Latest 1/9 bust

Mitches Military Models 1/9 bust depicting an unknown Russian Soldier

Young Miniatures British LRDG 1942

1/10 bust painted in oils over enamels

Only change was ciggie was replaced with a roll-up paper rolled up tight rather than the smooth piece of resin that was supplied.

Mitches Military Miniatures - Jock Lewes in 1/9 Scale

Painted in oils over enamels with a bit of pastels for the 5 o'clock shadow

Mitches Military Miniatures - Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson1/9 Bust

This bust depicts Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson the only pilot in the Battle of Britain to win a VC

Twenty three year old Flight Lieutenant James Nicolson won the only V.C. of the Battle of Britain on 16th August 1940. His aircraft was set on fire during an action with the enemy near Southampton, he was about to bale out when he saw an Me 109 and settled back into the burning cockpit to shoot it down:

It was perhaps an unexceptional act of bravery amongst so many fighting to defend Britain that summer – yet it was unique because it was witnessed by a number of people on the ground. The need for witnesses to corroborate individual acts of bravery meant that very few RAF crew were nominated for an award of valour. Nicolson was the only fighter pilot to receive the award during the Second World War. He was also one of only two recipients to win the award whilst in British territory, the other being Leading Seaman Jack Mantle of HMS Foylebank on 4th July 1940.

Nicolson was wounded in the eye and foot in the first attack that set his aircraft on fire, and his hands were so badly burnt that he was unable to release his parachute once he landed. Yet his ordeal was not over – he was peppered in the leg by a shotgun fired by an enthusiastic member of the Home Guard who was the first to approach him.

He made a good recovery and was extremely modest about the award – he had to be reminded that it was a discipline offence to be improperly dressed when he was slow to sow the medal ribbon onto his uniform.

Nicolson was later promoted to Wing Commander. He died in May 1945 whilst an observer on an aircraft that crashed into the sea off Burma.

- See more at: http://ww2today.com/16th-august-1940-flight-lieutenant-nicolson-wins-v-c#sthash.rV46D0iq.dpuf

War Horse - finished model

Victory Miniatures 16th Lancer heavily modified.

Horses front legs swapped around, replaced bit, saddle, rifle bucket, blanket under saddle, tail.

Rider, changed right arm to reach for rifle rather than holding lance, head swapped and new cap made, removed and replaced spurs, resoled his boots and a few other minor changes

Boudica

Got this bust for xmas


first of all it was nice to see a female figure that had clothes on (call me a prude) but the thing that sold it to me was the amazing sculpt of the hair, that and the amazing paint job Pepa Saavedra did on P&P website.
So a few challenges, a) female skintones b) all that hair c) wode d) all that hair e) tartan f) all that hair g) trying to make her clothing look like wool h) all that hair (well there is enough of it)

Article

> Well today's the day (yesterday actually) that my article got published
>

December Issue of Military Modelling

Been a bit quiet of late, but have submitted and had accepted an article to go into the december issue of Military Modelling.

I did it on the Winter in the trenches bust I did.

Painting a 1/10 scale head

Using the spare head I had from my Vasily Zytsev bust I thought id paint it with a bit more patience and care and see what I come up with. Also I wanted a go at painting Warm skin tones as all the ones I've done so far are cold tones.

So .....

1. airbrushed Enamel base coat (Humbrol 63) 
2. painted the "whites" of the eyes with Light Stone enamel (Humbrol 121)
3. Painted a big black dot for the iris with black enamel. I used a cut down toothpick to do this bit.
4. I then used white oil paint and painted the black iris, leaving a black outer ring
5. whilst still wet I used a blue (can't remember the colour) and semi mixed this with the white to create a mottled effect.
6. left to dry for a couple of days then used black enamel on the butt end of a 0.5mm drill bit and dotted the pupils in.
7. upper eyelid lined with Van Dyke brown oil paint
8. botton eyelid lined with flesh tint oil paint

Voila....

Take into account that the whole head is the same size as a penny.

T34's

Well calling this one done (or is that overdone?) Mildly please with the end result, seeing as its my first and I did it all arse about face and used nearly every effect under the sun on it. Yes there a lot of details I could enhance etc etc, but as a cheap kit and a trial, I'm not overly fussed about details too much.

The other tank may get converted to a rusty wreck, haven't decided yet.

T34's

Weathering Part 1.... probably jumped the gun a bit, but I've done it all about face so far..... After painstakingly painting the tracks so that where the wheels rubbed it was a lighter colour.......... I covered it in mud

T34's

Can't remember as a little kid doing modelling every building or painting a tank (probably out of my pocket money range)

So I bought a couple of cheap T34 tanks from a member of the Military Modelling forum, to have a go.

They build up very nicely, but could do with a lot of modification if you wanted accuracy, but as this was a painting exercise I wasn't bothered about that.

There are many ways to paint vehicles, the main (or popular at present) two methods are Colour Modulation and Preshading.

Colour Modulation is done by gradually lightening the areas of the tank.
Pre shading is done by painting the panel lines and joins and around the main areas prior to painting the main colour.

As I had two tanks and two methods of painting them, I decided to do one of each.

Anyway to stop boring you with loads of photos of the process I'll just show the end results (so far)

The one on the left is colour modulation and the one on the right pre shading.

They have had a filter applied (a thin layer of oil paint) and a pin wash (again a thin layer of oil paint, but just outlining the detail).

TO BE CONTINUED........

Who's that ? part 4

Not much done.
added some more personal equipment, change the head on Jerry and bulked his trigger finger out.

Who's That? Part 3

Did a bit of super detailing to the Jerrys equipment.

Who's that? Part 2

Realised I'd also done some work on the German MB rifle and Dragon Rifle, hhmm which one to use........ Hand is naff as well, but you can see my sprue extension. Not great detail in the hand as you can see, may play about making a hand, got an idea brewing in my head which I will experiment with. I had sharpened up the detail, replaced the epaulettes but had to open up his right arm to get everything to sit right, will have to finalise the position and putty in the gap.

Who's That?

Next up on the bench, is a couple of figures from the Masterbox "Who's That?" set.
The plan is to only do two of the figures on a small base with a wall in-between.

Box Art

And the first figure, one of the Russians.

Straps for forage bag removed from torso and replaced with.... can't remember, surgical tape I think. The top of the bag I also replaced as the original looked naff.
buttons and loops replaced on his jacket (see pic below). Hands removed and extended with sprue, cuffs drilled out to accommodate and rifle attached to hands. Just perching in the arms at the moment. Head decapitated, body drilled out, and baldy slapper Hornet head dropped in, you gotta love a bald guy. Cant decide wether or not to put a helmet on him, but it looks strange as hornet heads are very thin.

I didn't notice until it was too late that the original spacing of the button was off and the bottom button is in the wrong place.. oh well

All back to normal....nearly

Well after my Faux Pas, Ive managed to get the pics back online and the pages updated..

I've updated my "Winter in the Trenches" page with the latest pics.

Oops

Well it looks like I inadvertently deleted my photos from Google+ so will have to reload them again

Winter in the trenches

Added a dullcote varnish on him, just the rank stripes to sort out now....

Winter in the trenches

Almost done, at least he's stuck together now...