A question about MMSI and figures

Jeff,
The answer is what ever your pocket will let you.
If you just want to get the feel for it, then I'd pick up some Dragon figures and sit down and paint. On one of the other figure sites there was a group challenge or project that required a stock out of the box figure from one of these companies (Dragon, Tamiya, Masterbox, Trumpeter) and I have to admit, I saw some very impressive work that would give a run for the money to a higher priced resin or metal specialty figure. You could take a step up and go for Jaguar, Wolf, Alpine, Hornet, etc. and get a little better casting, or you could take the Dragon figures and swap out the heads for some Hornet, Mig, or other aftermarket.
These are 1/35 scale and will be a challenge, but inexpensive and make a respectable showing. It also has the advantage of being able to pair them up with any models you might have.

For larger scale, Michael Roberts, Verlinden, Alpine, Dragon, all prodice some nice resin castings that are a dream to paint and assemble.

Pegaso, Andrea, Elisina, Seil, El Viejo, are just some of the other kits that will dent your pocket, and can sometimes offer a challenge in fit, and painting. Despite their reputation.

When you go to the shows, don't be afraid to ask to open the box to inspect the figure. It allows you to see the quality of the cast, and to insure that all the parts are there and there is no damage. Most if not all vendors don't mind this. Too there is the ability to tap a figure entrant and ask him about the figure he built and painted. He or she could fill you in on all the flaws, advantages, problems etc. of the piece before you even hit the vendor room.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is to not allow your expectations to exceed your abilities and the materials you have to work with. Alot of folks getting onto figure painting, despite all their admissions that they don't, seem to expect the best from the worst. No one just sat down and had a gold medal winner their first pop. It took practice, frustation, crying, the rending of clothes, long hours of blinding miniscule work and a collection of expletives to get results that they were happy with. You will be in good company with the folks that have bought a figure, spent way too many hours working on it, only to have it end up in either a box hidden beneath the stairs, buried under the christmas decorations and covered with some sort of voodoo, taboo runes, or dumped into a glass full of paint stripper.

Good luck

Thanks Renarts. That was exactly the advice I was looking for. I have tons of figures from armor kits that I was going to practice on. I just needed some advice for resin figures ( I guess I should have said that from the outset) Just a few to pick up and have in the stash for when I felt I was ready. Thanks again.

Regards,

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

I recommend Warriors as a good starting-point resin figure. Verlinden, too. These are among the least expensive, and they have a large selection. However, in my experience, there can be a lot of casting flaws to deal with. Air bubble holes, enormous seams in hard-to-reach places on the fig. Furthmore, Verlinden's resin seems more robust to me, making it more difficult to deal with these imperfections.

Not the worst issues in the world, but I do prefer companies such as Alpine, TAHK, S&T, Hobby Fan, Nenrod, to name a few. A couple more dollars per figure, and there are always gonna be seams to take care of on any figure, but the overall casting on these guys is far superior, IMHO. Sharper, and more attention spent on, the details, And their resin seems a bit "softer" to me, so any necessary clean up is made a little simpler.

Again, Warriors is a fine company to start with, but I'd keep an eye out for any of these other brands while you are there. You haven't truly ruined anything if you botch a paint job. As Renarts mentioned, you can always strip it.

Have fun,

Steve

 

I have 2 mini-dios by Jaguar, and the sculpts just blow me away. I've never seen such detail in 1/35th... ever. Maybe not what you were looking for, but maybe it helps.

Thanks guys. I'm not really sure what I am looking for just wanted to get an idea of pricing and kit quality. A quick check on Squadron shows them averaging around 12 bucks a piece for 1:35 figures. There was one company called Czech somethingorother that was really expensive.

I just remember from last year that there was an overwhelming number of figs being sold and you guys helped me seperate the wheat from the chaff. Thanks again.

Regards,

Jeff

Lot of questions there.

Okay, first, what area interests you? I'm guessing since you didn't redirect the modern comments, thyat's what you're looking at. Frankly, I'd avoid Verlinden at this point. Most of the smaller stuff is uber specific to a scene and the 120 stuff is often not all that well cast.

Do not rely on Squaron for selection or pricing. They very often over price their figures, even if it's to put them on sale. I recently got a 70mm figure for $30, thye lilsted it at $90 but the price at every other dealer was $55-60.

I don't know who'll be there, but most of hte figure dealers who go to the figure shows carry reltively little modern figures. Coule places to check out WWII amd more modern stuff are Military Miniatures Warehouse and Colorado Miniature. For a really good selection of figures from all historical periods, check out The Red Lancer.

Expect to pay in he range of $15 for a resin figure in 1/35 or 54mm (about 1/32). Most dealers have bottom feeder boxes with discontinued items at very good prices at the shows.

As mentioned, if you see someone who has a figure you like, ask about it. If it's not a one off, I'm sure he/she will be happy to talk about it, you're only prpoblem may be a language barrier if you run into a Spaniard or Italian or French Canadian. The first time I spoke to Marion Ball, one of the great painters around, she was putting away a kit that I had also brought to the show. Her husband had sculpted it and she did the box art. I didn't even recognize the figure as the box art, but we chatted about the figure for a few minutes. Then I saw her nake tag and realized who she was!

In any case, have fun.

Al,

Thanks for the great info. I guess I really meant was WWII figures for the most part although I have always had a thing for Napoleanic figs too. I have seen some of your amazing work and I assume you pretty much consider era after the 19th century to be moderm. That wasn't somekind of dig by the way, just an observation.

I was planning to go anyway, just figured(no pun intended) That I may as well pick up a few things while I was there. Even if they just sit in my stash for however long, it ain't like they go bad. Thanks again.

Regards,

Jeff

Jeff,
The sources that Al listed are excellent and the show itself will knock your socks off.
Another good source is http://www.tankratsafvdepot.com these guys have a nice selection of resin figures from WW2 and some modern from ST, New World Miniatures, Pegaso resin, Alpine, Hornet and Wolf and more.

As you start to work on your figures, above all have fun and understand you'll have failures. Learn from them and move on. Don't dwell on the stuff that doesn't look exactly like what the box art was. Talent is 1 part skill with 10 parts determination and 10 parts practice. The more faces you do and try to push your comfort zone, the better they will become with each session. Same with your shading, highlights and weathering. Always try to do something a little more and push the limits to your own boundries and you'll see a definate improvement. The other piece of advice I offer you is to thicken up your skin and seek commentary from others. Let other folks look at your work and see what they say. Accept the criticism you get with grace, learn from constructive criticism, ignore stupid and useless comments and see what others do to achieve a particular effect you like. Don't get discouraged, even if they say nothing nice about your work. What does it hurt? Opinion is just that and peoples aesthetics are as individual as themselves. One person might like a particular style while another may have a lesser opinion of it.

If you have a digital camera, snap pictures of your work and look at them on your computer. Nothing shows off flaws like blowing up your figure 100x and seeing just how sloppy that paint line is. While it may be invisible to your eye, it may be a lit bill board to someone who is used to looking at painted figures and looks for just such errors. By being aware of it, you can develop a technique that will compensate for that, it will teach you to paint tighter and be more aware of detail and if you are seeing a trend in your flaws, it gives you a reference for correction.

Conversely, understand too that its not necessary to paint the embroidery on a piece of trim or to paint the embossing on a shirt button, but to paint the impression of those things. The eye will see them and the brain will make the connection. For example if you ever get a chance to see the russian Vityaz school of painters you will see lavish brocades, filagree etch on swords, embroidery on banners and decorative embossing on leather. But upon closer inspection, they did not paint those details in scale accuaracy but made patterns or squiggles to "suggest" those things. Suddenly alot of the awe is removed at the amount of detail when you see its actually slight of hand. BTW their fabric work is impressive but yet their facial work and skin tones are rather less and do not come close to the effort seemingly spent on clothing. Also there are scale tricks that can be done with figures that make them seem more alive and pop more. Exagerate a little more than what seems prudent. Tonal variations may be more extreme and of higher contrast. Colors richer or slightly exagerated to achieve the same results. Highlights and shadows on the face should be a bit more exagerated to give the character life and expression.

Experiment, practice and develop a rhythem.

firesmacker wrote:

you pretty much consider era after the 19th century to be moderm. Regards, Jeff

Jeff,

Yup, 20th century is modern in my mind. Pretty much if it gets to play at AMPS Natinals, I think, "Modern." Not that there's anything wrong with that! In fact I have a "modern" (1942) figure on my desk right now that's sort of near completion but may have to tae a step back to re-do his coat. Your comment didn't at all seem like a dig. (Thanks for the nice words, as well.)

Renarts post above is excellent advice as well. IMHO, figure painting is a much more demanding part of the hobby, especially when non-hobbyists look at your work. Most people would accept a Kelly green M5, in fact there was a pertty much Kelly green Stuart on display in a neighboring city for many years before the color was corrected, nor could they tell if a particular aircraft was accurate or not. They might recognize the most common, but not any variants.

We all know, however, what people look like. We see them everyday. We see art work and photographs of people all the time. I believe we are pretty much hard-wired to respond to faces and to some degree to expressions.

If a figure doesn't meet those expectations, we won't respond well. If it does, even someone whose seen a miniature before will realize it's good work.

Am I rambling off topic here? Ranks and age do have their proviliges!

Al