Christiania 1774 by TJM – approx. 1:67-1:64 – Danish Light Frigate based on Vanguard Models HMS Sphinx

[Ronald-V]

Very cool those decorations in combination with the windows! And the figurehead looks also very good! Well done!  

[wvdhee]

I had a look at heroforge too for my figurehead, but thought the hand and feet were too big. But printed it looks good tbh, or did you fiddle with it?

[TJM]

Thanks for the likes 😃.

 

On 4/22/2025 at 7:52 PM, Ronald-V said:

Very cool those decorations in combination with the windows! And the figurehead looks also very good! Well done!  

Thanks Ronald, much appreciated!

 

 

On 4/23/2025 at 7:42 AM, wvdhee said:

I had a look at heroforge too for my figurehead, but thought the hand and feet were too big. But printed it looks good tbh, or did you fiddle with it?

 

They are a bit cartoony by default, but you can just make the body size larger without changing hands, feet and head until the proportions look more realistic. I have done that for all the tests I have made. This is the only example where I have purchased the STL and printed it, but there will be more coming 😉.

 

Here's a few examples:

 

 

Edited April 25 by TJM

[TJM]

Log entry 25 - stern colour tests

 

While planking snails on, I have been trying a few options for the stern decorations on some mis-prints (I had a few, as I had a hole in the release film on my printer...).

 

The upper test uses non-metalics and I started with a medium brown, followed by yellow ocre with a few beige highlights. The second is using Vallejo Liquid Gold with a brown shade. I would do highlights as well jere, but decided at this point that I will be going the non metallic route.

 

Now for a few observations:

- I am woefully out of practice when it comes to painting miniatures. I did this for many, many years and while I never achieved mastery, I was a solid painter. Not so anymore!

- I really need new brushes. I don't have a detail brush that will keep a point or let the paint flow smoothly (I hope this is a big part of my bad performance here). Order placed.

- I need to start with a lighter tone of brown/yellow and use more colours in between. I have gotten away with this combo before, but on small parts. 

- these were quick tests, just around an hour of work. I will spend more time on the final piece.

- on a side note, the liquid metal paints from Vallejo absolutely destroys brushes and while coverage and finish is great, it cannot be applied to fine details (like the tiny poles on my friese) as it is super runny!

 

I am still waiting for new brushes, but I tried again with lighter colours on another scrap piece:

 

 

Better, but still not satisfied. It looks fine from a distance and the macro shots reveal all the nasty stuff, but I would still like to do a little better than this. And I have only base coated the red flags for now. I would like the white cross of the Danish flag on the big one on the right, but I am not sure I can make it work.

 

Let's see what new paints and more time will do.

 

BR

TJM

Edited May 22 by TJM

[Nirvana]

TJM, to me this looks really good! Again, we are our own worst critics.
What doesn't look good to you may not even be noticed by another.

[TJM]

2 hours ago, Nirvana said:

TJM, to me this looks really good! Again, we are our own worst critics.
What doesn't look good to you may not even be noticed by another.

Thank you for that, I really appreciate it. And yes I know we are all our own worst critics, but I just know I could do better once 😄.

Edited May 22 by TJM

[Ronald-V]

Agreed with Nirvana! Looks really nice  

Edited May 22 by Ronald-V

[TJM]

19 minutes ago, Ronald-V said:

Agreed with Nirvana! Looks really nice  

Thanks Ronald 🙂

[Thukydides]

Great job.

 

I like the top one the best. It just needs a bit more, it feels like it has the most depth. The issue is the mid tones need to be brighter so you need to extend what you have for highlights down over more of the surface and go for even higher values on the highlights.

 

In general it is better to make too much contrast as opposed to too little. You can smooth it all together with a thin glaze of your mid-tone once you are done if you think you went too bright. If you do this be careful that you don't let it pool in the recesses. It will have the consistency of a wash, but you don't want to use it like one.

 

Glazing over the transitions using the darker colour pulling from light to dark will also help with smoothing out the transitions if you are concerned about them.

Edited May 22 by Thukydides

[TJM]

7 minutes ago, Thukydides said:

Great job.

 

I like the top one the best. It just needs a bit more, it feels like it has the most depth. The issue is the mid tones need to be brighter so you need to extend what you have for highlights down over more of the surface and go for even higher values on the highlights.

 

In general it is better to make too much contrast as opposed to too little. You can smooth it all together with a thin glaze of your mid-tone once you are done if you think you went too bright. If you do this be careful that you don't let it pool in the recesses. It will have the consistency of a wash, but you don't want to use it like one.

 

Glazing over the transitions using the darker colour pulling from light to dark will also help with smoothing out the transitions if you are concerned about them.

Thank you! 

 

I remember all of these techniques when you mention them, but I am so rusty! So thanks for the great description here.

 

I am at least encouraged to try again and really try my best, keeping these points in mind - I think the postman has delivered my new brushes today, so....

[TJM]

I have tried again with my new brushes and a few new paints and a wet pallette to keep the paints thin and flowing.

 

These are the steps I took:

 

1. Base coat yellow areas with a light brown:

 

2. main colour layer with yellow ochre.

 

3. Bace colour on the red areas:

 

4: wash all areas with brown wash.

 

5: go over with main yellow colour again.

 

6. Dark red wash on red areas

 

7. Highlights with a yellow/beige mix and a light red

 

8. final highlights with beige:

 

I am ok with this result and from normal viewing distance it looks totally fine.

A little unhappy about the monogram details though.

 

I am considering re-printing this but with the z-axis scaled to 150% or so. It should make it much easier to paint when the relief is not as shallow and it may still be ok in terms of overall thickness. It is very thin as it is.

 

But I would probably be ok with this one if it is the best I can get 🙂.

 

BR

TJM

 

[Thukydides]

I think that looks much better than your previous versions. Great jobQ

 

If you would like some suggestions to make it really pop, I would still go up a little higher in value on the highest highlights of the red. Maybe mix a bit of orange in with your red to get that highest highlight.

 

On the gold I would use pure white or maybe white with a little yellow in it and try and pick out the upper edges of the monogram and any sharp upper edge points such as the tips of the cannons. This would be really small dots/lines, but it will push that contrast just that bit higher.

Edited 16 hours ago by Thukydides

[TJM]

Thanks, @Thukydides! I totally agree, I need a little more, especially on the reds. 

 

I will try it out 😃

[Ronald-V]

Very nice painting!