discussion SK Miniatures 1/9 US Vietnam Marine Bust

[Guest]

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This will be my next project (kindly given to me by Richard Pearce for services to Mookies Miniatures), a 1/9 bust by Carl Reid for SK Miniatures. This fine sculpt depicts a black marine armed with an M79 grenade launcher, and what's great is that the only camo is the helmet cover - the rest is a standard OD t-shirt and flak jacket.

This looks like it's going to be complicated. The arms need to be attached before painting, as they are cut through the biceps, and they will need to be fixed exactly to accommodate the hand/M79 combination. One wrist has a watch at the join, but the other needs to be smooth, although a wrist band may prove useful there. The head is also cut through the neck, so again, will have to be attached before painting, something I would prefer otherwise.
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Anyway, apart from those complications, this looks like it should be fun.

 

[Steve Brodie]

chair pulled up with a cup of joe

 

[Guest]

''He's close man. He's real close'' (The Roach, 'Apocalypse Now).

 

[Steve Brodie]

''He's close man. He's real close'' (The Roach, 'Apocalypse Now).

Forget quoting movie's and get some paint slapped on him pronto, my coffee is going cold waiting, lol :smiling5::smiling5::smiling:

 

[Richard48]

Good to see you do the m79 gunner mate.Ive got two of them minus this one.Carl gets lots of motion in his sculpts.Met him last year at Euro.Hes a funny guy.Real character and enjoys quaffing cider.Looking forward to you weaving your light saber brush jedi master of the acrylics.
Enjoy mate.
Richard

 

[Guest]

Hi Steve - I've been painting, don't worry. Make yourself another cup of coffee and I'll post some updates in a while.

(Sorry, can't help the AN quotes once I get started, and remember 'NEVER GET OUT OF THE BOAT!').

 

[Guest]

Hi Richard. I hope I can do him justice - it's a tricky one.

 

[Guest]

Richard - I do agree that Carl Reid gets an unusual degree of movement in his figures. He's also very good at drapery, making it look wrinkled and well-worn. My only complaint is that sometimes his finishes aren't all they should be, but I suppose that's where we come in.

I did end up having to assemble most of the figure before painting, as quite a lot of cutting and filling was required to get the arms to fit:

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The left hand didn't meet up with the arm very well, and I ended up having to insert a wedge of scrap resin to fill the gap. A bit of filler was required here and there, but very little clean up was otherwise required.

So, paint hounds, I got on with the head:

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It's at this point when I paint an African face that I sometimes get comments like 'He's not black enough' or 'He's too dark for that theatre of war'. In response I've built up a large archive of photos of people of every hue and colour imaginable, in many different situations, and from all over the world, so I'm ready for you! Seriously though, I wanted a fairly dark skin tone with golden highlights, so everything was based on mixes of Vallejo Red Leather and Camo Black Brown. Pure Black was used for the very darkest shadows and touches of Dark Red were added here and there to vary the tones.

 

[Richard48]

Skin looks spot on to me.Like you said mate there are variations in colour.Look at Sudanese or Senegalese folk,Very dark.in hue.Ive never painted black skin.I must try sculpting a black.person sometime.
Carry on Caruthers.
Richard

 

[Steve Jones]

Peter

I do like your Vietnam figures. Will pull up a chair and watch on. The face by the way is by far one of your best. Awesome!!

Steve

 

[Guest]

Richard and Steve, many thanks. I find painting African skin easier than European, as you can work completely from dark to light.

 

[SteveH]

That is seriously Damned good Peter,

I don't know if its the rounder face, higher cheek bones, but it really is good.

I would never of thought of using a golden highlight either

Another day to learn even more paint and palette skills

Great start Peter

Regards

Steve H

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s a real Brahma. Great face tones, I mean really great.....got a touch of Cuba Gooding Jnr about him...
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steve and Tim. He looks better in the photos, but I suppose that's how he'll be exhibited. I wonder if most figure painters make that allowance?

 

[BigGreg]

As usual you are making a stunning paint job.... :smiling3::upside:

 

[Guest]

Many thanks Greg.

Here's what he looks like now:

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I'm struggling a bit with this one. As I mentioned above, some of the finishes on the sculpt leave something to be desired and there were some areas that I had to accept a compromise on. These included the hands and M79 which are rougher than they looked unpainted. I also ended up removing the watch at the join of the left hand, as I just couldn't get it to look decent - taking a blade and sandpaper to an almost completed paint job was nerve-racking, but fortunately I only had to do some minor touching up. The belt is just blocked in at the moment - most of it will be covered with the kit, so I'll just touch in what's showing after it's in place.

I was surprised when looking at the reference how bright the flak jackets were, so I used a combination of Vallejo Medium Olive and Camo Olive Green to try and replicate the rich colour. The t-shirt was based on shades of Camo Olive Green and the bandolier on Luftwaffe Green (all lightened and darkened with Camo Black Brown and Off White).

Just the helmet and kit to do now.

 

[Si Benson]

Wow....seriously good stuff Peter:smiling3:
Si

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
Making a great job of it as usual....after your AN quotes I’m surprised you never went for the tiger stripy M79 used in the film....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Guest]

Si - Thanks. Bit more in love with him now. On problem is that my work space is very bright in the summer, with the consequence that everything looks terrible - the light shows up every lump and bump. The evening light is much kinder to him.

Tim - Thanks also. I did think of doing the Roach's tiger stripe M79, and may still attempt it.

Willard -'Soldier, do you know who's in command here?'
Roach - 'Yeah.' (walks off).

 

[Guest]

What can I say Peter ? Again I'm stunned. You're using acrylics ? If so, which brand please ? Thanks sir.