The Musketeer's Workbench: Back amongst the flowers...

[untitled_musketeer]

Yes! I shall rinse and repeat!

The good news is that I've had some fun with the Flower Knight tonight. The bad news is that I have damaged a rather essential part of my airbrush doing the necessary deep clean. Wet fingers and a 0.35mm don't mix well. It suddenly went flying up into the air before crashing down on a hardwood floor. Looks like I will have to paint just about everything except the cloth until I can stump up the cash for a new one...



This rather shiny part is 14mm long and has a internal tip diameter of 0.35mmm. It's the final step before atomization of the paint occurs occurs and when you think of just how small a piece we are dealing with, you appreciate why airbrush paint needs to be the consistency of whole milk. It also comes with a rather hefty price tag an works out to be roughly 17% of the cost of a new airbrush!



Cheers guys,

u_m

 

[untitled_musketeer]

Hello one and all! Jeez its been a while since any significant contributions. My activity on the forum and at my bench has been a bit lax of late and for that I can only apologise. I've neglected my hobby, but more importantly, my moderator duty. Hopefully you will see a bit more of me over the next couple of months.

As many of you may remember, I was well into a couple of projects, most notably the Flower Knight. This little guy is proving to be a really tricky customer. Sometimes that can be great because it's a pure joy to work on a miniature that challenges you. Other times it makes you want to snap your brushes. The intricacies of this model, and the superb sculpting make it a painters dream and worst nightmare. Because the sculpt is so awesome, you find yourself never being satisfied with what you are doing. You want everything to be better, which, for a painting perfectionist like me is sometimes a challenge.

Progress was unfortunately halted right at a time when I had 'got into the zone' and was making really good progress. I happened to have just sprayed a coat of gloss and was stripping down the airbrush, when I dropped the nozzle and bent the tip. Much swearing, cussing, and angry grunts of disapproval later, I checked out a replacement part on the internet only to find that I would have to wait the best part of four weeks before I could carry on. Sometimes a pure lack of money can be the biggest barrier we face in our hobby.

So when the money store was full again, a replacement part was ordered and I was able to get back on the horse. What with work and real life getting in the way, progress since then has been unbelievably slow. However, despite all that, considerable progress has been made since the last post.




As you can see, the pantaloon sections are more or less complete. There is a fade from white to turquoise, which under my desk lamp hasn't really translated itself that well into picture form.



Hopefully this colour zoom will give you a better impression. It's still being washed out by the light and I feel that I might need to take some pictures under softer lighter to really show this section off.

The yellow cording is half done with only the highlighting left to do and the red ribbons are more or less complete too. There are a few final details but I want to hand fire on those while I tackle the sword and the cape. The sword has already been basecoated and I'm about to start the NMM process on that. It will eventually have a nice green tint to it whilst still looking like a metal blade. Once the sword and cape are completed I'll be in a better position to consider the base and the last little details. I want to get a better idea of the composition of the final piece before I faff with the small stuff!

As for the base, well I have a few bits and pieces on order. I have some more tufts coming and some laser etched leaves, but more unusually I've opted for some dyed elk hair a bit like this...



Hopefully this should give some interesting effects when the time comes to base it.

Anyway, that is enough of an update for now. Let me know your thoughts and opinions guys.

Cheers,

u_m

 

[Malochai]

Wow, u_m; he's really coming along! I cannot wait to see how he looks when he's complete, I'm sure he'll be truly amazing!

 

[untitled_musketeer]

Well I hope so. It's great to finally sit down and do some serious stuff on him again.

 

[untitled_musketeer]

Holy crapoly,

Once again it has been an absolute lifetime since I have brought an update. Finding a life/hobby balance is proving to be quite the nightmare. Since we last left off, I have done a lot more work on the Knight. Pictures will follow in due course, but in order to complete the little details, I wanted to try and get a sense of how this little guy will sit on his base.

The base is a wooden socket I got off the internet for a mere £5 including p&p. It was a total bargain! I have a feeling they are trophy seconds, but one man's junk is another man's treasure.

This is what I have got done so far...



The layers were built up using slices of wine cork, finished off with some rust on the top. Sang and gravel was then applied to creat some earthy textures and the whole thing was airbrushed with a base of VMA Dark Earth (71.029), followed by VMA Middle Stone (71.031) and finally a light dusting of VMA Light Brown (71.027). The whole thing was allowed to dry and then it was sprayed with Citadel's Waywatcher Green and shaded with Nuln Oil and Devlan Mud.

Onto this went some some Straw Yellow Fine Turf to simulate moss and small vegetation. This was give a light wash of Gryphonne Sepia and Waywatcher Green. I was now able to tackle the plants.

I've started off just by creating the main structure of the foliage. I will finish off the night, attach him to the base and then apply foliage around him. The foliage is a combination of synthetic products like the tufts, leafy bushes and moss, and natural products, like the deer hair and the tandoori powder flowers. I'll make a little tutorial on how I made the flowers, but essentially it is a strip of paper cut into spikes, airbrushed green and wrapped around a brush bristle, with the top getting the tandoori powder blossom.

More foliage will come once the Knight is in situe, but for now, it's given me enough of an idea to comlete the little fiddly bits of detail.

I'll try and follow with an update soon. Comments and criticisms always welcome!

Cheers,

u_m

 

[Borgnine]

Wonderfull and very realistic, I love it :thumbsup:

 

[untitled_musketeer]

Thanks Borgine. There's still a little more to add but I want to position the knight on the base and the add the remaining foliage around him.

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

I'm starting to feel you spend more time basing models than I do painting...

 

[NoisyAssassin]

Woooooow, base is looking GREAT

 

[Emicrania]

5* to the base!

 

[The Sun King]

Amazing stuff!