A fellow modeler asked me what colors I used for the bay/chestnut colored horse. I primed the piece black and used the colors pictured.

Using a cheap synthetic brush for base coats and saving the Sable brushes for finer painting.

Happy New Year!

To round off 2014, I am posting pics of a figure, fresh off the workbench. It's a 54mm figure from Ulrich Puchala that I bought off ebay many years ago. The subject is a Prussian Artillery Officer, Prinz Luitpold Regiment, 1795. It's a beautiful sculpture and was a joy to paint. I really like how the whites turned out with this project in particular.

LINCOLN Redux

With the Chicago Show fast approaching, I am doing some final touch-ups to pieces before packing. The Lincoln bust needed some more contrast and transition between the whiskers and skin. Thanks to those friends with helpful suggestions. It's always nice to have several pairs of eyes to help with projects.

Louis William, Margrave of Baden

Finally got around to this fella. He was a little rough cleaning up but painted up nicely. I'll have to keep my eye out for another casting and other Puchala figures.

The Bishop

What a brilliant sculpture by Castle Miniatures. The piece really painted itself. Especially the face, what wonderful character! The toughest part was of course the mitre. I had to first carve, file and sand the original detail off. I then applied a coat of putty (carve, file and sand again) to give a smooth surface to paint on. Thankfully, I had some really good reference images to go by. The bust was a pleasure to paint and I hope I did it justice.

War Photographer-Vietnam War, 1971

This bust is modeled after an image of famed Vietnam War photojournalist, Larry Burrows (1926-1971). Burrows captured many popular images of the war, from 1962 till his death. He and three fellow photographers were killed when their helicopter was shot down over Loas, covering Operation Lam Son 719 in February, 1971. The bust is a monster at 1/10 scale, and is offered through LIFE MINIATURES. I was commissioned to paint him black and white. It's painted with acrylics. I used pretty much the same palette that was used in my Airborne figure earlier this year. The construction of eyeglasses was a bit intimidating at first, but really wasn't as hard as one would think. It took a lot of "eye-balling" and checking of proportions, but a fairly quick project. I simply used clear plastic card and carefully carved out the lenses. Built up putty to make the frame and re-sculpted the hair around the ears. I hope I did this beautiful bust justice.