I'm baaaack!

If you hadn't noticed, I've been gone from blogging for some years. Having switched to Facebook for posting current projects, I have felt it was a better choice for reaching a wider audience. However, to my surprise, this site is still getting regular daily viewership. I am humbled by that. Therefore, I will start posting projects effective, ehhh, sometime soon. This time, the content will be a mix of my proper miniature sculpting and painting, but I will add a guilty pleasure of mine, but non-the less related to figure modeling, and that is miniature wargaming. Now, my first love was small scale, 1/72, that's what I grew up with. Hundreds of Airfix and Esci Napoleonic, American Civil War, Zulu War and the like, were painted, dioramas and vignettes built, but eventually went through the rigors of teen years and finally disrepair. But at one time, I had enough Napoleonics to wargame with. All Esci and Airfix, with lots of conversions (we are spoiled today by the huge variety of subjects in that scale). Bases were cut from dollhouse hardwood sheeting using an primitive jigsaw with a rusty blade. Flocked with cheap bright green railroad model "grass", and viola, I was in business! Played a few solo games using made up rules. Being a kid, I could not afford proper rule books (rather spend money on paints and minis), but used anything rules related I could glean from popular wargaming magazines. Glorious times! Today, I have amassed quit a collection of 1/72 and 28mm miniatures, all the while juggling my large scale projects (not enough hours in a day!). Anyway, keep an eye out for those posts. In the meantime, I will try to up-to date current projects that this page has missed. Until then... FeR's De Nederlandse Edelman, 1624 1/10 scale Painted with acrylics.

"I JESU NAMN..." Lutzen 16 November 1632

Getting projects wrapped up for the MFCA/APG Show in a few weeks. Here's a piece inspired by a painting that I grabbed off the interenet. Unfortunately, I am unable to find the artist name or title of the work. The musketeer accessories are from "Glory" miniatures and the AIRFIX English Civil War plastic kits. The head is from Hornet. Painted in acrylics.

One down and two to go. A little over half way finished with second mounted figure.

Fehrbellin Vignette -Composing Scene

The composing is pretty straight forward. Since it's a close copy of the illustration, there will be however, some minor tweaks here and there.

Fehrbellin Vignette

I'm seperating two halves of the horses body to add more animation. The inside upper body, where the two halves meet, I will apply epoxy glue for added strength. I won't be filling the entire body cavity with putty but using just enough to fill the gap and spread over both sides.

Fehrbellin vignette -Cleaning castings

After cleaning up the flashing I will be cutting off limbs of one of the horses for reposition. Two of the three horses will get new necks.

New project: Fehrbellin 1675

Dutch Admiral Ruyter Painted-Part 2

I knew this piece called for something other than a static figure pose. I originally was going to place this painting, of his flagship the Zevin Provincien (seven Provinces), in a gilt frame, but thought that a gilt frame may be too much of a distraction. I'm sure there are some that say the painting alone is too much already...I don't, to me the subject calls for it. So, I decided on a textured base. I stippled modeling paste to the plastic card and lightly sanded when dried. Toned the white down with grey acrylic and went to transfering the image using simple tranfer paper (I also used this technique with my JFK portrait some projects ago). I wasn't sure how the textured background would look with color, but the more detail I put into it the texture seemed to fade more and more. When finished, a couple coats of satin varnish.

Ruyter Painted

I gave this particular figure a little more "pop" than the typical pieces I do. The tile work went easier than I thought. I drew a grid pattern, then gently went over the lines with an Exacto knife. This etching gave the brush tip a stopping point. As for the painted background, I wanted something that would help set the figure off. Ruyter, being a pretty big name in his day, needed something to tell his story or give the viewer an idea of what he's about. More on the ship later.

Dutch Naval Hero Michiel de Ruyter

This project just shows how easily inspired I can get. I know nothing to very little of naval warfare, let alone 17th century naval warfare. I picked up this book at a local flea market/antique mall about the history of 17th century life/politics, etc...It had some cool pictures. Anyway, there was this caption (small) on this man. I was intrigued, so I "googled" him and learned he was a big deal back in his day. More on Ruyter

MMSI 2012 Auction Figure

The figure is a Hecker Goros 54mm Bavarian Officer, 1690's. Painted with acrylics. The Chicago Show is always a great time and I was more than happy to donate this piece to the club's show auction. I'm not sure what it sold for, but I hope somebody went home happy and the club made a dollar or two to help support this wonderful event.

Lutzen painted!

The most yellow I've ever painted! It was a great project to work on. This period of military history is very appealing but hasn't been explored much in the hobby. I hope to do another such subject sometime later. Everything was painted with acrylics. Sorry for the harsh pics.

Overall view.

Here's the right side of the vignette. Note the upper leg armor panels on the pikemen are made of putty which were formed on a brass dowel and allowed to cure. A thin coat of Vaseline was brushed on the dowel to keep the putty from sticking. One cured, the panels were then carefully pried off the dowel and carved to shape. Each armored "plate" was carved on the panel. Some filing and sanding was needed to finish them up. These pieces were also all done at the same time.

The helmets were all made in a similar manner. I started with the brim and shaping it to a pointed or sharp ridge front and back. This was let to cure then the dome was sculpted. Again, allowed to cure then the crest formed. Once cured, some carving were needed to give it a sharper edge. ALL helmets were built at the same time and checked for uniformity. Lastly, the rivets were added with Duro balls. These were made by tediously rolling between the fingers then allowed to cure. Each was fixed to the helm with slow drying super glue. The slow drying glue allowed me to move the rivet about to get a somewhat even space between each.

Close-up of wounded officer and pikeman.

With this many figures in an action vignette there has to be some contact between subjects. Joining these two engages the viewer and make the whole scene more alive.

close-up detail of the musketeer. The powder flask flying about are from a ECW Airfix kit. The heads I'm using for this vignette are a mix of Hornet and Historex with some facial modifications being done to fit the pose/subject.

Lutzen 1632

Here's the mock-up of my Lutzen dio/vignette.

More pics to follow.

French Cavalry Officer, Thirty-Years War

This was a second attempt in painting a dapple grey in oils. The last was in the late 90's! The figure and equipment are painted with acrylics.

The horse is from Historex and the figure is original. The head of the figure is from Historex with moustache and goatee added. The saddle is scratch as well as the officers sword. There some conversion work on the lobster/Ironside helmet. It's the same one I used in the ECW project I just finished. Going by the reference I had, the dome is fluted with nose guard through visor and feathers added to the top.

Thanks for looking.

English Civil War Vignette-Painted

Here's the vignette painted. Most was painted with acrylics with oils here and there. The grass is unravelled jute twine painted in various colors.

The helmet shell casting on the "Ironside" was sculpted or modeled by either John Long or Anders Heintz. Sorry guys. The sword is scratch-built and was copied from a few examples.

Thanks for looking.