How to paint?

Dave Ward

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My 3D printer is in the process of printing out a large equestrian statue of Napoleon. It's from an 1830's casting by Emmanual Fremiet - this ( I think ) is the original
napoleon.jpg
How big it is, I've no idea - nothing to scale it by...............
As is usual, smaller bronze versions were cast, like this
fremiet napoleon.jpg

The statue is split into 11 parts, to fit on the printer build plate. It's difficullt to put a scale on the as yet incomplete parts, but I think it's around 1/6 ( the base is 300mm long! ).
Now, assuming that I can treat the joint lines, how do I paint this?
Do I paint it Antique Bronze, or weathered like the original? - OR paint it to resemble marble, or even with natural colours ( although my horse painting skills are rudimentary )? - I feel that he'd look too much like a dressed up Action Man if I did that!
Each part is taking on average 7-8 hours to print, so it's quite a long term task.
Anybody any thoughts or experience of painting such a large statue?
This comes from https://fab365.net/items/48 the model itself was free, but only as a reward for buying a Apollo 11 Command and service module - it's a slow to load Korean site, but it has some really interesting models to print - including some Star Wars items ( AT-T, Tie Fighters, X Fighter, R2D2, Millenium Falcon, Mandalorian Razor Crest & others ) which look quite effective, some at quite a huge scale
Dave
 

Jakko

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I’d paint it a light blue-green-greyish colour and add washes and drybrushings to weather it. Closest I’ve come to painting something like that is this:

5CEA6656-10E7-475F-9402-30B3B89456AC_1_105_c.jpeg00AD53DE-9974-40E1-8330-A96C04A1438B_1_105_c.jpeg9BCEAB37-A181-4F4A-893E-519F82A58C71_1_105_c.jpeg

This is a Games Workshop figure, something like 75 mm size for one of their Warhammer-spinoff games, which I decided to use as a piece of terrain for 40K by putting it onto a plinth to make it into statue (“Frater Philippus” refers to the then-president of the game club I was in (and technically still am) when I built it, whose first name is Philip); the bird is from Tamiya, BTW. Fifteen years on, I’m not absolutely sure anymore how I painted it, but it looks like I took a pale green colour, applied a medium green wash, and then drybrushed with a few shades of lighter green. Looking at it now, I wouldn’t use such bright green anymore but tone the overall effect down a bit by using grey-green and/or blue-green instead of only green, which should give an effect much more like the real statue in your photo.
 

Tim Marlow

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I’d go for the weathered bronze Dave. I’ve done this on a couple of scenery pieces and it’s not that difficult. First step, prime in black. Paint it weathered bronze (several companies make it, but I like Darkstar Molten Metal’s for this colour). Give it a coat of Vallejo verdigris model color wash. When that’s dry you can give it a dilute wash of burnt umber to emphasise the shadows if it’s needed. Going to use a fair bit of paint at that scale though Dave.
 
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Dave Ward

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The original version looks like the Statue of Liberty, the first time I saw it - the green was quite bright and rather unexpected! ( late 70's, early 80's ).
I'm shading towards an antique bronze finish - which I'm certain I don't have in my paint locker - anyone recommend an Acrylic Metallic Bronze?
Dave
 

Tim Marlow

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The original version looks like the Statue of Liberty, the first time I saw it - the green was quite bright and rather unexpected! ( late 70's, early 80's ).
I'm shading towards an antique bronze finish - which I'm certain I don't have in my paint locker - anyone recommend an Acrylic Metallic Bronze?
Dave
Think I just did Dave ;) Look at the Darkstar Molten Metal range.
 

Tim Marlow

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That one……
 

Tim Marlow

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The original version looks like the Statue of Liberty, the first time I saw it - the green was quite bright and rather unexpected! ( late 70's, early 80's ).
I'm shading towards an antique bronze finish - which I'm certain I don't have in my paint locker - anyone recommend an Acrylic Metallic Bronze?
Dave
Isn’t the Statue of Liberty coated in copper, rather than bronze though? If so it would turn a malachite green, which is a pretty bright green.
 

Dave Ward

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That one……
I've just ordered Darkstar Bronze Triad - a set for highlights & modulation
Dave
 

Ian M

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I did a 'bronze' figure a while back.
All done with Vallejo model color.
Base coat of bronze, highlighted with brass, then a wash in Verde gris. That nice green corrosion you see on copper and bronze.
I no longer gave the figure unfortunately so I can't show it
 

Tim Marlow

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I've just ordered Darkstar Bronze Triad - a set for highlights & modulation
Dave
You’ll find they are gel paints rather than liquid paint like Vallejo Dave. Just. Treat them the same though and they’ll give good results. I don’t thin mine, by the way, and they dry without obscuring detail. Wash brushes like you would for normal acrylics.
 
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