discussion 75mm Aradia Miniatures, The Green Knight

[PaulinKendal]

This is next on the bench. I'm hoping to increase the amount of work I do in oils on this figure.



I'm waiting for some gel CA to arrive before putting this together. But I have done a bit of preparatory work tidying up, and especially altering the halberd.

The haft is supplied as two resin sections that plug into his clenched fist. The chances of these aligning to look like they're single straight handle is remote. The likelihood that I'd snap them off sooner or later is very high indeed. So I've drilled through the handle and inserted a short length of piano wire, which is hard to cut but very stiff, so no chance of bending it out of shape accidentally. I've then pinned two sections of CA hardened bamboo skewer into place. The spike on top is also drilled and pinned.

 

[Mickc1440]

Nice looking model Paul, definitely saved yourself some potential heartache with the halberd

 

[PaulinKendal]

Nice looking model Paul, definitely saved yourself some potential heartache with the halberd

Thanks, Mick. Like so much in this hobby, past failures just teach us to get better in future. I've snapped off so many bits and pieces in the past, (some in the all too recent past too), that heading those issues off before they happen is a bit of a no-brainer.

I'll still be surprised if I don't break stuff off this model while painting it - just hopefully not his halberd!

 

[Jim R]

Looks very nice. Good , sensible fix on the halberd. The box art is very colourful. Are you going for similar colours?

 

[PaulinKendal]

The box art is very colourful. Are you going for similar colours?

I've no idea, Jim! I'll put him together first. I much prefer painting the completed figure, rather than painting sub-assemblies, so I'll leave off the halberd and paint that separately, but everything else will go together from the off, despite it being a complex figure with lots of nooks and crannies.

Once it's assembled I can think about the colour scheme. His enormous swirling cloak is going to be a challenge. I can't just paint it plain, especially as I've been pushing myself on freehand work. It needs some sort of pattern. I'm tempted to try tartan (!), but a tartan cloak would presumably be unlined, which means painting the underside tartan too. I can't assess honestly whether that's achievable until it's all together.

If I do go for tartan, that will dictate the rest of the colour scheme (and probably fry my brains trying to paint it).

The horse offers lots of colour options, but that'll be dictated by my choices for the old gent, to maximise contrast.

I do think I'm going to have to use plenty of woodland colours, if not all shades of green, as there is so much stylised foliage on the the model, and a Green Man on the horse's breastplate.

Here's a picture of the original from Aradia Miniatures, which shows just how big that cloak is, and some rather nice patterning freehanded onto it, too.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Looking at that stock image, it's clear they've not used the base as supplied, which is pretty minimal:


I've been thinking I need to drill and pin the horse to the base for durability, but there's not much material to work with. That picture makes me think I should construct a bespoke base, so that I can pin it more solidly than the supplied base allows for.

I've used Scots Pine bark for rocky bases in the past to advantage, and this might be a suitable patient for that sort of treatment.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

With long experience of, overly bright, tartan patterns in 25/28mm, they're not so difficult, or even that complex. I've tried watercolours for 'lightness' of shade, but ended up using lines of a light colour and slightly darker spots where the bands cross over

Or just do big checks? That would be suitably 'Arthurian'!

 

[PaulinKendal]

Here's the base under construction. The two sides of the horsie and its head are glued up and a first fill underway.


The base is a block of hardwood with several pieces of Scots Pine bark glued one on top of another on top of that.

The bark is quite brittle and flakes easily, so I've used expanding foam Gorilla Glue, which fills the voids between each piece of bark, strengthening and stabilising them.

The whole lot was painted with thinned PVA glue to further stabilise and prepare for painting. When that was dry I carefully pressed down on sections of the bark around the edges. Any that flexed, indicating they might break off, were underpinned with judicious applications of Milliput. So far so good.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice start Paul. Is it the angle of the photos, or does the horse have a “sea horse” vibe to it? The neck looks a little strange for an Equus?

 

[PaulinKendal]

Oh, I think the horse has more than a little 'My Little Pony' vibe to it, Tim. But I'll accept seahorse, too. It's certainly fantastical.

 

[Jim R]

It's certainly fantastical.

Gives plenty of scope for rather outlandish painting :smiling:

 

[Steve Ski]

Wow, this is going to be awesome when you get done. There's a lot of intricate details to tend to, Paul, you go this. I like the base, excellent.

 

[PaulinKendal]

Oh boy! Oil paints - why did nobody tell me sooner?

This is took me twenty minutes maximum, from this:


to this:


to this:

So it's very rough, unfinished and the photo doesn't do justice to the transitions. But I promise you, twenty minutes from start to finish.

I slapped on some darker colours, wiped them off leaving residues in the recesses, then reapplied a wild range of colours - just slapping them on - followed by some incredibly easy and quick blending using a dry brush (not a drybrush!) I've used a much broader range of colours than I'd dare in acrylic, and they can be merged so easily!

I'm going to let these go off, then have another bash - the base is great as an initial tested. And of course, I can just wipe it all off and start again if I like.

 

[Jim R]

brilliant. Wish I had a fraction of your skills.

 

[JayCee]

That base looks great, Paul. I must admit the only thing I use oils for is skin. Undercoat with appropriate acrylic and then oils over the top. You can then blend without worrying too much about base colour showing.
John.

 

[PaulinKendal]

That base looks great, Paul. I must admit the only thing I use oils for is skin. Undercoat with appropriate acrylic and then oils over the top. You can then blend without worrying too much about base colour showing.
John.

That's interesting, John. Do you start with a pale acrylic undercoat and tone down with oils, or vice versa? What colours do you use?

 

[john hutton]

Paul,
Very nice model, a great canvas to work on some extremes of colour, weather you stick to the Green/Emerald boxart or go with your own scheme. i would say this figure will be a great choice for Oil paints especially the horse. Really looking forward to seeing how you decide to paint. excellent work on the scratchbuilt base too.

 

[JayCee]

Hi, Paul. I undercoat flesh areas with Vallejo Dark Flesh. The oils are a mix of White, Gold Ochre and Burnt Sienna. I mix approx 2 parts of Burnt Sienna to 1 part Gold Ochre. This gives the basic flesh colour. Trust your eye if it's right for you. Split this mix into 3. Add white to one part, this is for highlights. Add more Burnt Sienna to another third. This is for the shadows. Oils blend so easily they are perfect for flesh work. Make sure you use Gold Ochre and not Yellow Ochre otherwise the colour will go muddy.
Hope this is of use.
John.
P.S this is shamelessly cribbed from Shep Paine, the master himself.

 

[wotan]

Paul

Very nice progress. BTW you may not know that this figure comes from the 14th century poem called "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". You may want to check out the Wikipedia entry since the story is quite interesting and comes from the tradition of King Arthur and the Knights of the rouond table.

John

 

[PaulinKendal]

Ok, I'm back at this after a lovely long holiday.

I won't pretend I'm not struggling. Oils are completely different from acrylics, that's for sure.

As JayCee mentioned, there can be an issue with the primer showing through, and I've certainly suffered with that. As a result, darker colours (especially the black parts of the horse) have been slapped on impasto style - I'm not at all sure it's going to work, as they're likely to stay wet for a very long time! I've also struggled to brace my brush hand. With acrylics I can brace against the figure itself, but with wet oil paint everywhere that's not possible.

Never mind, I'll persevere...

I've used an oil pre-shade (slap oil paint on, wipe most off), but not blocked in colours in acrylic, which makes it a lot harder to get a smooth finish.

Oil on:
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Oil off:
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​ Lots of wet paint everywhere:

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​ For the rider, I've pre-shaded his head and beard, and I'll be blocking in main colours in acrylics, to see if that makes life easier. filedata/fetch?filedataid=243576

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