Kromlech Orc Pilot bust

[Kimmo]

Busy busy busy...I need to catch up on my backlog of projects and this neat little bust was perfect for to fill in a couple of days worth of waiting for other things to dry. A nicely executed piece, the casting is quite good with minimal clean up. There are a few molding ribs to remove and a bit of sanding here and there, nothing major and easy enough to take care of. Being the picky sort I am, I decided to make a couple of improvements. The goggle clips should be wire, but due to the nature of the sculpt and cast, they are extended down into the helmet so I opened up the gap and made the clips look more like wires. I also added a small bit of rod to the strap buckle on his upper chest that was missing. A bit of filler was added to the wool texture as there were some tiny pin holes I wasn't sure would get filled with primer. I suspect they would, but better safe than sorry.












As you can see, a nice amount of detail to work with and a good chance to practice my leather techniques.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

A real good day's worth of painting. Most of the work has been done, the metallics and some pin washes and highlights/shadows yet to do, but getting rather close. I didn't get any in progress shots apart from these showing how I approach leather. Nothing terribly sexy in terms of techniques anyway, just your bog standard messing about.







The highlights and wear areas get added, then a thinned coat of Smoke, Air Color Burnt Umber or Mahogany is applied on top. The glaze provides depth so you don't have to worry about shading too much for the initial step. In the photos below, I used Smoke for the goggle and head pad, Burnt Umber for the helmet.











Apart from the photos not being the greatest, you can clearly see the nice effect from either glaze. Once they've dried a it, you can go back and scrub them down with a wet brush or cotton swab to create more of a worn look. Very quick, simple and quite effective. You can also see the work to date. This is a fun piece to paint, lots of texture and detail.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Haven't had time to do much of anything on our ugly lad this week, busy getting something else off the bench. I did however, get a plinth whipped up. I used a foam core for the base, skinned it, made trim from quarter round strip and then the cube from thick sheet and filled it to make sure it wouldn't buckle. I'm rather impressed that everything is more or less square considering I used a single edged razor blade and straight edge to do all the cutting.







Next up, a bit of filler, then I'll get the plinth primed/painted with Vallejo primers. Not sure if I'll try for a wood grain or just go with a "cherry" finish. I think plain black would be a bit boring and possibly overwhelming.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Just about ready to call this done, first a few shots of how I painted the plinth. I base coated with a wood colour mixed from Vallejo primers, then streaked in a darkened tone with a fan brush. I wasn't trying to be neat, just getting some texture and grain.






Then a couple of thinned layers of Rotbraun primer, thin enough so the grain and wood colour shows through, basically a stain.






And here's how everything looks now. The plinth has been given a couple of coats of Future floor wax, very shiny and durable. I may need to do a light sanding and get one more coat down as I had a few streaks.











This has been a really fun project. I thoroughly enjoyed not having to be "accurate" with any of the elements and the freedom that gives you to just paint and go as nuts as you want. I'll get some glamour shots done over the next few days and post a gallery link. Thanks to those who followed along.

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

Here's the completed project and a gallery link.I ended up toning down the shine on the plinth with a coat of semi-gloss after sanding out a few streaks.



https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/orc-pilot-bust.117995/

Kimmo