Wenlock's Blog

These figures are so good that  if you broke a leg then your modelling would be dangerous.  Very nice painting and such appropriate colouring for the figures.  Thank you for sharing.

Splendid work, sir, and all the best for you recovery.

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes, Dave. I'm only too well aware of the effects of lack of movement in the arms on modelling progress. Nevertheless, you've done a fine job with those figures.

 

Get well soon,

 

Nick

Thanks guys:-) it's just so exasperating when you can't do things which previously were so simple. I can certainly empathise with people who have lost their mobility permanently, it must be enormously frustrating.

It's nowhere near as painful as it was four weeks ago, so hopefully things will get easier!

 

Dave

Sorry to hear of the accident. Now the children have gone back to school we

have to watch out for the old drivers who come to our Dorset coast, at times

one wonders if they should still be driving !! (comment from a 72 year old !!)

 

Brilliant painting - my eyes still hurt at the memory of painting Langley 4 mm

scouts. You may as well ache somewhere else as well !!!

 

Dad-1

Very sorry to hear of your accident.

Still the figures are stunning viewed an my screen they are larger than my 0 gauge ones. The gents faces look spot on to me. I do not know whether its a trick of the light and shadow but the lady looks to be wearing some sort of googles (not the heavy sort) rather like the ones I had a a kid when I would insist on putting my head up through the sidecar roof (folded back naturally). No criticism intended as I doubt it would be visible at normal size. I assume it is the eyebrows picked out and a shadow at the top of the cheeks.

If I could reach this standard on 0 scale figures I would be highly chuffed.

Don

Dave,

Really sorry to hear about your accident.  I hope your road to recovery is as swift as it can be.  Get well soon.

 

The figures look very nice - I wish that there were some nice Edwardian figures in 2mm!  My brother paints military figures and busts for a hobby, I really must quiz him sometime as to how he does them as the 1/54th scale bust he showed me that he finished a couple of weeks ago looked really good - Museum quality I would have said.

 

Ian

Hi Dave,

 

May I join the chorus and wish you a speedy recovery. Doesn't sound nice!

 

I like the figures, and the tidea with the timbers. Could you explain how you added the colours after the highlighting please. Ie did you dry-brush or paint them them on, and how did you avoid painting the highlights over?

Sorry to hear of the accident. Now the children have gone back to school wehave to watch out for the old drivers who come to our Dorset coast, at timesone wonders if they should still be driving !! (comment from a 72 year old !!)Brilliant painting - my eyes still hurt at the memory of painting Langley 4 mmscouts. You may as well ache somewhere else as well !!!Dad-1

Yep 4mm figure painting is definitely a challenge! I think the sculpting in a lot of 4mm figures, leaves a bit to be desired and they end up looking like caricatures, goodness knows what it must be like in 2mm.

 

Glad you like the figures!

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

Very sorry to hear of your accident.

Still the figures are stunning viewed an my screen they are larger than my 0 gauge ones. The gents faces look spot on to me. I do not know whether its a trick of the light and shadow but the lady looks to be wearing some sort of googles (not the heavy sort) rather like the ones I had a a kid when I would insist on putting my head up through the sidecar roof (folded back naturally). No criticism intended as I doubt it would be visible at normal size. I assume it is the eyebrows picked out and a shadow at the top of the cheeks.

If I could reach this standard on 0 scale figures I would be highly chuffed.

Don

Hi Don, glad you like the figures and thanks for your good wishes! You're quite right about about the lady she does look as if she's wearing goggles in the photo, perhaps she's heard how fast GWR engines travel! :-)

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

Dave,

Really sorry to hear about your accident.  I hope your road to recovery is as swift as it can be.  Get well soon.

 

The figures look very nice - I wish that there were some nice Edwardian figures in 2mm!  My brother paints military figures and busts for a hobby, I really must quiz him sometime as to how he does them as the 1/54th scale bust he showed me that he finished a couple of weeks ago looked really good - Museum quality I would have said.

 

Ian

Hi Ian, thanks for your good wishes, the shoulder is definitely feeling a lot better this last week. Military modellers seem to be way ahead of us railway aficionados when it comes to figure painting, though whether your brothers 54th scale painting technique tips will translate into 2mm scale is probably doubtful!:-) I'd be interested to hear what type of paint he uses for his figures. I've always painted using enamels, but I know a fair few military guys use oils or acrylics.

 

I hope Modbury is progressing as planed, looking forward to the next update!

 

Dave

Hi Dave,

 

May I join the chorus and wish you a speedy recovery. Doesn't sound nice!

 

I like the figures, and the tidea with the timbers. Could you explain how you added the colours after the highlighting please. Ie did you dry-brush or paint them them on, and how did you avoid painting the highlights over?

Hi Mikkel, thanks for your good wishes, it was pretty grim at the time! As to the figure painting, the white paint is really only there so that the top coat colour has a bit of vibrancy. I found that although the black paint gives a nice shaded effect in the creases, it also muted the main body colour too much. I block in the desired colour on top of the white, stopping at the junction between the white and black paint. Once this has dried I mix up a lighter version of each colour and dry brush that on all the highlights. It's a bit long winded, but it does give a greater depth of colour on the figures.

 

I hope your Newtonian experiments with gravity and wagons are progressing!

 

Dave

Thanks for that info Dave. I've had similar experiences with the black base approach, so I'm a it ambivalent about it. Your figures have turned out very good though, and I'd like to try the highlighting approach you have.

 

Newtonian experiments concluded for the time being. Now painting goods porters.

No problem Mikkel, looking forward to seeing the porters! :-)

 

Dave

Hi Ian, thanks for your good wishes, the shoulder is definitely feeling a lot better this last week. Military modellers seem to be way ahead of us railway aficionados when it comes to figure painting, though whether your brothers 54th scale painting technique tips will translate into 2mm scale is probably doubtful!:-) I'd be interested to hear what type of paint he uses for his figures. I've always painted using enamels, but I know a fair few military guys use oils or acrylics.

 

I hope Modbury is progressing as planed, looking forward to the next update!

 

Dave

Dave,

I wasn't thinking about my 2mm figures :-) , but in 7mm I suspect that the levels of detail could be similar to figures much larger.  As for the type of paint he uses  I know that it can be enamel, acrylic or oil (I think it depends what part of the figure he is painting).  I do know that he builds up the pigment in several thin coats (almost washes).

 

Modbury progress has stalled slightly - I'm trying to get a Small Metro Tank built, but even that has temporarily come to a halt - rather annoyingly the chassis rolls happily along in both directions on an inclined track but once a motor is connected and is driving one set of wheels the damn thing binds up.  I might give it another look at today, but if I can't get it sorted I'll probably put it to one side and continue with something else as my butterfly modelling technique dictates :-)

 

Ian

Hi Ian, I remember reading that some military modellers paint using a number of washes, I'm sure it must give very subtle shading and an excellent end result. I suppose in the end it just comes down to the amount of time we are prepared to spend painting figures. Normally I'd much rather be getting on with the layout than figure painting, but I must admit I'm quite enjoying painting these. I've got a rather nice set of 5 figures based on the Railway Children film, sculpted by Andrew Stadden, that I'm looking forward to painting:-)

 

Nothing wrong with a butterfly approach to modelling, it generally keeps things interesting! I hope you get the Metro sorted soon, as I well know chassis problems can be very annoying!

 

Dave

I cannot remember who produced them but I have a set of Cambrian crew and GWR crew modelled from photographs of actual crew not got round to painting them yet.

Don

Hi Don, I know Andrew C Stadden does sets of Camrian and GWR crews, they are probably from his range of figures.

 

http://www.acstadden.co.uk/Pages/OGaugeLocoCrewFigures.aspx

 

In my opinion his stuff is about as good as it gets in 7mm! I'm sure you"ll really enjoy painting them:-)

 

Dave

The issue of accessability is a good one, especially for those of us like Dave and I who have built layouts that are both high and with deep scenery. Almost any work on my layout requires a small step stool type thing, and in the far corner, I had to complete the backscene and rear scenery before adding the front extension pieces to the boards, as the reach-in depth is longer than my arm. This is all very well if we're fit and able, but it's a sobering thought that the layout would become both unusable and unmaintainable in the event of an injury. Even dismantling it would be quite a challenge. Then again, the visual effect of Dave's layout really benefits from both the viewing height and the deep scenery, so it would be a shame to design that out at the beginning, when it works so well. I guess we all take a small gamble when we start layouts, that we will be fit and well enough to keep enjoying and maintaining them, and maybe that optimism isn't such a bad thing.

Al's point about accessibility is a good one, I'm afraid I've probably chosen aesthetics over practicality! I'm considering fitting casters to the layout's legs so I can roll it away from the back wall, a bit like some enormous tea trolley! All this will have to wait until my shoulders sorted. I saw my consultant yesterday and he plans to reattach the torn tendons within the next 4 weeks.

 

Dave

Dave,

Really sorry to hear about your accident.  I hope your road to recovery is as swift as it can be.  Get well soon.

 

The figures look very nice - I wish that there were some nice Edwardian figures in 2mm!  My brother paints military figures and busts for a hobby, I really must quiz him sometime as to how he does them as the 1/54th scale bust he showed me that he finished a couple of weeks ago looked really good - Museum quality I would have said.

 

Ian

 

Ian,

 

You might want to have a look at Thoroughbred Figures 10mm civilains - http://thoroughbredmodels.com/images/10mmCivislrg.jpg

 

Not a very big range, admittedly, but better than nothing.

 

David V