A pilot for my Gladiator

[quang]

Hello all,

 

Possibly not the fittest subject in this forum, still...

 

The figure comes from the ICM British Pilots set of 3.

 

Gone are the crude, puffy-featured, wooden-stance plastic figures of yore. These injected-plastic figures are on par with their resin counterparts while costing much less. The sculpt is competent, the details crisp and precise, the features...er, humane .

 

This is my take. I altered the stance a bit and gave the pilot a little friend.

I hope you like it.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Quang

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by quang

[mozart]

He looks great Quang, very lifelike.  What paints did you use?

[quang]

 

It's old-school oil figure painting, Max. Before the tide turned to acrylics.

[mozart]

27 minutes ago, quang said:

 

It's old-school oil figure painting, Max. Before the tide turned to acrylics.

Now that's interesting Quang, I've not tried it with figures but had an inkling it could work and you've proved it!  So would the face but done in one session, wet-on-wet as it were, in proper oils style?  What about drying time, oils being notoriously slow? 

[quang]

 

Aha, beware, friend Max, oils is a whole other ball game AND a new source of addiction

 

Some facts:

– Oils being slow drying, you can take the time you need to paint a face. I usually do it in 2, 3 sessions.

– Paints are used wet-on-wet in VERY thin layers.

– Do NOT dilute oils with turpentine or other thinner. Use instead a product by Winsor & Newton called LIQUIN which has the property to dilute the paint to the extreme without killing the pigment.

–The thinner your layer, the shorter your drying time.  Liquin also helps your paint dry quicker. Setting time is usually 1 day. The paint continues to cure during 2-3 more days during which you can put additional touches to the existing layers.

– Don't worry about the gloss finish. As the paint dries, it will gradually lose its gloss. Also the thinner the layer, the flatter the finish.

 

On the photos, the figure has just been finished yesterday and is still glossy. It will lose its gloss and attain a yummy sheen in 3-4 days.

 

More questions? Just shoot.

HTH

Q

 

[mozart]

I like it a lot Quang, oils have progressed since my days as an art student and I haven't used them much since, so Liquin is a relevation to me, must investigate once I get back from my golfing fortnight.

[JerseyChris]

Stunning figure painting!

[Greif8]

Excellent figure Quang.  You nailed the leather jacket perfectly.

[quang]

8 hours ago, Greif8 said:

Excellent figure Quang.  You nailed the leather jacket perfectly.

@JerseyChris @Greif8 Thank you for your kind words.

I have no merit. Rendering leather is much easier with oils than with other techniques.

[Learstang]

Excellent figure! I can almost hear him launching into some incomprehensible pilot's banter* 'Cabbage crates coming over the Briney, Ten Pennies in the custard.', etc.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

 

*With apologies to Monty Python.

[MikeC]

Superb, very well done.       He even reminds me of someone I once knew who happened to be a pilot.

[Gerhard]

That is brilliant Quan. A whole new art form, one that escapes me. I totally suck at painting figures. 

[dennismcc]

4 hours ago, Gerhard said:

That is brilliant Quan. A whole new art form, one that escapes me. I totally suck at painting figures. 

I'm with you on that one

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[quang]

 

@Gerhard @dennismcc

In fact figure painting is not so different than scale modelling. Both hobbies involve representation of the real world in miniature.

Nothing's more rewarding than to be able to use the techniques of one and adapt it to the practice of the other

[FCM]

Are These figures valid for other WW2 british fighters?