Bailey03's WIP

Zab

New member
The shark would be easier - less regular shapes. The lettering is blowing my mind; on white yet!!! A 10 all the way!
 

Alexandra

Active member
Wow. That's an amzing one. You can sheat on fantasy but not on realistic minis, and those whites are just :guitar:
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
I haven't had much time to paint lately, so it's been a while since I've posted anything. But this week I finally had a chance to pick up a brush and get some work done. I took a look at some of the half finished projects sitting on the shelf, decided to do some more work on the 54mm Polish Lancer from Pegaso. I don't think I've touched this guy since February. For the past two nights I've worked on the blues and reds in the uniform, just blocking out lights and shadows on the pants. I did the white straps on his left shoulder, the rest are just in the initial stages.

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He looks a little funny but there's a lot more equipment to add before he's done. The big groove across his chest and back are for his rolled up greatcoat. The other holes are for additional belts, his cartridge pouch, bayonet, etc. And then there's his horse and all the equipment loaded on him. Hmmmm... why did I decide to work on this one again? Okay, not a very quick project but I'd like to get him done before the NOVA Open and NCMSS shows coming up in September.
 

Alexandra

Active member
I did a Polish Lancer once, but from a very, very old company. I can understand your stress over the amount of equipment it brings. Now imagine that you don't have any idea how all of it comes toguether... That happened with me and is one of the main reasons I try to avoid uniforms.

Great start though.
 

Milosh

New member
you are a brave soul to paint this figure sir. I have painted two horses and quit on them because of all the equipment you have to add on to them. I know you will be able to get this guy done. What are those two shows that you mentioned? I haven't heard of them.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
you are a brave soul to paint this figure sir. I have painted two horses and quit on them because of all the equipment you have to add on to them. I know you will be able to get this guy done. What are those two shows that you mentioned? I haven't heard of them.

Thanks. I know, horses are a pain. Hopefully I won't regret it!

The NCMSS is the National Capital Model Soldier Society. They do a show in DC every September (this year it's Sept 14) and this will be their 52nd annual show. I imagine it's pretty similar to the HMSNEO show (mix of historical and fantasy, open judging system). The NOVA Open is also in DC, though this is more of a gaming convention with tournaments for most of the major wargames. Last year they added a painting contest for the first time and teamed up with CMON to make it a Crystal Brush qualifier (best in show gets a flight to attend Adepticon/Crystal Brush next year). They divide up the categories into Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Historical with subdivisions for single figure, unit, and vehicle/monster/large scale I believe... right now their website is down so I can't double check. Their judging is for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and they've got some pretty nifty prizes. 1st place in each category gets a trophy plus a grex airbrush and some goodies from secret weapon. They're also offering a number of demos and classes on various topics. This will be my first time attending but it looks like it's going to be a great event. This one is Aug 29-Sep 1.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
you are a brave soul to paint this figure sir. I have painted two horses and quit on them because of all the equipment you have to add on to them. I know you will be able to get this guy done.

By the way, I've also got two of the 90mm mounted Napoleonic figures from Andrea. All the reins and straps for the horses come flat and you have to fold them around the horses head and body. Luckily they come with multi page instruction manuals... but still, they are going to be quite the undertaking just to assemble much less paint all of that stuff. Makes this 54mm one seem simple by comparison. These two are definitely in the category of 'I don't feel ready yet' models. Maybe next year...

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And yes, that's another Polish Lancer. I have no idea why but I just like those figures. Andrea also makes a bust of one... I'll probably get that someday too.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
Thanks, KruleBear.

Been making some decent progress on the Polish Lancer. I felt I was far enough along with the uniform to start adding on his equipment. It seems painting the goalie was good prep as I think the shading/blending on the white straps turned out very nice. I wanted to get some deep shadows so I took the white all the way down to reaper's dusky skin shadow (sort of a mix between dark grey and dark brown) before moving on to rainy grey and up to white. Getting that to blend smoothly took a while. For his great coat rolled up around his chest I stuck with the dusky skin triad (dusky skin, shadow, and highlight) and then mixed in some weathered stone to take the highlights a little further.

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Now that that is all finished it's time to turn back to the uniform and start tweaking the blues. I'm not happy with the pants yet and I'd like to do more with the shadows and highlights on the coat. Right now I feel like the white details are overpowering the highlighting on the darker colors.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
I've started playing around with the blues. Reworked a few of the shadows and taken the highlights a little further. Here are a couple before and after shots so you can see the difference. Just done the coat so far, the pants are next.

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At the same time I've been preparing a talk for our modeling group over in DC. I decided to talk about groundwork, something I've been trying to improve on for the past year or so. As an example for the presentation this week I built a base for a GW vampire. I bought it on a whim because I wanted to experiment with a vampire skin tone, but then decided I could do some cool things with the base. I like the figure... but decided it needed a little converting. There are some GW details that made absolutely no sense so I removed them. I'm not a huge fan of the sesame street style count cape so I'm also going to try and sculpt a bottom for it. The base was made out of cork for the main shape. To that I added some skeleton parts and skulls from Secret Weapon. The tomb stones and fence are from railroad sets. Throw in some balsa wood and chain, some hairs from a coconut for exposed roots, and then sand for a little more texture and to fill the gaps. The different colors for the materials is a little off putting, but once it's primed the whole thing will look much more cohesive. Normally I wouldn't attach the figure until after everything was painted... but this guy is sculpted onto his own base and I needed to merge that with my groundwork to avoid any ugly seams or gaps between the two. I'm by no means an expert on groundwork, but I think this one is turning out pretty well and I'm looking forward to putting some paint on it.

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The vampire does have a head, by the way. I just left that off so I could paint it separately.
 

Zab

New member
Another good source for those fences and tombstones is from those halloween kits they sell in October at Micheals. That is once sweet base. It really draws the eye up to the model with it's swept open wing!
 

Milosh

New member
The blue does look better and that base is going to be really badass. Good luck on your talk, I think it will do some good in your area to get info from a painter like yourself. Keep up the work sir.
 

Bailey03

Well-known member
Thanks, Zab, Milosh, and Alexandra. I'm glad you all like the base. It might be a little while before I get around to painting it, but I'll be sure to post photos when I start.

Before that I've got to finish off the Lancer. I've fixed the blue on his pants and done some more detail work. I still need to highlight the black parts but the rider is just about finished. This weekend I'll be starting on the horse.
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Bailey03

Well-known member
Well, since my last post I've been hard at work on the lancer's horse. I'm pushing to get this one done in time for a show in DC (NOVA Open) at the end of the month.... unfortunately this was my last free weekend before the show. It's going to be close, but I should be able to finish. I have yet to start on the base and I want to do some water effects so hopefully all that goes smoothly. There's still plenty of detail work to do, but the big things on the horse and rider are all finished.

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For the horse's body I decided to try out a Raphael brush I picked up a little while back. I tend to use Winsor & Newton for most of my painting, but I must say I really liked how the Raphael brush worked for the large areas on the horse. I'll still stick with the W&N for my fine detail work... but for larger projects I think I'll be using Raphael ones from now on.
 
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Tee999

New member
real nice work bailey. the base you made for the count is really good. it definitely draws you eyes up to the wings and has a good flow to it.

tee
 
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