jeudi 25 avril 2013

Grenadier Belge 1914 - Belgian Grenadier 1914

Hello dear readers,

My grandfather is the person who gave me the taste of building and painting scale models. We celebrated this year his 80th birthday on the 17th of April and I thought it would be an original idea to offer him a special and unique gift. Something different than perfume, wine, liquor, clothes, dvd's or books. After some research on the net, I found what I thought would be the perfect gift once assembled and painted: the "Grenadier Belge de 1914" from JMD Miniatures (JMD's website). I bought it at the show in Ransart in January and it is about a bit bigger than a 1/35th figure and almost perfectly cast.

After cleaning and assembling it I airbrushed the Vallejo black primer followed by the grey primer sprayed from above. I then masked off the face and hands and sprayed the base color for the coat and for the trousers little by little adding a bit more flesh to the base color creating the first lights and shadows. I then painted the flesh and finished the painting by using a brush for the details and the deepest shadows and highest lights. This figure was for 95 percent painted with acrylics (Vallejo and Lifecolor). I used two techniques that I read in books and that were new to me: making more use of the airbrush to paint a figure and painting a figure entirely with acrylics. I actually tried to apply the advice that Joaquin Garcia Gazquez describes in his outsanding book: "Peindre des figurines de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale". Eventhough I am not a figure painter and very very far from the level that he has reached I am happy with the result.

OK... I said enough... let's have a look at pics! Of course, as always, comments, reactions and constructive criticims are welcome.











I hope you enjoyed the pics!

HAPPY MODELLING!


dimanche 7 avril 2013

Modelforce 2013 - Photo report

Hi erveryone,

Today took place the Modelforce 2013 show in Helchteren (near Hasselt). As usual I took some pics of the models which were in competition in order to share them with you. I joined the contest with 5 models and 3 of them got awarded with brons in the "avanced" level: the Staghoundthe Chenillette Renault UE and the Ford Mutt.

All in all, this was a really good day for me and I'm already looking forward to the next edition!

































































Big THX to the organisators!