, especially if you have a few copperheads in the bottle, there are several do it yourself shakers online and several cheaply made ones from the model supply companies... But liquid shakers are old old tech, they have been using them in the drug manufacturing industry for over 5 decades, those are the ones to get, built to last... Yes they are pricy, but they seldom fail or break... You will probably never need to get a second one...

Many Thanks EG. Great advice as always and much appreciated.

 

Alan

[king derelict]

After all the great advice, the Copperhead BBs, wet paletta and nail art brushes have arrives.

A couple of the brushes may be over long for me to use but the others look good and hold a point very well. I don't see any stray bristles in any of them.

Now if only Amazon would deliver a couple of days away from the test stand I could get going.

 

Thanks for all the help

 

Alan

\

[king derelict]

Today was the day when the modelling gods decided I needed a good poking. 

 

I soaked the paper for the wet palette and soaked the sponge. Added BBs to the paint and got a good consistency. New brushes at hand and ready to go.

I picked up the daffadar in the universal clamp and had a brushful of yellow paint poised and, to my horror, the figure fell out of the clamp. I guess I didn't clamp the base tight enough.

The day being what it was the daffadar landed on the Nabopolassar figure which was lurking on the bench. Both heads detached and the soldiers base fell off. 

No obvious damage and the pieces were glued back in place but that shut down any painting plans for the morning. I turned my attention to removing the masking from my Flower Corvette and found that paint had seeped through the masks EVERYWHERE. I've never had a result as bad as this.

Maybe stuffing teddies isn't a bad idea after all.

Alan

[king derelict]

I managed to get a bit of time yesterday and today and got out the colours. About five coats of yellow on the tunic and I am not sure if its too much. I'm feeling my way with the glaze technique. Not too terrible so far. The first coat on the red parts of the turban and some black details.

I'm still learning how to use the wet palette so this is all a bit learning experience.

The paints are Vallejo Model paints and the BBs really make a difference to mixing them. The face and hands are using Mig Ammo flesh tones which I think are very nice. He may be a bit dark but I will see how he looks with the beard filled in. 

I'm a bit leery of the clamps after the earlier problem so I think I will glue him to a temporary base of some sort for the remainder of the work

Thanks for looking in and all teh helpful comments and suggestions

Alan

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

9 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I managed to get a bit of time yesterday and today and got out the colours. About five coats of yellow on the tunic and I am not sure if its too much. I'm feeling my way with the glaze technique. Not too terrible so far. The first coat on the red parts of the turban and some black details.

I'm still learning how to use the wet palette so this is all a bit learning experience.

The paints are Vallejo Model paints and the BBs really make a difference to mixing them. The face and hands are using Mig Ammo flesh tones which I think are very nice. He may be a bit dark but I will see how he looks with the beard filled in. 

I'm a bit leery of the clamps after the earlier problem so I think I will glue him to a temporary base of some sort for the remainder of the work

Thanks for looking in and all teh helpful comments and suggestions

Alan

 

 

Very nice work Alan - quite a colourful chap.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

Looking good Alan ! 👍 

[king derelict]

On 5/16/2024 at 7:55 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Very nice work Alan - quite a colourful chap.

 

OC.

Thank you OC. Let’s see how I do on the details! As I understand it Skinners Horse are the only British Army unit to have worn yellow. Very distinctive. I’ve just found that Art Girona has a lot of 19 th century Indian army subjects in their 70 mm range. That could solve birthday presents for a while (or frighten the credit card)

alan

[king derelict]

On 5/16/2024 at 9:07 PM, Jack12477 said:

Looking good Alan ! 👍 

Thank you Jack. A lot of learning ahead

alan

[CDW]

You are really getting the hang of the figure painting, Alan. Looks great!

[king derelict]

13 hours ago, CDW said:

You are really getting the hang of the figure painting, Alan. Looks great!

Thank you Craig. Its a big learning experience but its hugely enjoyable - and the finished product doesn't take up much room. But they are quicbker to complete so maybe they end up taking the same space as a complicated ship model.

Alan