Figure painting

[healey36]

Not sure what he's doing, but he should have that right hand looked at.

The Model A started with a satin black base coat...went a bit crazy rusting it up. Took the pic under my new LED bench-lamp (thanks Chuck). Definitely lightens everything up, lol.

[healey36]

Continuing down through the Arttista hobo pile...next up is this guy. I'm thinking he's playing a harmonica or eating an ear of corn, but my wife thought he was looking at his ViewMaster, lol:





These molds need some serious reworking.

Healey

[healey36]

Got distracted painting ships again. Here's a 1/2400 heavy cruiser, USS San Francisco:



An old casting by Viking Forge, it's not one of their best, but serviceable for the table. This is CA-38 as she appeared in 1944, with Measure 33 scheme. Deck looks a bit light in the photo, but it's actually quite dark.

Healey

[healey36]

Haven't painted any figures (people) for months...been distracted on other stuff.

Recently was rummaging through boxes in the attic, stuff that hasn't been unpacked since the last move (1985, lol). Was looking for some old magazines from when I was still in college. My roommates and I used to have contests to see who could paint the smallest stuff. I remember painting this 1/3000-scale Kiev using a broken-off toothpick for the markings on the flight-deck:



Looks almost primitive to me now, but probably won me a few beers back in the day.

According to the Wik, the Russians sold her to the PRC back in the 1990s, and now she's part of a Chinese theme-park...WTF?

[chuck]

Keiv is now a luxury hotel. Her sister ship the Minsk is being converted to an amusement park (it was actually sold to be used as a museum and the resold to become a theme park). The third craft was sold to India and is now the INS Vikramaditya. Fourth ship was scrapped.

That's an insanely tiny model with an excellent paint job. I'm having trouble with 1/700 scale ships.

[healey36]

Thanks for the info, Chuck.

Another college-era project was to paint a deck-load of IJN aircraft for a 1/700-scale carrier. At the time there were no decal sets for 1/700 aircraft markings, so we hand-painted the meatballs on them. A mate of mine still has them in a display case at his place. I look at them and wonder how I did it with no magnifier, lousy overhead lighting, and an assortment of badly worn brushes and toothpicks. Back then we were using Humbrol enamels, came in little tins that dried up almost as fast as you could dip your brush.

The 1/700 stuff today is incredible. I'd like to try building one using the wood laminate decking they've had for the past decade or so. My downfall with 1/700 is cementing on the deck railing...I butcher that up every time.

[chuck]

My downfall with 1/700 is cementing on the deck railing...I butcher that up every time.

1/350 is about as small as I can do with railings (and that's not easy or well done). If I can't see it on the whole ship photo's I just pretend it's too small to see.

[healey36]

I've been screwing off, can't get motivated to work on the lead pile, at least not the railroad populace types. Other things keep cropping up that look like more fun. This past weekend I killed a few hours painting/basing a 1/600-scale He-111 H-6:



Casting by PicoArmor, base by Litko, decals by FlightDeck, paint by Tamiya and Vallejo, and a piece of guitar string. Prop-spinners from a sheet of acetate using an old ticket punch, then drilled with a pin-vise. Likely a one-off.

I have a some Swordfish biplanes, same scale, but I haven't figured out how to make the struts

Healey

[rogruth]

For what did you use the guitar string?

I hope you answer this before Rufus does?

[healey36]

I used guitar string for the vertical bit of the base (holds the plane aloft). It’s a fine wire, super strong, I use it for a lot of different things.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of trying to use fishing line for basing smaller airplane castings. I’m thinking in short lengths it will be strong enough to stay straight while holding the weight, plus it’s clear, so it might not be as visible. Gotta find some of the heavier clear filament line, give it a shot.

[chuck]

Gotta find some of the heavier clear filament line, give it a shot.

Stretched clear sprue?

[healey36]

That’s a good suggestion, Chuck, hadn’t thought about that.

[up148]

Love miniatures and that aircraft is outstanding. Nice job!

[healey36]

Thanks. It's a bit big for what I was planning to do with it...might try going half again down to 1/1250.

[healey36]

Picked up a couple sprues of HO Plasticville figures to paint for the wife’s mantle display (I didn’t even know Plasticville had an HO range). I’ll probably block-paint and dip them similar to the larger ones I’ve painted. We’ll have to see how they turn out...I’ll post a few pics of the results.

I’m still messing around with the micro-scale airplanes and ships. I picked up a bag of small bases to use with single 1/1250 planes, or maybe use the Litko clear plastic bases for small formations (two or three aircraft).

I ordered a few decal sets from Flightdeck, and they are really sharp. They are a bit thick, so handling is a challenge (although they don’t easily tear). Got some British infantry insignia decals too, but I need to do some research on what they are

Lots to play with in the lead-pile.