54mm Charge of the Scots Greys

[SimonT]

Hi Neil, looks like he is playing leapfrog in that shot above

All coming together nicely

Not really qualified to give painting advice given the state of my crappy figure, but, I think it could stand the shadows and highlights pushing a bit further and adding around edges of turn backs etc to give him a bit more definition

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Neil, wonderful painting so far with the base colours. I would follow what Simon suggested and perhaps reposition the eyes looking down towards the front as he finishes the leap.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Try VJ ivory as a first coat Neil, it covers better than their white. Great work, by the way, a real masterclass.

Thanks Tim I certainly will give that a try. And thanks for the very kind comment

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Richard and Simon, thanks for the kind comments but I am leaving it well alone for fear of wrecking things!
I'm not really sure where his eyeline is until I get him on the horse, but I'm not changing them because A) at least they're both looking the same direction and B) in the painting he is focusing much farther away on the troops ahead, and that was actually my intention.( Of course, I'm only claiming to follow the painting because it suits me this time)
Thanks both for your continued interest

 

[adt70hk]

Neil

Amazing work there. Very well done.

Andrew

 

[papa 695]

Great work looking great

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thank you ,Andrew and Ian.

Well, “pride comes before a fall”, as they say, and my attempts at painting the Scots Grey horse did not work out so well.

For a start, I put too heavy a coat of white primer on, which obscured a lot of the detail. But being a lazy person I ignored that and carried on with the airbrush(inspired by Richard’s fine job), forgetting that I really don’t know what I’m doing. Annoyingly, as often happens, it was quite passable at one stage and then I decided to ‘improve’ it, which, of course, did the opposite!

I had the idea of lowering the pressure to create some fine dots…….

Well, it did create fine dots, but it made the horse look as if he’d been either pebble dashed or carved out of a block of granite!

So here he is in all his hideousness, before he went in the Dettol bath!





And for some unknown reason I didn’t do his face at all!

Ho hum.

So it will be a little while before there is anything new to report here, I’m afraid.

That OOB Spitfire is really beckoning!

 

[Tim Marlow]

I feel your pain, horses are very hard.....I’m by no means an expert, but I do find having a picture of a particular animal to hand does help me. Gives me something to copy LOL....

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Tim.
It was my poor airbrush technique that was to blame.


Here is a small update with regard to the Dettol bath.
I've only done it a couple of times and I wasn't prepared for the result, so I thought I would report for the sake of anyone else who has never tried it.
I left the horse soaking overnight in neat Dettol ,and in the morning all the Vallejo acrylic had lifted nicely away. I ran it under the tap and scrubbed with a toothbrush but I was left with a very sticky grey residue all over the model and the toothbrush. What the Dettol didn't seem to touch was the Halford's rattle-can primer.
I was thinking of other paint strippers for models and I was about to go for the Mr Muscle foaming oven cleaner (which I have used only once and wasn't impressed),when I thought I would give IPA a try (Isopropyl Alcohol- not India Pale Ale).
I just wet the toothbrush with it and scrubbed and well, it worked a treat, and the job was done in 10 minutes.
One other interesting (and irritating) side effect is that one or other chemical has attacked the milliput, which I always thought was more or less bulletproof, solvent-wise!
Apparently not. Whatever it was has got underneath the filler and made the thin areas lift off and made the surface very granular.
So I've got a bit of work to do,rather than just a repaint.
cheers
N

 

[Steve Jones]

I'm so sorry to hear about all the troubles Neil. Its such a terrific project I hope it all comes together for you soon.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I'm so sorry to hear about all the troubles Neil. Its such a terrific project I hope it all comes together for you soon.

Thanks Steve, but it's fine really.
Let's face it , this one was of my own making- well most of them are, to be fair
And to be honest the relative success of painting the rider has put me in a generally good mood about this one.
But I still might do the Spitfire before I attempt the Flying Scotsman's kilt!

 

[rtfoe]

Neil, I had a bit of hiccup with the site and am late to comment. I too had some difficulty with the horse. They had many variations ranging from dark spots to light spots, pure light grey or with black socks. I did a mixture of airbrushing and hand painting. Sorry you had to strip the paint of yours.
Here's a link I found that shows some stages of painting the horse. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[BigGreg]

Horses are the most difficult to paint... you have the nuances that are already difficult to make.. plus you have the "brilliance" of the hair...the idea of making a Lipizzaner(grey whitish with spots) it's even more difficult... good luck...

 

[Tim Marlow]

It’s worth remembering that a grey horse has black skin and the hair starts dark and gradually whitens with age. You therefore have a range of colours to choose from. The muzzle must be black though....

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Neil, I had a bit of hiccup with the site and am late to comment. I too had some difficulty with the horse. They had many variations ranging from dark spots to light spots, pure light grey or with black socks. I did a mixture of airbrushing and hand painting. Sorry you had to strip the paint of yours.
Here's a link I found that shows some stages of painting the horse. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Richard

Hey Richard, thanks for that, it helps knowing that even a master like you had problems too!
I should have stripped it before I painted it really , because I knew I had put too much white primer on. Serves me right, which is why I am taking it so philosophically......
and thanks for the link, I'm sure it will help

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Horses are the most difficult to paint... you have the nuances that are already difficult to make.. plus you have the "brilliance" of the hair...the idea of making a Lipizzaner(grey whitish with spots) it's even more difficult... good luck...

you're SOOO right , Greg

 

[Neil Merryweather]

It’s worth remembering that a grey horse has black skin and the hair starts dark and gradually whitens with age. You therefore have a range of colours to choose from. The muzzle must be black though....

interesting, thanks Tim.
I had just recently seen a grey horse locally and I was struck by the wide variety of markings just on one horse! And I was going to do the muzzle black as I had a dim memory of things being so, but when I referred to the painting the muzzle is white, so I left it alone!
Time for some more diligent research, I think!

 

[Tim Marlow]

There you go Neil....more than you’ll ever need to know.

Grey Horse Coat Color Modifier | The Equinest

www.theequinest.com

 

[Jason Crausby]

Sounds like a bit of a trial alright.... it will all be worth it in the end... keep up the good work!
Jason.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
Sorry about the horse woes. I am sure you'll get it all sorted. Strange about the Milliput - I too imagined it to be uneffected by anything once fully cured.
Jim