Nice!  A WIP, or just pictures when finished? 

Happy to do a work in progress. Hadn't thought about it till you asked Knox.

I'd love to see any more work you do on him too Dodgy. 

Aha! Definitely would like to see a WIP on him!

No problem Gamera and Tanker-Builder. Will do. Lot of medical stuff going on at the moment so things have slowed down.

Hey;

 Understand this. Your health is more important as is that of family members. We can wait.

Thanks cobber, all good now. Loading a report next.

OK, some basic construction, and lots of filling required.

The two bags across his chest are for grenades and are going to require some work to fit them in to the molded parts.

There are two heads provided with this figure. One is supposed to look young and lost with the thousand yard stare, but the eyeballs are hollow. the other is older with a nice mo. Not sure which one I will do.

Following along.  I was really into figures a while back and perfer this scale.  I've done a couple WWI figures.  One of the things I really like about figure modeling is there is a much broader array of kits covering way more history.  I did a civil war figure, two Zulu war figures etc.  I've been working on a b-17 waist gunner for the past 5 years...lol

Anyhow - nice figure and I'm looking foward to your progress.

That looks good. You can fix some seams like that if you use a little putty in the gap and then while it's still semi-wet wipe it with some thinner (whatever dissolves it) with a cotton bud. 

And both heads look good, I'm partial to the one with the 'stash myself.

Thanks Keavdog. I'll be doing some more on him on the weekend as its supposed to be very wet here, and I totally agree with your comment on the spread of history that figures cover. As for your B17 waist gunner, you can't rush these things....

Thanks Gamera. I've recently discovered Perfect Plastic Putty and I looove it. However where the grenade bags meet their molded on parts is going to be a challenge, as I will have to work around some belts and cross straps.

With regard to the heads, I am also partial to the one with the mo. It suits the era.

Thanks GreySnake. I think its going to be the mo. It has a lot more character.

Looking good. I like both faces, so will be no help.  Its strange that just a face swap will change the personality of the figure so much. 

Well, Well! Personally I prefer the stache.

 Why? Looks like mine when we had a shipwide contest for the biggest baddest and longest stache. The prize? Weekend liberty! In Hong Kong! That sure was a nice weekend!

Hi Folks. Please accept my apologies for the lenghty period of time before returning to this subject. Totally lost my *** and am now struggling with modeling anything. It feels like I have had a brain freeze and forgotten all I once knew. I will continue with the stormtrooper as a WIP, but, and this is a big but, I no longer have the confidence I once had. This is not an appeal for pats on the back or nice comments. Feel free to give feedback and critiscisims, I'm not thin skinned. I do however have my own way of doing things, but I have been out of touch with the model world for a number of years now and there are so many new products and techniques. Essentially I am picking up where I left of in the 80's. As a rule I block in the basic colours in enamels and then tune it up with oils.

I do not claim to be a figure modeler of any great skill, but it is my favourite genre. If what I offer here is of any use to any of you, then thats great. If not, there's always Tubi.......... 

Ok. So I finished the main assembly on the figure and it needed a bit of filler. The hardest part was where the grenade bags came together with his uniform. I used 'Perfect plastic putty' and this worked well, but I had to be careful to restrict it to where it was needed. Not always easy on a figure where you have belts and layers of clothing.

I then painted the eye areas in white enamel paint and let that dry properley. After which I placed an iris in each eye with the point of a toothpick. I used blue on one face and black on the other. I used oil paints for the iris's. Usually when I use oil paints, I squeeze them from the tube onto some cardboard, or thick paper, and leave them for an hour or so. This allows a lot of the oil to be absorbed into the paper/cardboard, which gives the oil paints more of a matt finish. 

Before I go too far, I should say that you have already studied the figures face, it's expression and where you want the eyes looking. Are they straight ahead, looking sideways, or down, etc. So you should paint the iris's appropriately.

Once the iris colour has dried, I then take a slightly thinned amount of Burnt Sienna and work it from the corner of the eyes, touching the bottom of the iris and moving into the other corner. I do this top and bottom of each eye. Does it matter if you obliterate all of the white??? No. The whites of the eyes are usually the downfall of modelers attempting to do figures for the first time.

When you have an iris isolated in a field of white, is when you end up with the unrealistic 'stare' of a bunny in the headlights.

Try an experiment. Hold a 35th scale figure in your hand and then ask a friend to walk away from you until they are the same size as the figure you are holding. How much detail can you see? Not very much at all. This is the trick of modeling where we include detail that normally you would not see, but done well, it gives the subject depth and dimension. 

Incidentaly, I apologise for the quality of the photos, but I only have my phone.

Ok. Both faces are now blocked in. For my base paint I use Humbrol 'Flesh' mixed with Burnt Sienna. This gives me a base to work from when I start with the oils. My next step would be to work some tinned Burnt Sienna into hair lines, ear cavities and arounf any facial hair. For now I have to let everything dry, so I will report back when i start the next stage.

IMHO when it comes to the eyes I normally do like you and give the bottom eyelid the reddish color but the upper eyelid gets a black or soot color due to more eyelashes on the upper lid. The face and especially the eyes is what makes or breaks a figure like this. But so far its coming along fine.

Looks good! I like where you're going. Looking forward to seeing more photos of the faces under way. 

Thanks for your input Tiger II and Gamera. I will post some more pics over the weekend.

Sorry about the quality of the following photos, but I have a serious problem with the shakes and I am only using my phone. There is nothing particularly interesting about this photo, other than that I thought I would share one of my figure painting tools. For those who have not seen this before, it's just the base of an old rubber stamp with a piece of strong wire set into the surface where the actual stamp used to be. Once I have the figure ready to paint, I drill a hole in the figures heel and glue it to the wire with white glue. This allows me to work on the figure without having to handle it.

Ok. The face on the left only has the base coat. The one on the right is complete with its highlights and shadows. I used only oils squeezed onto some cardboard and built up the effects gradually. The colours I used were titanium white; burnt sienna; naphthol red; Abteilung ABT140, basic flesh tone. I started with burnt sienna around the eyes and the shadow areas. Next was basic flesh and then white on the highlights, blending as I went. I gradually built up the effects adding more shadow and highlights. The reason for placing the oil paint onto cardboard, is that it soaks up the oil, leaving mostly pigment behind and creating a more matt result.

Same faces, just a different angle.