Boy - Body

Its beem sometimes I have tried artistic abstract and recently I had acquired a Soft Focus Optics for my lensbaby composer.  After browsing through the web and getting some inspirations.  I decided to use this optics to shoot my boy real close with it.  And I mean really close hehehe.

My setup is simple.  Nex-3 with the A-mount adaptor and Composer with the optics.  The closer shots are taken with a +4 Macro filter.  Post processing is just convert it to black and white and viola.  Here's the series :)  You may feel free to look at the bigger photos at my gallery over here :)

MouthDigitsNoseEye

FingersBellybuttonFaceFeetEar

Faces everywhere!!!

I stumbled on this photo blog site called Faces in Placesand its really cool! Basically its a site dedicated to show some face form (eyes, a nose, mouth or ears) we see in our daily lives. Do check it out. I really like some of them which are seen naturally in nature. (those bloody leaves man!!)

Kudos to the blogger who has such keen eyes. Here's a sample of the blog..

WWII German Wehrmacht Infantryman 1/16 Winter Uniform

Yesterday, I was woke up in the middle of the night by my dog. Can't get to sleep so started to work on my German soldier. I continued to work until morning and managed to finish it in dawn. Whoo.. What a rush. Here's the promised photo of the completed model. Now to describe some background of the work in progress..

This is a long time since I painted my models by HAND. Yes, airbrush is used only for the base coat and accessories. The rest (mostly the main body area) are painted by hand. You could see from the photos that my painting skills with a brush really sucks... Still can see some streak marks. Need more practice and improvement. I know what causes it, too much paint and my strokes are too hard and inconsistent pressure. It looks so easy done by the experts but for me its tough. Still the final result is quite acceptable to the front row of my display case in the living room.. hehehe

This particular model is a 1/16 replica of a Wehrmacht Infantryman during the late 1940s. Originally, the hooded uniforms are designed for war with Russia and comes only in white or field grey colour. Later of the war, the Germans managed to incorporate the Water pattern into the design for better camouflage purposes. There is also a Splinter and an Oak Leaf pattern specifically for the Elite Infantry.

I did it!!

I suck at painting figures. Especially the facial part(skin tones). But after some practicing with the Japanese soldiers. I kind of have the confidence to paint a 1/16 figure. Bought a WWII German Infantry and started the face. Result is the picture shown on the left. (A bit handshake due to low light, will try to take another when I finish the whole thing) hehe... I am glad I finally understand and really know how to paint a bloody face... hahaha

Its actually quite complicated and I need to thank Bernard from theMworkshop to introduce me to some great books, especially Clavin Tan. Check out their galleries, they are amazing!! He's a Singaporean modeller and his models are published in a lot of International model magazines.

My painting skills still really needs a lot of improvements. Best way is to practice more...

M42A Red Army

Another Model completed today. Its actually the first time I build a US tank. (The M8 Armoured Car does not count as its not a tank)

This tank is the famous WWII M42A "Sherman" tank used by the allies against the German panzers. According to Wiki, it was run on Gasoline and pretty dangerous when it got hit in the fuel tank (gasoline is more explosive than diesel).

I have to give credits to Dragon Model as they throw in a lot of goodies. Besides the photo-etched parts, there is a full metal barrel, a set of one piece steel track (so easy to fix this time) and a flexible dust cover.

This particular M4A2 as mentioned in the title, belongs to the Red Army of USSR. The USA loaned over 4000++ of Shermans to the Russians during WWII. This particular model has the isignia of the Russian 8th Guards Mechanized Corps, 1944/45. I actually don't like the US version as it has a big ugly star infront of the tank.

I had many problems with this model actually. Its has quite a lot of photo-etched metallic parts and they are bloody tiny to glue. Worst still, I have to use super-glue which is very hard to work with. (One mistake means you jialat liao). !@##$%#@# to the superglue.

Painting this bugger is also troublesome. I have no pre-knowledge of painting Olive Drab. (Sandy Yellow Brown is my norm). The model came out much darker than I expected. So I mixed a lighter tone by adding white. It helps ut the overtone still looks greyish rather than green (see photos). I tried pin-point pre-shading this time. Which means I only shade those darker areas with black. No more red-brown paint. Which kinds of make the model a bit brighter. Lucky I used this method or my Olive Drab will look even darker.

Rest of the pictures here..

I airbrushed my accessories this time. Makes them look more realistic.

The guards for the headlights and rails are photo-etched. Took more than a day just to fix these.

The corps isignal. 21b 6/4

Dust cover and roughened surface of the turrent.