Completed More WWII oldies:

[Mike S.]

Here are some more WWII figures I completed some years ago.

Dragon Heer MG42 Gunner, with resin replacement head and Helmet:

Dragon Panzer commander heavily converted into U-boat crewman:

Dragon British paratrooper:

Dragon 101st airborne:

Ron Hinote "Little Generals" Heinrich Himmler:

Ron Hinote "Little Generals" Japanese Infantryman:

 

[marius'mules]

Very nice---I really like the converted U-Boat man

 

[Mike S.]

Fellow member Kathryn informed me that some monitors displayed my photos with a greenish yellow cast, so I have corrected the photos accordingly.

 

[housecarl]

All excellent pieces Mike. How did you do the splash in the first on, please?
Carl.

 

[Ferris]

Great work Mike.
Is the running figure with MG42 a conversion? I don't recognise it as a Dragon figure...? Is it 1/35 or 1/16 by the way?

Nice idea to convert into a U-boat crewman.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Mike S.]

Hi Carl,

I used clear acetate cut out into a splash pattern, formed into crown shapes for each foot, and merged it into the sculpted dirty, disrupted water effect on the base. I hadn't seen that effect attempted before, so I thought it would be a novel idea to depict it.

Adrian,

It is a modified older Dragon figure in 1/16th scale, but with a new resin head and helmet replacement. Most of the large Dragon figures come off quite stiff due to the molding limitations they are made with, coupled with the choice of poses they seem to favor. The trick is to animate them a bit to remove some of that awkwardness.

 

[Mike S.]

Here are a few more:

 

[Edorta]

Hi Mike, if I may comment. Your photos leave something yellow. Try using a blue light bulb, or whiter. The figures are phenomenal. I love them.
Cheers.
Edorta.

http://www.mininet.tv/egminiatures.html

 

[Eric P.M.]

Mike,

these models are great, especially the cammo !
Looks like I've got a lot to learn...........

Eric

 

[rheath]

Great work Mikey - If I may, try and put a little light contrast in some of the uniform colours,especially H. Himmler's black uniform , it might be the pics of course that are concealing your work if you have already done so.

 

[Mike S.]

Hi my friend,

I'm definitely of the school that believes that larger scale figures look unnatural and garish (if not downright ghoulish at times) when the exaggerated shading and highlighting used on 54mm and smaller figures is employed on their bigger brethren. This is a conscious aesthetic preference.

Although many appear to cling to that exaggerated style of painting regardless of scale,and they do seem to have their groupies, I favor and employ very different sets of techniques. Each set utilized depending completely on the scale of the model in question. To my "trained" eye, the other camp's style gives an artificially "graphic" print effect rather than a literal, realistic depiction in miniature. Some like that, others such as myself, do not.

Granted, the subtleties of shading that I foster are also washed out in the photographs, but it's there in person. It should be mentioned that darker colors like Black and Dk. Blue should be dealt with using a light hand in the highlighting department.

To each his own.

Cheers.

 

[kathrynloch]

Hi Mike,

Although you have improved the photos tremendously, they still have that yellowish cast from the lighting - so that's probably continuing the contrast issues rather than the actual finishwork.

But I had an idea that might work until you can change out the bulbs. Did you say you were using paper over the lights for diffusion? If you get a blue sheet of paper and use that, it should help neutralize that yellow a little. Are you shooting with that blue back drop or is that added? If you're shooting with it, keep it, if not, get one. lol!

But those Reveal bulbs will really help in the long run since they have a cleaner and more "blue" toned light if you can get them.

Cheers,
Karrie