(a British Flat Figure Society pair in 54mm: King Charles and Oliver Cromwell)
This isn't really my thing (being primarily for collecting and display) but as a recent BFFS member and Civil War enthusiast, I though I should support this initiative and get a casting.
I took an evening off to do the primary painting (my first attempt to apply my 'cheat' technique to this larger and more subtle scale) ...
I suspected it might be a good scale to do some basic technical pictures so ...
One: the figures were undercoated in Humbrol sand ... (the base colour for my buff coats so a good primer) ... this got left on the radiator for 15 minutes or so while I had a coffee to ensure it was properly cured.
Two: then the basic colours were added ... most of the browns are Humbrol, the orange is gouache, the greys, violets and flesh are acrylics and watercolour - just a mish-mash (basically whatever I happened to have that looked useful) ... and on the radiator pending another cup of coffee.
Three: the whole surface is then overpainted with a thin but thorough layer of burnt umber oil paint.
Four: then the bulk of the oil is removed, initially mopped with a brush, then rubbed off with a rag. How much you rub back is entirely a creative decision - I like to leave active traces of the oil as it helps the retouching to blend in ...
Five: retouch and tint with the basic colours - the water-based and solvent-based paints both blend similarly with the still active oil paint so you can get that smokey, painterly, merging . Again, there is some art in this, and I will dab a bit more burnt umber onto the figure (or wipe some away) if I'm not getting quite the look I want ...
Six: this was a good point to stop ... I added a bit of Ronseal antique pine varnish to the flesh and leather as I like the way it tints the surface (the dip beloved of wargame painters) and gave a quick spray with some acrylic matt varnish to fix and uniform the surface.
There's a bit more lace and definition and 'portraiture' to do but I will leave this for another time (when I make a box frame - I'm thinking of a stone arch or similar as a setting, and I think all the finishing will be part of that exercise)
I think the results are OK for a single evening - and although the display setting and final finish needs to be done, I can sort of tick the box for this Euromilitaire impulsive purchase ...
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