Nuts Planet Lord of Lions 1/10 scale

[Bigmick]

Well, I'm back to procrastinating, yes I know I started the Nuts Planet 101st Airborne, well, when I say started I began the clean up, I didn't get as far as priming it so technically NOT started lol.
So, why this kit.
I'd found a local model club and went along for a visit with a view to joining, but the visit turned into a 7 hour model painting session and this kit was nearest the top of the pile, also the fact it has 3 pieces so absolutely minimal clean up and prep was a bonus.

Here he is, as you can see dispite the title tis Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones,

As I said there three pieces all beautifully moulded in grey resin from an incredible sculpt.


There was a small casting block on each piece and all clean up was done within 15 minutes, the hardest was a seam line on the base and a seam line on the rear of the bust, easy.






And here he is in the grey, primered and ready to paint.


So, a small leap, all painting was done with Vallejo acrylics again, I made a base mix of flat flesh, matt red and white, successive thin coats were flat flesh mixed with more and more white. I then used a cut down brush to flick thinned red then brown paint over the skin to simulate flaws, capilliaries and freckles, might bury it under successive layers, we'll have to see.




The bust/part/figure holder is made by a company called Bespoke Bases and as you can see he's got a tiny head.


I shall do some more washes of brown on the skin and lighten the hair adding more white, might redo the eyes as well, I shall keep you all posted.

Regards.

Mick.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Great so far. Like your original approach to old flesh. Eyes are terrific.

 

[Gary D]

Nice! Looking forward toward more pic and your SBS on flesh!
Thanks
Gary

 

[arj]

Great so far. Like your original approach to old flesh. Eyes are terrific.

Seconded.
Love the old skin painting method.

Andrew

 

[sd0324]

I second Colin's observation. You have a flair for painting eyes.



Steve Deyo

 

[Sgt. Red]

very nice

 

[Bigmick]

I went mad and covered all the hair and beard in washes of ivory finalised with pure white on the highest points, THEN started to colour everything again using German camouflage orange ochrre 70.824 and then heavily thinned Vallejo Game Ink Marron Brown 72.092, I also used the game ink to go over the face, probably 20 or 30 thin coats to add colour to the cheeks, eye sockets, temples etc, easier to add many thin layers than a couple of thick ones that end up too dark. Also painted him outside, completely different light, I doubt the colours would have been as good under incandescent light.
He's how he looks so far, not going to say he's finished and I'm happy, I'll keep futzing about till he looks close to a picture I have of Charles Dance as Tywin.




Regards.

Mick.

 

[Nicolaos]

Great result with the face, can't wait to see your next steps!
Cheers,
Nicolae

 

[Bigmick]

So, what have we achieved so far.(again all paints are Vallejo, if anyone wants specific numbers just ask)
I'm happy ish with the results on the head, to be honest I don't think I'm going to play with it much, maybe some white highlights on the beard and redo the highlights on the face.
The main task now is the armour, I've Googled it and got a couple of reasonable pictures of the armour at a display of costumes from the series, screen shots just don't look the same and definitely don't show the blued finish to the steel sections of the armour or the oxidation on the brass parts.
I also did the small pedestal base that come with the kit, eventually he'll go on a wooden block, I've got two on order at the moment from Bespoke Bases for the Berserk and Shieldmaiden.
Base was easy, shades of grey mixed on the brush, darkened to almost black around the lion then blended back to grey, lion picked out with Old Gold.


I had a good look at the armour and worked out a battle plan, the parts of the leather jerkin you can see under the armour, under his right arm front and rear first, then the armour itself, steel then brass, then the cloak, then touching up any mistakes or overpainting.

So, out with the trusty Vallejo wood and leather set.

A base coat of chocolate brown.


Then a first highlight of flat earth, randomly applied but not covering the chocolate brown.


Then second highlight of dark sand, again randomly applied, at this stage on belts and straps you can simulate cuts and tears with fine lines and add more on the edges to simulate wear.


First wash is smoke, I barely thinned this but for other leather effects you can use diluted washes.


Final wash was black, no I'm not mad, and yes you can still just see the highlights underneath.


Now to the armour, it looks like the steel on Tywins armour has been blued, either acid or chemical staining as per gun parts, so I made a mix of gunmetal blue and matt black, even with the blend towards the blue it's still very black, it coats really well and two applications with a final thinned coat heavily towards the blue left a nice smooth finish, learning curve ahead.
I painted the steel parts, carefully painting around the parts that would be gold (wrong), as you can see even after two coats of old gold the primer is still visible, it would take 6-8 coats and at least an hour to get a nice layer, old gold applied over the blue/black looks beautiful and only took two coats, point learnt.
I looked at the lion on the shoulder plate, or Pauldron, and decided to try dry brushing with old gold as if the staining had rubbed off exposing the brass underneath (I'm making this up as I go you know lol)


This was as far as I got last night, happy with the lion with the first try, looks nice, leave it alone.

More to come, quite rapidly actually.

Regards.

Mick.

 

[Bigmick]

Hi again...

Well that didn't take long.

I had a good couple of hours at the model table today, back wasn't hurting too badly so cracked on.
This is the armour, not bad as reference pictures go.



The first task for today was block out all the main colours, armour, chest plate, cloak.
The chest plate was painted burnt cadmium red.

I used chocolate brown as a base colour for the chest plate, still doesn't work as well as the black/blue but lots better than the primer.
Once I got a nice layer of old gold on, without losing surface detail which is a fine balancing act it seems with vallejo paints, straight from the bottle and lose detail, thin with water and use 20 coats to cover, I started the weathering, flat earth in thin washes and dry brushed in a stippling fashion, orange brown, flat earth and chocolate brown used on other sections getting darker towards the edges, then thinned chocolate brown used on the rivet heads.


Oh I forgot the other Pauldron so had to quickly do that.



The cloak took at least half a dozen coats to get a good layer, I used Carmine red straight from the bottle.




The chest piece was weathered by first adding a black wash to bring out the recessed detail, when that had fully dried I dry brushed matt red making sure to stay in the center then stippling randomly leaving the burnt cad towards the edges.
The cloak was lightly dry brushed with a carmine red/white mix, the creases and folds received a thinned coat of burnt cadmium red, I also went around the undeside of the cloaks fold with a wash of burnt cadmium red to cover any overpaint and give a nice clean line, I'll take some flash photos tomorrow, they'll show up anything I've missed.

So, here he is done, the Lord of Lions, Lord Tywin Lannister.







Again thank you for all the comments and kind words, this one took me by surprise as I didn't think I'd have him finished as fast as this, roll on the 101st Airborne, or maybe something else.

Regards.

Mick.

 

[Bigmick]

Took a better picture with a downloaded background printed onto photo paper, will use matt not glossy next time.

 

[Mariobusta]

You have done a really nice job on this one , I am amazed at how quickly you can paint and still get good results , it usually takes me a month or two to finish a bust ! I think the red armour would benefit from some gloss or satin varnish to make it look more like a laquered finish ?

 

[ometz]

A great job on an excellent figure. Seeing you sbs makes me certain to purchase this figure and give it a try. Thanks for the sbs and congrats on the finished product.

 

[Bigmick]

Again, a massive thank you for your comments guys.
Mario, the armour received a coat of Clear last night, I hadn't put a varnish layer on as I was going to try and replicate the raw leather showing through the lacquer but decided against it and I can't believe it got painted that fast either, I've been invited to a model show in two weeks so I'm trying to complete another 3 busts by then, I know I won't as they're a lot more complicated.
Regards.
Mick

 

[Mariobusta]

Again, a massive thank you for your comments guys.
Mario, the armour received a coat of Clear last night, I hadn't put a varnish layer on as I was going to try and replicate the raw leather showing through the lacquer but decided against it and I can't believe it got painted that fast either, I've been invited to a model show in two weeks so I'm trying to complete another 3 busts by then, I know I won't as they're a lot more complicated.
Regards.
Mick

Three busts in two weeks ! now I am envious . I think that Damion Lewis bust will slow you down ! I hope you will find time to put up some progress shots .

Cheers
Neil

 

[Bigmick]

Neil, the Damian Lewis/101st is 50 shades of khaki, so yes, I've a feeling it will take a while, as will using oil paints on the M1 Garand unless I use some accelerator from Uschi van Der Rosten, then it's on to Mad Jack Churchill

 

[Bigmick]

I managed to do the other two busts before the show, New York Firefighter and 101st Airborne, I also got this turned base from Bespoke Bases, I made a coin punch from a .44 magnum shell case and engraved a lion motif in a disc or plastic then rolled out a sheet of milliput and punched out coins.

And here he is on his base, I have since added an engraved plate, local trophy shop made it.

Regards.

Mick.