Ansars on a postcard

[Tim Marlow]

Hi all
This is my current build, started as part of the last ever group build on MM....so you poor people will get it instead.....
The story so far.....

It will be a build up of 16 of these chaps. 28 mm is about 1/56 in old money.....you get three troop sprues and two leadership sprues....

Three of these (this is half a sprue)

and two of these.....




They assemble well. There are enough variations in the box to make the whole lot up several times without repeating yourself.....
So then I cleaned them ready for priming........

They are mounted on pennies for stability during gaming, and then blue tacked on to golf tees for handling during painting....

I then prime them in Tamiya grey and wash them with a dilute VJ model air black wash to bring out the detail......here are some more to show the details on these guys....


Sorry about the blur, quick moving troops were Fuzzies....

and that is where I am at present.....just started painting in he eyes and blocking flesh, but that will take a week or so....don't hold your breath unless you are spraying without a mask LOL
Hope this meets approval....
Cheers
Tim

 

[PaulTRose]

well this is different

 

[Tim Marlow]

Everyone else was doing DAK or other tanks goodness, and I have always fancied Colonial gaming, so a new period was borne.....I have others to go with these....
Cheers
Tim

 

[stillp]

I like the use of golf tees.

Pete

 

[Steve Jones]

Tim
I am so glad you have brought your build over. I really am looking forward to watching these come together. I am a big fan of your paintwork. Good luck
Steve

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi stillp, nothing new there, nicked it from TMP I think....
Hi Steve, nice of you to say so, hope I don’t disappoint
Cheers
Tim

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi all, It's Friday so it must be time for an update.....
This week I have been mostly painting skin.....

Scarily big aren't they......fuzzy with big sword

Fuzzy Moon, the drummer.....

Kevin Keegan with spear......

Just in case, this guy has a big sword as well as a spear....
Just to reiterate, these chaps are mounted on pennies, my painting really isn't that crude.....they are about eight times full size.
I decided to do eyes on these blokes, something that I don't always bother to do for 28mm, and rarely do for anything smaller..
Eyes in close up....

I do eyes by painting the whites using VJ 918 Ivory, then a T shape in VJ 950 black. After that, I cut them back to size using more black.
The skin tones are underpainted with a 1:1 mixture of VJ 950 and VJ 872. Base colour is VJ 872. First high is 1:1 mix VJ 872 and VJ 875. top high is 1:2 mix VJ 872 and VJ 875. I may go for a last high of 875, but I am waiting to see the whole figure first.
Lips are VJ 941 and VJ 940 in a 1:1 mix.
Hair has only been underpainted in black at this stage. Hair and facial hair is the next stage.....
These are pretty simple and picked first from the batch to prove concept with the skin colours...
Hope these meet with approval. any more info needed, just ask
Cheers
Tim

 

[Tim Marlow]

PS, if you can't visualise the size from a penny, then visualise that they are about one third the height of a VJ dropper bottle.....

 

[Steve Jones]

Terrific update Tim. I am a big fan of your miniatures and you dont disappoint

 

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. Not sure if the skin is a little cool myself....might try a different highlight tint next time.....I’ll see what it looks like after the hair is done, as that will be highlighted with a cool blue grey, so could warm the flesh colour up (if that makes any sense..)
Cheers
Tim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Very nicely done Tim.

I think the skin tones are spot on. People from this part of Africa tend to be very dark skinned, and if anything the skin is highlighted with blueish reflections by the sky.

Peter.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks Peter
I’ll trust your colour sense over mine any day
Tim

 

[Tim Marlow]

OK all, there doesn't seem to be much interest in this, so I will post the latest update here. I will then simply post the completed figures in the relevant forum and answer questions if there are any....
First up, Fuzzy Moon....

Front shot, showing hair and blown out highs on the drum (sorry)...

Showing metallic underpainting on the drum. I use Darkstar metallic, but like all metallic acrylics, I think them inferior to the old Humbrols... this will be highlighted with brass and silver once the final varnishing has taken place.
Next up Big chopper....

Front shot, same as Fuzzy Moon really...only difference is the sword is underpainted in Darkstar steel.

Side shot for variety ....shows dagger detail, such as it is...
Kevin Keegan next....


Not quite so keen on my choice for breechclout here, it's a bit vanilla ice cream in tone.....be OK in a full unit though....
Last up Spearman with Sword (anyone know a good name I could use?)


Same vanilla cloth and shows the big red leather chopper scabbard .....
For some reason all the highlights seem to have disappeared making them look a little two dimensional....they are not shaded like 35ths, but are better than shown here....Ho Hum....
Hope they are OK for you all, any questions about paint mixes or techniques (such as they are) let me know and I will answer them...They will now be gloss varnished for protection, then at varnished en mass using Tamiya Matt and my airbrush. They will be based last along with the rest of the unit. Metallic highlights will all be done together once the unit has been matt varnished.
Unless you want further blog entries I'll simply post the rest in the finished figures section when they are completed.
Cheers for now
Tim

 

[Hera]

Tim luv them keep them coming
David

 

[Jim R]

Hi Tim
So unusual and so well done. Painting this size is a challenge.
Jim

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi David, thanks for the support.
Hi Jim, painting at any size is a challenge....each scale has its problems. This size is no different, just need to set the bar to a different level and modify your expectations.. I am making gaming pieces here, so have to take robustness into account. Also, as I need a few to make an army I have to simplify a little to gain speed. If I was making a one off cabinet model I would spend longer refining the detail painting and smoothing the transitions, but if I do that for the whole army I would be dead before I gamed them
Still looks like there isn’t much interest unfortunately....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Marvellous Tim, beautifully done so far.

Re: the posts, I find I'm getting far less than of old, but I suspect that's because there are an awful lot of categories and sub categories to negotiate, plus the fact that figures just aren't as popular as other subjects, here or elsewhere. I'm finding it hard to keep abreast of current activity, as resent posts seem to fall down the list pretty quickly.

Keep the faith!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
The plethora of posts is another reason why I may only post these as I complete them. There are simply too many builds and posts to keep up with, so at least I’ll reduce the throughput by not blogging something which is less than popular. As you say, figures are not that popular because most modellers are scared of them for some reason. Victorian subjects are even less popular, and when you factor in the gaming piece angle I am on a hiding to nothing really LOL
Cheers
Tim

 

[Jon Heptonstall]

Hiya Tim.
Keep them coming please.Late 19th C stuff isn't too well covered bar the Anglo-Zulu war so these are really welcome.Can't believe that you managed to paint in their eyes!
Jon.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Jon
Thanks for the encouragement. I’m not going to stop painting them, but I may only show them when completed.
For info, eyes were relatively easy really, no detail here, just white ovals with a black line through the middle. Once that is done I cut back the whites to size using more black. I have shown how I do this further up the thread. I don’t always do them, but they are more noticeable on black skin than on white, so I thought they were necessary. Teeth were done the same way LOL.
Cheers
Tim