Kiwibelg's Miniatures

2008-10-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Il Piccolo

2008-10-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a hour of painting done Sunday evening, attempting to get his beard detailed.
Originally it was painted off white but after subsequent highlighting and washes, everything looked too bland and uniform.
I ended up going back to the drawing board and settled on trying to paint the beard in various grey tones followed by some darker washes.
Now he appears to look more like a Gnome than Santa!
Base colours were added to his clothing, just about time to start on highlights and shadows..now I just have to hope that he doesn't run away in the middle of the night ;-)

Il Piccolo

2008-10-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

Asides from the pond diorama and the Indiana Jones vignette (still in progress) I have been busy with various other figures, some that i haven't chosen to publish on the regular forums or blog.
One such figure is a gnome(Art. 1103), 1/3 scale from the Italian figure company Elisena.
I don't have any type of procure with figures, I am attracted to ones that trigger my imagination or ones that will give me an opportunity to try out some new techniques.As a beginner, I need all the practise I can get.
So the working title for the following figure will be Il Piccolo !!
Roughly 54mm in height, this wee fellow is very detailed. The only downside from this figure is his eyelids aren't that well defined which has made paining around that area very difficult.
He was already primed a week or two ago, and with a few hours to spare last night while my wife was out I made a start on the fleshtones.
As usual I work with Andrea acrylics for the flesh tones, clothing with Vallejo acrylics.

2008-10-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since my last posting!At the end of August I started on the groundwork, built up on a very nice block of wood that cost me the small sum of 1€!
The basic foundation was made with polystyrene, coated with coloured plaster and left to set.Once dry adding the brilliant Heki "wild-grass", a top product.From all of the Heki range I can't stress how great this product is, the grass gives the impression that there is a slight dew on it while under certain lighting.
Following on with the floral elements, this time using some products from Joe-fix Stuidos.If you are looking for the most realistic plants and flora, look no further!Here I added some of their reeds, mainly to give some contrast to the scene but also because they just look so damn good!
It was a good idea too, after the Joe-fix plants were added to the scene things started to look like they were coming together.

Things were starting to look promising, all the layers were built up gradually and after a week or two left to dry I started to remove the dam...with mixed results!
It appears that the Vallejo hasn't cured 100% , asides from that air bubbles appeared pretty much everywhere..
So, back to the drawing board...a new dam has been built and I will try to resurrect this project within the next week or two.All part of the fun and games I guess!

Thunderbolt Mountain 54mm IV

2008-08-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Took some other shots during the daytime, hopefully the highlights and shadows can be seen much clearer than those of yesterday!

Publish Post

Took some other shots during the daytime, hopefully the highlights and shadows can be seen much clearer than those of yesterday!

Thunderbolt Mountain 54mm III

2008-08-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

Managed to achieve a little in-roads with the figure.Unfortunately there is a seam on the eyelid of his right eye which isn't THAT noticeable..any work to correct it would probably result in damaging the pewter!
Having spent most of the evening on the figure it is almost near completion, with only the eyebrows and robe needing to be finished.
My amphibious friend will hopefully look alot similar to the one in the photo!
Better shots will be taken under natural lighting.

Thunderbolt Mountain 54mm II

2008-08-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

After a serious amount of sanding back seam-lines that were a good 2-3mm in some places,
i managed to get the body parts primed.As usual i found extra lines afterwards that have been fixed.
Hopefully some form of painting update shortly!

Thunderbolt Mountain 54mm

2008-08-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

After stumbling across this pewter figure on ebay, it reminded me of our family day trip to the Efteling in The Netherlands.
The Efteling is a huge amusement park set in a dense forest where classic children's story books come to life, filled with life size fairies,goblins and elves.
For those who have not experienced this yet, young or old, it's well worth the visit!!
I have an idea to put the figures in either a) water setting with ripples coming off from the side of the leaf or b) the frog jumping off from a large self sculpted toadstool.
Managed to get all of the seamlines sanded and the first primer on yesterday, revealing very crisply sculpted figures.

Andrea 1930's Adventurer 54mm

2008-08-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here is Andrea's 54mm "1930's Adventurer" who bares an ever so slightly resemblance to Indiana Jones.
This has been my first foray into painting 54mm white metal figures.

As you can see the sculpting on this particular figure from Andrea is very crisp!Below are the lasts shots i have taken, Indy nearing the finishing stages:

Items such as his pistol holster, the infamous wip and dio base still have to be completed!