Completed Critique 1/35 MiniArt Gendarme

[Kimmo]

A quick break from my other project was in order to keep the mojo going, and to test out my new wet palette. I did some cleaning up and rearranging of stuff a few weeks back, and this chap was among the stash. He's from the useful MiniArt French Civilians set, the newer release includes decent resin heads. Mine was an original release so a head was found in one of my Hornet packs. The figure was slightly reworked, the kepi was a bit too short for the head so a spacer was added along with trim. The badge was removed as it looked like a post-war national shield. The hood was slimmed down a bit and fiddled with to sit a bit better. It still looks like a heavy wool hood, but it'll do. Buttons were replaced on the cape with slices of stretched sprue, button holes added as was a clasp. The clasp is two strands of fine stretched sprue twisted together. The usual undercutting and re-scribing of seams was also done. A quick and dirty blue foam road was made on a 50mm gaming base. The base is just to have something for him to stand on, the plan is to add him to something later.

















This should be an interesting exercise in dark blues, something that I haven't really done much of yet.

Kimmo

 

[grasshopper]

I like what you have done..only image I found suggests kept was lower…not that it matters as 1930s was my found image..and 40s might have been higher..your work certainly brings the little plastic guy some life beyond its price point!

 

[Warren SMITH]

Excellent start

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Grasshopper and Warren!

A little time and not that much effort can make an ok figure look a lot better, fortunately this guy was pretty good to start with so not much needed.


First session in and it's progressing rather quickly. The main decision was whether to Blue the Black, or Black the Blue, I went for the latter. I started with a different grey blue mix for the clothes, an outlining with pure black and then some quick highlighting and shading. The shading was essentially a series of washes. The highlighting has been mostly washed out, but I'll go over it again now that I can see how the colours have dried. There's still a fair bit of blue showing in natural light, but not in the photos, probably because of the slight sheen from the Royal Blue.
The process was quite easy, and the volumes practically paint themselves. The head got an initial round of shading as well. Click for full size photos.


















As mentioned, I'm testing out my new wet palette from Red Grass Games and it is excellent. I wasn't sure how much difference there would be to my smaller AK palette but it is noticeably so. The paper used is more akin to plastic than the parchment most would be familiar with and keeps the paint usable much longer on that basis alone. The sheets are reusable and called everlasting. That might be a bit of a stretch, but I have heard of these being washed and reused 20 times, we'll see. My mixes and colours below. Love the extra working area.

More fun to be had.

Kimmo

 

[grasshopper]

I can relate..the AK wet palette is teeny tiny useless..I think it’s coming along nicely..my wife uses the newest Redgrass wet palette for her fabric painting..and the sheets work even with acrylics that are suitable for fabric and hence pretty strange consistency ..
what I am enjoying about these 1/35 figures is the value for money..decent detail..easy to improve with undercutting and adding bits..what’s not to like..

 

[Warren SMITH]

Nice work on the face, he will be finished in no time...

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

Catching up a bit ....interesting subject choice and again well modelled in your distinctive way ...a great eye for detail

Nice start on painting , thanks for sharing the colours

Intrigued what the final plans are ?

Following with interest especially ref the WP ...what's the size ? I am looking at another !

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Grasshopper, Warren and Nap!

Things are moving along at a decent pace and no major hassles to date. Nap, the palette is just a smidge over A5, not too big and not too small. As for the final plan, it will be something French


Did some more tweaking and am about 95% done. I added a couple of thinned down matte coats to take the shine off, and looks like one more will be needed. I'll add satin to the bits that should be shinier to help with contrast. And for those keeping track, this time I'm using a Rosemary Co series 22 #1, a lovely brush. I think the #0 will be out next for some of the finer details, the #1 is maybe a tad big for in tight spaces even if it still does produce very sharp/fine lines.



















One more session should do it for him and the base. I'm going to test out some tube acrylics on the base, curious to see how they work.

Kimmo

 

[NigelR]

Nice work and very interesting as I have a Red Grass wet palette on order to replace my AK one. I'm still trying to decide if I can make acrylics work for me and I think the AK palette may be one of the issues as it is tiny and I find my paints dry up quite quickly on it. The Red Grass one seems better and it looks like you have noticed a difference.

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nigel! So far so good with the palette, and I noticed the same issues with the AK even trying it with different parchment. This is definitely an upgrade.


Calling this done. didn't get the one session in as hoped, so it sort of got spread out over several quick sits. The base was a pretty quick and dirty as it isn't the focal point and so on, it has a slightly damp feel which is kinda nice although it will probably flatten out as it dries properly. I used the tube acrylics and while not great, they weren't bad either. Can't complain for 5 euros and will test them out a little more at some point. A bit of pigment and a wash of European Dust gave it a nice dirty look.

















I'll get some proper photos taken and get a gallery up.

Kimmo

 

[Nap]

Hi Kimmo

The officer of the law looks good , despite being quite a plain piece , good presentation as always

Thanks for sharing

Nap

 

[MoboSchreuder]

Excellent

Mobo

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Nap and Mobo!


Got kind of busy and forgot to check things here, and to get good photos taken. Both addressed now.


A teaser and a gallery link






Thanks to everyone who followed along and commented.

Kimmo

 

[Warren SMITH]

Very nice work... keep them coming..

 

[Nap]

Very nice work... keep them coming..

Agree there

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Warren and Nap!

Kimmo