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Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4005

I don't have the dexterity to paint small details well - so this is really just a series of "cheats" to make driver figures look passable.

The figure in the photos is from an XR311 - which is 1/12th scale, obviously it's easier when the figures are larger - especially something like Wild Willy ...

First up, assemble the figure, sand/file any mould seams, wash with detergent (to get rid of an mould release agent), then spray prime - if you don't, there's a risk the plastic will shun any paint you try and brush on.

Don't skimp on brushes - I'm still using some I bought 20 years ago - I tend to use 5/0, 3/0 and 0 size brushes for the fine stuff, anything from a 4 to a 9 for larger areas of colour. Artificial bristle materials have improved enormously over the last few years, I tend to use them in preference to sable, etc, as they tend to keep their shape better.

I used to use Humbrol enamel paints, but switched over to Tamiya acrylics a few years ago & use them exclusively now.

Anyway, on to the painting ... first pic shows my driver after two coats each of XF-67 NATO Green for the uniform, X-18 Semi Gloss Black for the boots, andXF-15 Flat Flesh for the hands and face ... all "flesh" paints are rubbish, in that I don't think anyone anywhere has ever had skin that colour - but you're never going to get the necessary subtlety, variation in tones & slight translucency in a single pot...



Note the screw in the back of the figure - I always try and have some non-contact way of holding anything to be painted if at all possible...




Starting on the eyes - two coats of XF-2 Flat white - note the "accuracy" of my painting here - going over the lines _was_ intentional ... & the creepiness of the driver ...



Irises are two blobs of XF-18 Medium Blue - right eye was very poor, I could have painted over with several coats of white, but I know my limits & chances are a second attempt would have turned out just as bad ...



Pupils are two specks of Semi Gloss Black ...




Repainting the eyelids ...





"Lowlights" on the uniform - a mix of 2/3rds base colour (green) & 1/3rd black (could have been a bit more) - basically I kept twiddling the figure, anywhere that had a bit of a shadow got a dab ...



Uniform hightlights: same principle, but 2/3rds base colour, 1/3rd white (could/should have been a little less) - anything that looked higher than the surroundings got a dab ...



"Lowlights" on the skin - 4/5ths flesh, 1/5th brown...



The boots also got a bit of fake "relief" - which didn't show up in the photos...
Rank insigia was a thin coat of yellow, edged with a superfine black permanent pen...

Finally, a "wash" of heavily diluted brown, 99% of which immediately got blotted off again... it's not a great result - but it's way better than the first photo, for not a whole lot of effort :)

The following user(s) Liked this: Al, Frogfish42, GToddC5

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Last edit: by Jonny Retro.

Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4006

Jonny Retro our own Bob Ross of RC driver painting. :whistle:

excellent job. :woohoo:

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4009

excellent job, very lifelike, except hes got no eyebrows lol.
i have often used a fine point permanent marker for extreme fine detail on models, a Sharpie is great, fine point one end, super fine the other

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4010

... Bob Ross...


My encyclopedic knowledge of US TV only covers 1980 to 1982 so I had to look that up ... never heard of the chap - but I sure recognised the technique :)

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4011

excellent job, very lifelike, except hes got no eyebrows lol.
...


I'm not too good on eyebrows ... experience has taught me it's better to leave them off rather than have people think I'm really bad at painting moustaches :pinch:

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4016

Don't you know he's loco? He's got the crazy eye... :evil:
Probably shaved the eyebrowes off himself. :lol:


Nice work I have to say. B)

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4023

Tried the eyebrows by dry brushing light brown, yellow & dark brown ... now it looks like moss is growing there :whistle: ... nothing wrong with the technique as such - I just need to work on the colours :)

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Re: Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 12 years 4 months ago #4024

looks cool, nowt wrong with a ginger haha

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Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 10 years 11 months ago #20194

Thought I'd recycle this thread for the two 4x4 drivers I bought a while back ...

Standard of fit on the heads is very poor, there's also a lot of flash on the hands :(







I seem to have lost the "after" pics - but I've filled & sanded as appropriate on the heads & arms... but fixing the arms to the body showed some pretty bad mismatching between the oval arms & square shoulders that needed filling & sanding back ...












All ready for primer ... the long range weather forecast suggests temperatures might be high enough in another week :whistle:






Any ideas on colours? I guess the clothing is meant to be a boiler suit, so I was thinking faded blue for one, faded green for the other ... but I also thought about prison orange ;)

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Driver Figure Painting for Dummies 10 years 11 months ago #20330

Weather is holding up a lot of my projects ATM - in fact, I'm getting a bit of a backlog :whistle:





It was just about warm enough to get a guide coat of primer on the 2ns Spital shell, and prime all the various tiwddly bits, but nowhere near warm enough to be thinking about the colour coat on the 1st Spital shell or the Wheeler :( but I should be able to to a bit on the driver figures soon ... in the meantime, I decided (for some reason :huh: ) that the 4x4 steering wheels woud look good in a fake walnut finish - and came up with a cunning plan:


Base coat of NATO Brown:





Dry brushing yellow ...




... and Hull Red:





... and finish with Smoke ... in hindsight I probably should have thinned it with Clear or Clear Yellow, but I think the technique is basically sound :)

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