2nd Legere Carabinier Officer

[VladGothik]

New member here, intro in the relevant thread.

So being new, to modelling figures, but no stranger to painting or modelling, this is my first Historex figure, it's stock, so thus a little wooden in its pose.
I painted the face/ hands with Vallejo acrylics. The last hurrah before the wole lot went into storage as I've now completely converted over to AK 3G, which I find infinitely superior. And the rest has been painted with 3G.

Apart from a couple of things I'm very aware of, painting straight lines for one, using alternate blues for two..... the getting to grips with a new family of paint shades issue. And taking a little more time over a project for three.

I'd like to expand and improve, and seeing the level of work here, it would suggest I'm in the right company to do so.
So any critique would be welcome

Click on pics for larger images

Cheers
Vlad

 

[clubcat]

Good job, Vlad. The obvious thing from my point of view would be to put a black ink wash on the bearskin cords and epaulettes. If you undercoat the areas that you wish you use silver metallics on with black then when you apply the silver leave a small shadowline around it smaller on the light side larger on the shadow side. All said it stills looks good as it is.
Melanie

 

[VladGothik]

Thanks Melanie for taking the time to take a look and respond.

I did start with black, and gave a wash after but lost it again trying to re-brighten. An area to improve.
The epaulettes are quite a weak area at component level, I've an idea how to improve those going forward.

I'm glad you like the figure overall, hopefully the next will be better.

 

[Warren SMITH]

Great start, you seem to see where you believe you need improvement. Im sure your next figure will seem better in your eyes.. I really like the way you have painted up the face. It has lots of character..

 

[Briggsy]

Brave man Vlad, to be honest with you as a first effort it really is rather good, I agree with the points made by Melanie and Warren. I saw this on the small builds group and was impressed.

On a Historex figure I would suggest investing in a pyrogravure if you are going to carry on with this type of figure. The original Historex ones I believe are no longer available but the wood art pyrograph, the one with adjustable temperature settings is more than adequate. They take a bit of practice but you can add texture to items like the bearskin and plume, the surface texture straight from the packet is not really the best and needs a lift.

Otherwise I reckon you have this well in hand, all you need to improve the areas you are unhappy with is practice, which is convenient since as figure modellers that's what we do!

Crack on and enjoy, remember though if you need any questions answered just ask away we are a mutual self help kind of bunch.

Cheers Simon

 

[VladGothik]

Great start, you seem to see where you believe you need improvement. Im sure your next figure will seem better in your eyes.. I really like the way you have painted up the face. It has lots of character..

Thanks for dropping by and the input Warren, more opinions the better.
I do see areas I feel can be improved, but looking for external critique as others see things differently and more importantly things I could easily not even see!

 

[VladGothik]

Brave man Vlad, to be honest with you as a first effort it really is rather good, I agree with the points made by Melanie and Warren. I saw this on the small builds group and was impressed.

On a Historex figure I would suggest investing in a pyrogravure if you are going to carry on with this type of figure. The original Historex ones I believe are no longer available but the wood art pyrograph, the one with adjustable temperature settings is more than adequate. They take a bit of practice but you can add texture to items like the bearskin and plume, the surface texture straight from the packet is not really the best and needs a lift.

Otherwise I reckon you have this well in hand, all you need to improve the areas you are unhappy with is practice, which is convenient since as figure modellers that's what we do!

Crack on and enjoy, remember though if you need any questions answered just ask away we are a mutual self help kind of bunch.

Cheers Simon

Thanks Simon, in looking around at others work across the forums/ pages I have seen a pyrograve mentioned, a scary prospect, but in talented hands they certainly do produce some fantastic effects.

 

[Steve Edwards]

That's a really good result for a first attempt. I agree with your decision to ditch your Vallejo paints in favour of AK 3G. They are much better.

Did you paint the white piping on the uniform coat after the blue? Try painting the white piping colour first, then cut-in with the dark blue afterwards. It's much easier to get a clean line that way.

 

[VladGothik]

Hi Steve,

I did paint in the piping, it's actually silver, and one area that I think let's the whole figure down the most, purely because of getting the lines wrong! But needed to show for clarity and honest feedback. An aspect I need to work on, bloody french with fancy decorations!
I can see how the trim on the turnbuckle would work following your suggestion, not sure about the mid tail decor, maybe a fine pencil line might work

 

[Nap]

Hi Vlad

All credit to you for this figure , Melanie and Simon and Steve have mentioned good points

I agree ref the AK paints

Well done on this figure

Look forward to seeing more

Why not support the competitions see link below

Have fun @ the Bench

Nap