heeeeeeelp

Hey Phil,

Thats a tall order buddy. Paints are personal preference. I use Acrylic primarily but also use oils and enamels. Oils give you time to blend but their drawback is they take a long time to dry, days in fact, Acrylics, in some cases give you seconds. One uses blending the other layering or feathering. In either case. Practice will decide what you want to use for yourself.

You can block in areas with an airbrush and maybe even do some great overspray effects, but the rest is going to be brush work. I'v tried my finger but it doesn't quite get that detail

As for detail, there are several factors at work here. Primariliy, with practice and experimentation comes success. But to get success you need some failure so prepare yourself. Not everyone is going to be a contest winner. Paints, brush, technique are other factors. Again with practice will come results. Pics you see in mags are great but remember you are seeing a slightly less than perfect pic. By the time you see the pics in the magazines they are already 3 generations away from original.(negative, to plate(s), to paper). Think of a xerox machine and what the copy looks like after it has been copied three times. This "generational" result will hide a host of ills. See the same figures in person and you'd be surprised. Not that they are any worse, just that they will look a little different or maybe not as good as you thought than what you saw in the mags. (But I will add that they may look better, but I have found the previous more the case) DO NOT JUDGE YOUR WORK COMPARED TO OTHERS! It will only frustrate you. Enjoy your work and let others make comparisons for you. They will anyway. Ask yourself, are you modeling for them, or for you? You will find that if you relaxe you will fulfill your own expectations and maybe exceed them. You are seeing others work for the first time, you are seeing yours continually for the duration of your project. You will grow tired of it, bored with it, and will spend the whole time judging yourself. The axiom of you are your own worst critic is true.

I read in a book somewhere where the author said "Remember that 1/35 scale can roughly be compared to looking at someone from about 20' away. " (Maybe it was Shep Paine) How much detail do you see from 20'? Do you see the distinction of pupil from iris from white in the eye? Do you see the details of that Luftwaffe badge, or do you assimilate the detail from what you know. Have your wife or girlfirend hold up a piece of jewelry that you haven't seen before from 20' away and see if you can describe it. How much of the detail of that brooch or pin do you see from that distance? We can give the impression of detail and still make for an impressive representation in our models.

Kalmbach Publishing (the publisher of FSM, hah go figure...) has a great book on painting realistic military figures. They aslo have one by Shep Paine on Diorama building. Both have very valuable info on them. Besides these two, there are literaly hundreds of resources published for painting figures available. Take your pick. What each one will tell you though is to practice, experiment and to develop your own method that works best for you.

Hit the search function of this forum and see what has been talked about prior. The infor you will gleen off this forum is priceless. And you have the benefit of getting almost immediate feedback. But remember also, they will impart on to you their techniques and hints, you will have to make the call on your own as to whether or not they work. Above all do not get discouraged. Just keep trying.

The journey is half the fun.

Mike

Hello Phil!

BOY! Acrylics or Enamels?......I'm finding that all depends on WHAT you are building.....WHERE the emphises is and WHAT is the end result?

Some will use enamals on metal and 'painted surfaces' and use acrylics for faces and uniforms.

Enamals go on evenly and tend to cover better....though there is always the smell and fumes. Though some acrilics tend to be easily chipped or scratched.....I think that too depends on coverage and technique.

I have seen projects painted with 100% ACRYLICS only and turn out great!

In the long run.....Its something you will need to experiment with yourself.

Well.....Air Brushing is still the best way to lay down your first coat of paint especially if its the largest part of your item to be painted....

Like if you AIRBRUSH a 1/35 scale face ( after some clean up of course ) then later you can dry brush on some of the highlights and details like eys, lips, scars etc.

There a SMALL brush is still your best friend!

Dry brushing is just dabbing a piantbrush with the color of choice and applying it on the selected surface after you have dabbed it on a pad of 'something' till its almost completly dry.
allowing you to be more careful about where and how much the paint goes on.....this works best for metalics and machined parts...like guns and engines......like to high light raised surface details on SMALL PARTS.

Welcome back to a FUN and moslty rewarding HOBBY!
Just remember to have FUN first and enter the contest later.