28mm Victrix British Foot Artillery Of Waterloo

 Before the year end I just want to share a new project. Here's is 28mm Victrix British Foot Artillery of Waterloo. The first figure is the officer, many more to come, Please enjoy!

Decide to paint the squinty eyes because he is an old chap! 

The short tail jacket version.

Officer's trouser is darker than the crews' trouser.

White spot painted on the bald head to represent sweat and reflection.

More to come!

Happy new year!!  

VS

1/35 Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (七人の侍)

Hello Folks,

For our next big project Jen and I decided to cooperate painting the classical film characters from the Seven Samurai.  This set is from a Japanese toy company Kaiyodo.  We thought the figures are very nicely sculpted even though it was made as toy (Jen is a big gashapon fan).  As we are both fan of the film,  we can not pass this one up.  Luckily Jen found it for sale in Japan as this is extremely rare set to find.  Anyways, We hope you will follow our blog as we can see this will take a while to paint.  Please enjoy!

All seven samurais with base.

The line up.

It is truly a nice set.  At 1/35 from feet to eyes the facial sculpt is incredibly done.  I just hope I can do justice with this set.  I promise I will take better photographs when it is done!

Here are the model sculpt images compare to the live actors:

Takashi Shimura (志村 喬) as Kambei Shimada (島田 勘兵衛)
The leader of the group and the first "recruited" by the villagers, he is a wise but war-weary soldier.

Yoshio Inaba (稲葉 義男) as Gorōbei Katayama (片山 五郎兵衛)

A skilled archer recruited by Kambei. He acts as the second in command and helps create the master plan for the village's defense.

Daisuke Katō (加東 大介) as Shichirōji (七郎次)
He was formerly Kambei's lieutenant. Kambei meets him by chance in the town and he resumes this role.

Seiji Miyaguchi (宮口 精二) as Kyūzō (久蔵)

He initially declined an offer by Kambei to join the group, though he later changes his mind. A serious, stone-faced samurai and a supremely skilled swordsman; Katsushirō is in awe of him.

Minoru Chiaki (千秋 実) as Heihachi Hayashida (林田平八) 

Recruited by Gorōbei. An amiable though less-skilled fighter. His charm and wit maintain his comrades' good cheer in the face of adversity.

Toshiro Mifune (三船 敏郎) as Kikuchiyo (菊千代)

A would-be samurai (right down to the false noble birth certificate) who eventually proves his worth. He is mercurial and temperamental. He identifies with the villagers and their plight.

Isao Kimura (木村 功) as Katsushirō Okamoto (岡本勝四郎)

A young untested warrior. He comes from a warrior family and wants to be Kambei's disciple.

We think they look really good.  I got the description of each character from Wikipedia and the images from Kaiyodo, which I think its pretty dead on.  If you are interested to see more about this set (which contains the colored version),   You can see it at their website here.

Here are the flyer and color reference the came with the set.  As you can see the pattern of the kimonos are complex and must be paint it in a drab color tone.  This will be a challenge for us.

28mm Charging Chasseur à Cheval in 360° Spin

Hello folks, Goofing off with me woman Jen and found a website teaching geeks like us on how to do the spin. So we decide to give it a try. Not perfect, but if you like to try for yourself, here's the link:

The Vanus Temple 360 spin tutorial

Click the left mouse button and move
cursor left or right to spin the picture.

  

28mm Charging Chasseur à Cheval Wargames Foundry Conversion

 Hello Folks,

Well, here it is, finally done.  I actually want to tell you alot of things and share with all my frustrations while working on this figure, but for now, I can not think of anything to complaint.  Yeah... I'm not going to lie to you I am quite happy with it.  However this does not mean it could not be improved.  I made alot of compromise to make this figure complete.  Even though it seems like taking forever.

Right now, I just want to relax.  I hope you share my joy of completing a figure.  You know, you all know, what is like when you finish a long project.

So I'm not going to say much, please enjoy.  I sincerely hope you do.

Warm regards,

Ben

Size comparison

Detail of the horse head

Detail of the leopard saddle

VS

28mm Wargames Foundry The Charging Chasseur a Cheval Conversion

Hello Folks,

Something Jen and I cooked up over the weekend.  This time it is the famous "Charging Chassuer" painting by Theodore Gericault.  I start out with the classic Wargame Foundry version and tweak a little.  Since Wargame Foundry is 25mm, I decide to made the horse larger to match the Perry's Miniature so they look a little better sitting next to each other.

There are few things I want to accomplish on this figure, here are my train of thoughts:
1. To match the painting as close as possible.
2. at the same time to preserve the style of orginial miniature.
3. Match the size of Perry's Figure in 28mm

It was difficult for me and now I have even more respect for the sculptors.  I had to made some compromises but at the same time trying to keep the spirit of the painting.

I hope you enjoy.  I will probably paint it in the coming month.

 Primed version.

 Conversion with kneadatite.

Size comparison on before and after, the right models are from Perry Miniature.

The original version.

Here are more pictures from different angles:

 Fatten the horse stomach to match the size of Perry Miniatures and add correct anatomy.

 Added horseshoes and reshape hooves.

 Reposition the tassle on the hat and add horse rein.

The opposite angle where widen and enlongate the horse's buttock and neck.

VS

Napoleon's Army by Lucien Rousselot

Hello folks,

Finally I got my first Napoleonic reference book.  I decided to pay a handsome sum of money so my fellow figure painters would stop laughing at me.  (you know who you are...Randall and Sascha!)

Most of my books are about painting.  However, this is my first reference book and I am quite excited about it.  I haven't the time to look through it but I just want to proof to my dear friends I finally got a reference book on what I am painting lol~  Which most of the time I rely on the gents' expertise above mentioned.   I want to thank them for their tremendous help.

Well, this post is not about the book review, but just by flipping through the page it start to give me the idea on more advanced level of painting such as more dramatic light and shadow and NMM.  If you are interested in this book, check out the reviews here:

NAPOLEONS ARMY-1790 Lucien Rousselot

Best regards,

VS