1/35 figures , Tamiya paint to dark ?

[Guest]

After agreeing with Dograt about our Tamiya SAS Jeeps coming up to dark I STILL followed the tamiya paint guide to paint -1/35 U.S west infantry european theater figures and British infantry on patrol figures for which I found came up very dark , after going by the book I then dry brushed both with XF49 khaki to highlight the details then lightly brushed with a mig wash (please see photos in my gallery) , the photos look ok-ish with the photo flash but in real life both figures look very very dark , Q1- do you guys follow the book or do you lighten up what your painting , Q2- I`m not happy with the flesh colour ( used vallejo basic skin tone ) do you mix your own or is worth spending £12 on the vallejo skin tone range , Q3- I`ve seen alot of figures on here where you can see the whites and eyeballs on the figures , I`ve tried the cocktail stick trick but find its like trying to get a ford fiesta into a dustbin , how do you get this detail done or is it just down to experience.

Once again any advice is very welcome.

Merry Christmas

Richy.

[Guest]

Alright mate

When it comes to painting figures, i tend not to focus so heavily on the white of the eye. Even in real life, it wouldn't be so prominent from a distance; people squint, focus etc.What i tend to do is as follows; I paint the whole face with a tan base whilst filling the eye in white. I then give my shades and tones and most of the eye socket ends up being covered anyway to get the expression. I use a cocktail stick to add the pupil of the eye but more of a grey than black. Black is just far too heavy. I'm doing some figures at the moment and will post the pics when they're done.

Cheers

Paul

[spanner570]

I'll get my dippy in for what it's worth, but be warned no two replies will be the same.

I don't worry one jot about getting uniform colours spot on...Consider this, on the shelves the uniforms are more or less all the same colour but even these differ depending on manufacturer / dyes etc.

Then in combat sun, mud, dust, wet, sweat and washing will all change the cloth colour. Put 2 soldiers side by side, one who has been jumping in and out of foxholes and one who has been in the stores and see the colour difference. I just get it summat like and don't worry about it.

Skin tone....I don't use acrylics, only Humbrol enamel, red, white and brown and just do a thinned mix of a combo of the three, no two faces are the same colour anyway, so as I don't like to see every face the same colour I vary the mix.

Eyes.....I hardly bother. How many do you see all nice and white? These fighting soldiers eyes have seen death, dust, tears, no sleep, been rubbed raw and are probably half shut anyway! I just do a pinhead amount of reddish brown in the eye socket and then dab with a tissue to smudge it a bit.

Remember though Richy, every modeller has their own ideas and methods, so go with what looks right and you are happy with. It's your model. Dont let 'The Book' rule you too much....Free flow my friend!!!

All the best for 2010.

Ron

[Guest]

Cheers Paul , your advice is much appreciated.

Ps- must be very cold and snowy in Moscow this time of year,

Merry christmas

Richy.

[Guest]

Figures aint really my thing Richy as you'll see from my gallery pics! I have invested in one of those 'helping hands' magnifyers to see if that helps my tired peepers! As far as paint goes, I always mix slightly lighter shades than what's recommended coz washes & such tend to darken things plus clothes tend to get lighter 'in the field' through wear & tear. As Ron said, trial & error allows you to find the right balance, not what the book says. Patrick

[Guest]

Thanks Ron , I suppose its down to expirence (which I have little off) my figures look good to me under a camera flash but in a real life look very dark I think the next few I do I will go with a lot lighter than the colour recommended , also I`m going to invest in a better camera because in my short time modelling a good camera show up any painting misses & seams etc unlike a mag glass can do .

I`m 42 and my mince pies are not as good as they were , if it means glasses then so be it , if they make make my models just that little bit better its a worth it.

Merry Christmas

Richy.

[Guest]

Richy

I am not to impressed at all with the tamiya paints I really wont be buying them again I think its vallejo or citidel (Bit pricey though due to the teen factor) for me.

I am still working on the jeep to try and lighten it and working on the figs

the toothpaste tube metal does make straps pretty well bit fiddly but sticks ok with super glue.

The camera images do seem to bring out the worst in the model !! paint marks in wrong places etc that I had not noticed.

The helping hands magnifier from blackspur is only about £3, but I have found it hard to paint with as its very hard to judge where the end of the brush is !!!!!!!!

Better go to specsavers ! I have worn specs all my life, never for reading but since I hit the 40 (44now) they have been going down hill a bit and over the last year have noticed that my close vision is not so good at all. heh ho the price of getting old. On the upsite of age though is at least we can afford the models you couldnt as a teen !!!!!

[Guest]

Thankyou Dubster , by the way your Russian diorama looks dog`s Michael Ballacks to me and your figures are A1 , dio`s are what I want to concentrate on because I think they look the nuts , When I finnish one that I`m happy with I will post on here (it may be a while).

Merry Christmas

Richy.

[spanner570]

Thanks Ron , I suppose its down to expirence (which I have little off) my figures look good to me under a camera flash but in a real life look very dark I think the next few I do I will go with a lot lighter than the colour recommended , also I`m going to invest in a better camera because in my short time modelling a good camera show up any painting misses & seams etc unlike a mag glass can do .I`m 42 and my mince pies are not as good as they were , if it means glasses then so be it , if they make make my models just that little bit better its a worth it.

Merry Christmas

Richy.

Just a quicky on lightening the colour tone of models Richy, and I can here people saying "Here he goes again!" but if I think the colour is too dark I reach for...you guessed it!.....Polyfilla out of the packet. Not only does it lighten the colour but it gives the model that all important to me, dusty/ weathered look, and at a fraction of the cost of your 'posh' stuff. LOL

Ron

[Guest]

Hi Dograt, I`ve seen your images of the jeep , looks better than mine mate , its not untill its magnified that you can see it in detail imperfections as I have found out , I see in on one of your threads saying about keeping the jerry cans in place I just glued my down , my jeep is still pencilled in for a dio - the beauty with this WW2 camo/weathering stuff is you can still change things as you go if your not happy with it.

Richy.

[Guest]

Hello Ron , coming from the building trade and being an ex decorator I have loads of filler (both the powdered & ready mixed stuff) please enlighten me on this , if it can save me money I will be over the moon , also having done alot of ceramic tiling I have alot of adhesive - would this be good base for starting a diorama ie- hills , mounds etc,

Richy.

[spanner570]

Hello Ron , coming from the building trade and being an ex decorator I have loads of filler (both the powdered & ready mixed stuff) please enlighten me on this , if it can save me money I will be over the moon , also having done alot of ceramic tiling I have alot of adhesive - would this be good base for starting a diorama ie- hills , mounds etc,Richy.

Glad to be of some possible help Richy, that's what this forum is all about.

Regarding the filla, after the model is painted I tip some white polyfilla powder in a bowl and with an old small paint brush, lightly coat the model over the bowl then gently flick the model to remove any excess. Just enough is left to produce the dusty, lighter effect. You could get hold of some brown or yellow powder dye and mix this in for diff. colour dust I suppose, but I find the colour of the model comes through just fine.

For hills and mounds and general contours I always use floor tile adhesive (I own a ceramic tile shop!) Slap it on and as you will know it is dry in an hour or so. I suppose you could use wall tile adhesive but in any thickness it might crack.

If you go to the "Under construction" thread you will find some stage built dioramas full of tips and advise.

I use and am happy with this Heath Robinson approach to my modelling because when my late father was teaching me to make models, basic stuff was all there was (circa late 1950s/60s) so we had to improvise and it's a habit I can't and won't change!!

Rabbiting on a bit now, I'm off to bed...ZZZZZZZ

Ron

[Gern]

RichyI am not to impressed at all with the tamiya paints I really wont be buying them again I think its vallejo or citidel (Bit pricey though due to the teen factor) for me.

I am still working on the jeep to try and lighten it and working on the figs

the toothpaste tube metal does make straps pretty well bit fiddly but sticks ok with super glue.

The camera images do seem to bring out the worst in the model !! paint marks in wrong places etc that I had not noticed.

The helping hands magnifier from blackspur is only about £3, but I have found it hard to paint with as its very hard to judge where the end of the brush is !!!!!!!!

Better go to specsavers ! I have worn specs all my life, never for reading but since I hit the 40 (44now) they have been going down hill a bit and over the last year have noticed that my close vision is not so good at all. heh ho the price of getting old. On the upsite of age though is at least we can afford the models you couldnt as a teen !!!!!

Hi there.

I tried one of these 'helping hand' things as well. Just like you I found it hard to focus. I also found I kept hitting the thing with the end of my brushes, so that was no good!

Because my eyesight is poor, I HAD to get some magnification; so I got hold of one of the cheap illuminated headset things. It took a couple of days, but having got used to it, I now find myself uncomfortable trying to paint even quite broad details without it.

I think I only paid about £10 on ebay for it and I reckon it's the best £10 I've spent on tools. You might find it's worth a go.

Gern

[Guest]

Ah Ron's magic bag of polyfilla! :respect1: but on the subject of your figures Richy, I've just had a look at the pic you posted up & I think they're really good-I especially like the drybrushing on the english soldier. Looks to me like you've come a long way in a short time so keep it up!

Patrick

[Guest]

After agreeing with Dograt about our Tamiya SAS Jeeps coming up to dark I STILL followed the tamiya paint guide to paint -1/35 U.S west infantry european theater figures and British infantry on patrol figures for which I found came up very dark , after going by the book I then dry brushed both with XF49 khaki to highlight the details then lightly brushed with a mig wash (please see photos in my gallery) , the photos look ok-ish with the photo flash but in real life both figures look very very dark , Q1- do you guys follow the book or do you lighten up what your painting , Q2- I`m not happy with the flesh colour ( used vallejo basic skin tone ) do you mix your own or is worth spending £12 on the vallejo skin tone range , Q3- I`ve seen alot of figures on here where you can see the whites and eyeballs on the figures , I`ve tried the cocktail stick trick but find its like trying to get a ford fiesta into a dustbin , how do you get this detail done or is it just down to experience. Once again any advice is very welcome.

Merry Christmas

Richy.

here is some help with the skin tones first to do eyes a very usful tip is if you are painting blue eyes add white to your blue paint to give you a very light blue, i don't use white for the eyes as it gives an eye popping effect which i think looks wrong paint a broad strip vertically across the eyes wait until this dries then use the blue colour by painting a thin strip vertically across the light blue and let it dry. Once it is dry then carefully paint your skin tones round about the eyes. As for skin tone if you want to spend a few quid go into rymans or any stationary shop and by a set of artists oil paints and a colour wheel, for flesh tones mix yellow ochre, burnt scienna and white together, for highlight colours add more white for shadow tones add a little burnt umber, oil paints take ages to dry so you have time to blend them together unlike acryllics. Ihope this is helpful

scott:thinking: