Completed Officer of Dragoons Franco Prussian War.

[Briggsy]

Hi Simon

Nice trousers there , liking the way you’ve painted them

Have fun with the little angel .......don’t eat all her sweets

Looking forward to seeing more

Have fun at the bench

Nap

Cheers Nap, the trousers are closer to crimson now I'll try and post piccies later, if I remember! As for sweets, she is the only child I have ever known who will give a half eaten chocolate bar back and say "Mummy said no more chocolate". Got the little angel all day tomorrow as mummy is off work with a tooth abscess, good job we don't live in Bristol!

Cheers Simon

 

[marco14]

it changed already a lot,you speedy ,it's going to be looking great mate

Mario

 

[KenBoyle]

Nice work Simon! It's coming along beautifully.

Cheers,
Ken

 

[Briggsy]

Mario, Ken thank you gentlemen much appreciated.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

Catching up here, this is looking really good, I really like the way you did the boots. I'll be storing that away for use in the future.....

 

[Briggsy]

Catching up here, this is looking really good, I really like the way you did the boots. I'll be storing that away for use in the future.....

Cheers Nigel, I used to do boots with the blue base to try and make them look shiny but I reckon this way looks better. Always happy to share techniques.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

I've been away from.my bench for far too long due to one drama or another I need daub paint on things to regain my equilibrium, though to be fair it's probably a few decades too late for that.

Anyway this is where I got to the other night, mostly building the colour on his tunic with some soft glazes of SC75 Deep Blue mixed about 60/40 with the same brand Navy Blue and just pure SC75 Black for the shade. Today's job will be building up highlights and sorting transitions, yeah totally relaxing.

Cheers Simon

 

[Rob]

He is coming along nicely

 

[Briggsy]

He is coming along nicely

Cheers Rob, I'm getting there with him, little bit at a time.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

Today I have been mostly painting his tunic, i added a little SC75 Caspian Blue for the highlights and then with SC75 Deep Blue i cut back the transition before a couple of light controlled washes of the same. Also added a little detail to the trousers, mostly seams. I have started brining the whites up but will need more paint.

As you can see I have started the metalics, I really don't like pure metallics without any normal paint used on them, that's a task for another day though.

Really enjoying painting this one.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

I can tell your enjoying this, the colours are nice and vibrant, going to be another Simon special.

Malc

 

[Nap]

Hi Simon

Nice to see the update on this fellow, the blue works well against the red trousers

Looking forward to seeing the metallics get worked on

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Malc, Kev, many thanks gents, it's always better painting a well sculpted figure especially one this well made.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

Mostly working on the metallics today, from a base coat of SC75 Sahara Yellow I used Army Painter Air Bright Gold as the base metal on everything that needs to be gilt for brass.

My next step is to start adding shade with Vallejo Smoke and tiny bits of Vallejo Amaranth Red. Anywhere the is a raised detail, crease or seam in the metal gets several coats of this in very thin controlled washes.

The gold is then over painted with the base metal and the Sahara Yellow, this cuts a lot of the glitter from the metallic paint. A few coats of AK Ultra Matt varnish and then it's backwards and forwards building the shade and adding pure metallic paint to the highlights. It isn't that different from a basic NMM approach letting the metallics be the highlights. I keep adding coats of varnish to take the shiny gloss effect of the gold down to a near matt effect.

I keep at this until I'm happy with the way it looks, the next stage it to make the highlights pop a little, I add really small catchlights of Vallejo Metal Colour Pale Burnt Metal. Finally more matt varnish.

Let me know if it works or if I've just killed the project!

Cheers Simon

 

[clubcat]

You are doing a splendid job. Your metallics are looking good.
Melanie

 

[Steve Ski]

Fine helmet work, Simon!

 

[Briggsy]

Melanie, Ski, many thanks it's much appreciated, I'm too lazy to go back to NMM!

Cheers Simon

 

[marco14]

that is looking great,very good job

Mario

 

[Briggsy]

Many thanks Mario, he's getting there, got the leopard skin on his helmet to do yet, that may prove a challenge.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Simon

Great descriptions on the metallics , interesting approach using Matt varnish , the results show up well and are looking good , will you add a tiny bit of gloss varnish on the highest highs ?

Your definitely not killing this .....nailing it more like

Looking forward to seeing the sword

Thanks for updates

Happy benchtime

Nap