Back in the Game

[Old Tanker]

After about a 20 year absence I'm back into building models and painting miniatures.
This is my latest. It's an old "Series 77" by Pat Bird that I had on my shelf for years. I finally decided to paint it. Oils over acrylics.

There are a lot of fine figure painters on this site, but as a combat USMC Veteran I have never seen a clean field Marine. One day in the field and your uniform will pick up some grit of some sort. My old uniform from Vietnam still has some red in the seams.
Lloyd Reynolds

 

[captfue]

Great work considering the age of this kit. I'm not really a figure painter, but I feel you have a good basic understanding of painting. I think after a few more works you'll be up there with the best. Good luck and keep up the good work.

 

[Slowpainter]

I think the back of the figure is very well done. I like to build the Series 77 kits, and while I think they hold up well in general, sometimes the face is a weak point. To me, the face, helmet and rifle don't look as realistic as the rest of the piece. I don't think there is anything you do about the face (the last Series 77 I did, I had to repaint the face 4 times), but the helmet, rifle and boots could be more weathered and the skin could have some additional shadows/highlights to make it pop.

 

[KenBoyle]

Nice job Lloyd! I have a ton of Series 77, including this one. I real need to get painting...

Cheers,
Ken
,

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Nice to see a Series 77 oldie completed and I am sure that you got a real kick out of finishing of something that you started over 20 years ago, its the perfect way to get back in to the hobby, I was a Series 77 fan way back and still have several in my white metal army, needless to say the one that I always wanted Franz Doring Landsknect I never managed to get.
Welcome back and a great result.
TERRY

 

[DaddyO]

Welcome back Lloyd
I restarted recently (as did a lot of folks) repainting an old figure to see if I could still do it and enjoy it and from there it's just kind've snowballed.
You are correct about staying clean 'in the field', but there's a difficult line between what clothing actually looks like when it's been worn for a while and spent time outside and what looks correct on a figure. I've found that the larger figures will stand more weathering, but the small ones need very careful handling if they are not to look overdone. One popular technique is to use oils for weathering over a completed acrylic figure to allow it to be easily removed if it's not quite right without damaging the original finish. Ground up pastel chalks have also caught on and can be effective.

Have fun whatever method you use and do keep posting
Cheers
Paul

 

[Richard Baxter]

Welcome back, great work. Like several commentators on this thread, I too have some Series 77 s from the 70s, but mine are from the Franco-Prussian War. Maybe time to get one out and see how it looks.