Tamiya 1/16 Wehrmacht Machine Gunner
Let me start by saying two things; one, this is not an aeroplane so apologies if you're disappointed and two, I really suck at taking photos!
This little effort started out with a block of wood. Yes, a block of wood. One of our sons is a carpenter and last January I spied some rather nice timber in the back of his ute (Australian for 'pickup' to our American friends!). And then I thought, hmmmm...
I've always wanted to try my hand at figure making/painting and rather than lash out on something expensive I reckon the Tamiya 1/16 figures are a great place to start. Nice level of detail, easy to assemble...you know, it's a Tamiya thing.
So with nice block of wood and Tamiya kit to hand I started work.
Of course I had to do some research first. And I got all confused after looking at the heavily washed, highlighted and muti-shaded figures I'd seen and thought I'd never be able to emulate any of these. That's when I decided to keep it simple. Basically all I did was:
- Assembled the figure, leaving off the machine gun and various accoutrements.
- Airbrushed Humbrol grey/green as an undercoat.
- Applied a dark brown and black acrylic wash.
- Highlighted everything with various Humbrol enamels.
- And painted the face with Andrea acrylics.
The base was stained with Japan Black and then given a couple of coats of polyurethane applied with a cloth.
And voila!
Five months to build and paint you ask? Yes. I don't like to be rushed! Plus there's that little matter of having to work for a living. Sigh.
Cheers,
Nick
Nick,
Give me a break... This is gorgeous. To me, figure painting is an art and with this you have captured art. This is excellent.
Yep...what Frank said...I can't paint figures at ALL (well - maybe a little).
You're right, our hobby is a form of art. How we interpret shapes, colours, light and shade - it's all part of the creative side of building models. I'm flattered you consider my efforts worthy! Thank you both.
Nice work, Nick. The subtle tones of these (relatively) large areas of monotone colours are hard to bring out convincingly. You've managed the variations, and the dust along the edge of the greatcoat is well observed.
Great painting! A little relevation from propellers and wings? 😉
A great effort indeed.
I really like the subtlety of the shading.
And the block of wood - a masterpiece! 😉
Very convincing, Nick, he appears to be looking for something, maybe one of those Tamiya 1/16 scale armoured vehicles?