discussion 70-75mm Roy Hunt Miniatures, Action at Dennewitz

[PaulinKendal]

Here's something different - bas relief figures. Not done anything like this before, so it could be tricky, we shall see.

According to El Greco Miniatures, this is what Roy Hunt said about this:

"It's taken from a painting that depicted a moment where Capt Egloff (I think) captures Colonel Clouet at an action near a village named Dennewitz. It was my third attempt at sculpting a flat piece and I must admit I found it an enjoyable exercise."

You can see there are some bubbles in the resin. A bubble coincided with the edge of the rearward horse's rear right leg - I should be able to fill that OK.

I've started the clean up.

 

[PaulinKendal]

A close-up of the accompanying artwork.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Never done a flat myself, though I’ve often been tempted (I know this is bas relief but it’s pretty close….). This one looks excellent. Have fun Paul :thumb2:

 

[PaulinKendal]

So the clean-up proved surprisingly straightforward. The thin, brittle resin snapped out very obliging, so long as I just nibbled away at it with a fine bladed scalpel.

Unfortunately, Colonel Clouet lost his head:


I guess a could use CA or epoxy to mend it. CA won't be very strong, epoxy could get messy. And I can only use the very thinnest of backing reinforcement (plastic card?) to ensure it sits properly flat when finished.

Any suggestions, folks?

 

[Jim R]

What an interesting project. A few years ago, on a now defunct forum, there was a guy who specialised in flats. I remember that the technique for painting shared much with figure painting but there were differences. I look forward to seeing you work your magic on this.
Can't help with the detached head, sorry.

 

[PaulinKendal]

I've just tried using CA to reattach his head, and it's not going to work - too little material to work with and it'll never withstand the rigours of the painting process. So I've decided to paint the two pieces separately. Then I can mount them in position, butted up to each other, on whatever backing the finished article is going on.

Obvious, really. Funny how these things come to you if you give yourself time for solutions to rise to the surface.

 

[PaulinKendal]

As a working platform I've mounted it on a piece of stiff 2mm card, using tiny blobs of Tacky Wax. Hopefully this'll hold it in place while I'm painting, but release once I'm done and need to fix it permanently to a suitable mount.

 

[PaulinKendal]

I've started pushing paint around, just to get a feel of how this works - so this is VERY rough!



Because everything is super low profile, the harness is fiendishly difficult to get sharp edges on. Black on white means I need to paint the tiny upstanding edges of the straps black, without getting any paint on the horse itself - argh! I've tried using nuln oil (hopeless stuff - I should just chuck it away), and next I'm going to try an oil pin wash.

It's an interesting diversion from painting 3D figures, and surprisingly different from it, too.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Both horses now with some colour. Still lots of smoothing and detailing required.

 

[scottie3158]

That's something different, I will follow along.

 

[Jim R]

Even at this early stage your skill is showing in those horses.

 

[Richard48]

Wow very interersting!!!!,I saw some Flats by Ken Farrar at a show and these were mainly based on illustrations in Osprey books from Falklands campaign.Amazed at what you guys achieve with this genre.
Great work.
Richard

 

[PaulinKendal]

I'm really happy with how this is progressing. Currently working on faces and frogging. Yes, they're a mess. Much work to be done.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Getting there. I had a proper go with quite thick oil washes on this, after a gloss varnish. I'm increasingly thinking I must try using oils more extensively...

Col. Clouet needs his face painting, obviously.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Neddies are coming on really well Paul, Riders are progressing as well.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Neddies are coming on really well Paul, Riders are progressing as well.

Thanks Tim. I'm particularly pleased with the freehand on Capt. Egloff's collar and especially his valise. It's the best I've managed so far, and it has definitely increased my confidence to push freehanding further in future.

 

[Jim R]

That is coming on a real treat. The oil work looks so effective.

 

[PaulinKendal]

That is coming on a real treat. The oil work looks so effective.

Thanks Jim. The frogging would've been murder without an oil wash. I've been watching videos on painting with oils, and realise it would have been great to try painting the horses in oils - maybe next time.

 

[PaulinKendal]

This is now done. Completed thread here.

 

[Steve Ski]

Just catching up, Paul. What a challenging project. I've never done a flat either. You've done an excellent job working this as I can see just painting this brings up numerous challenges we're not used to in 3D. Handling it during the painting process would be a biggy for me.

The colors you've picked really make this pop with great contrast and definition all over. Great work on the Big Dogs, too btw, they look really good.

Pretty impressive results, Paul.