Athenian Hoplite 1/16 scale

I've just completed Miniart's 1/16 scale Athenian Hoplite. This is a fully plastic kit with all of the parts on one sprue. Assembly was pretty easy but like most of their figurine kits it took a lot of plastic filler to cover holes, misshaped limbs and general seam lines. On top of that there was a lot of flash.  The figure was painted using acrylics, which is not normal for me. I usually use oil paints on a larger scale figure like this.  I think the figure came out pretty well. 

I went with a darker skin tone because I believe the people back then spent more time in the sun and considering the geographical area it made sense.

I was rather disappointed with the decal as it took a lot of work and Microsol to get it to conform to the shield.

You'll notice the scabbard is held on with a piece of string. The kit didn't provide anything to attach the scabbard. I was lucky to find some string in my wife's sewing kit that seemed usable.

Miniart 1/16 Musketeer Part V: Death of the Musketeer

 Some disappointing news about this project. It's coming apart at the seams. Literally!  So I was getting ready to put the next layer of paint onto the Musketeer when I noticed that his sword arm had started to separate.  As I looked around the model some more I noticed most of the seams that were filled with putty had separated and the putty was gone.  I primed the figure and thought it would have sealed it and protected the joints.  The only conclusion I can come up with is that solvent I was using to thin the oil paints ate away at the putty.

Oh well! Onto the next project!

Miniart 1/16 Musketeer Part IV: The first layer of pigments.

After a bit of a hiatus from painting due to spring break here in Oregon and we took off to Sunriver, OR to relax with our friends I am back to painting.  I did manage to prime up more WSS figures, some renaissance figures and more 1/16 scale heads before we left for vacation.  

This week I choose to work on my Musketeer.  In my last post about him, I had done the water color underpainting. This week I decided to start putting the first layers of colors on.  I follow and have befriended a gentleman in England named Vermillion Hugh.  He has a wonderful Youtube channel, Vermillion Hugh, where he paints 1/35 scale and larger figures using a neoclassical painting style.  I chose to try out his palette to paint this figure.  Also I should mention he is the one who gave me the idea of doing the water color underpainting. Stop by his channel and watch his stuff. His concepts on color theory and the old masters is amazing. 

So below is my first layers of color on the figure. I hope you like it.

The palette of colors I'll be using: Ivory Black, Alizarin Crimson, Scarlet Lake, Red Ochre, Brown Ochre, Yellow Ochre and Flake White.  I started by mixing Black and Brown Ochre to tone the black. The white was mixed with Brown Ochre. Both of these colors were then mixed together to create my Grey tone. The flesh color started out with Scarlet Lake mixed with the Grey tone.

A few views of the figure with the water color underpainting.

The palette after I painted the figure.

The first layers of flesh have been added along with browns, reds, yellows and white for the clothing.

His hat.

A few more pictures of first layers.

I am still trying to decide on the tunic color, which is why I haven't painted it yet.  I will give this layer a few days to dry and then I will start adding more layers.

I was asked to take some zoomed in shots so here they are.

Miniart 1/16 Musketeer Part III: The underpainting

So I finished, finally, filling all of the gaps and allowing it to dry and sanding down the putty.  I ended up being sick all of last week so I didn't do any painting. Did not feel up to it.  This week I was able to prime the figure using black and overlaying that with white.

The overlay of white over the black picks out the highlights and the black is left as a shade or shadow.

Once that dried completely I then created my underpainting.  This is a mixture of watercolor paints and elmers/white glue.  The colors used are artist quality watercolors and they are Ivory Black, Red Ochre, Brown Ochre, Yellow Ochre and Chinese White.  I create a mixture of black, red and brown ochre and white. I add the glue and then lots of water to create a wash.

I then take my Size 6 brush and paint upwards allowing the paint to pool into recesses and stain the primer. 

Once that starts to dry I then mix Yellow ochre, Brown ochre and glue. I add water to create a wash and then I paint this onto the areas of flesh that will become the high light areas.  So the bridge of the nose, cheeks, chin, forehead, fingers and so on.  

I will allow all of this to dry for 24 hours. As the glue dries it will suck the paint into the recesses and when I apply oil paints as a glaze the pigments will show through and add depth to the paint/figure just like a traditional oil painting.

Miniart 1/16 French Musketeer Part II

Part II of my work in progress of the French Musketeer.  Well if you remember from my previous post I wasn't able to get the hair to match up. With some advice from the Military Modeling forum, I cut off the ears of the Musketeer and the hair fit nicely.  You can also see from the below shots how much filler I had to use. I still have to fill the seam on the back of the hair.

I was able to get the lower part of his body together. The amount of gaps and uneven casting with this model is amazing.  Even the fold of the boots don't match up well. I still have to add putty to fill those gaps.

The Torso and arms weren't too bad but the arms need some attention too.  Nothing on this model matches up well at all.

I have a lot of flash to clean up on the hands, sword, sword hilt and other pieces. I'm hoping to get to prime this sometime next week. Weather permitting.