Cpt Nathan Brittles, U.S. Cavalry, 1876 ** Finished **

[TimJ]

Nice work so far.

[JohnRatzenberger]

The blue coat/cape is better; I have pupils & iris in the eyes, I have started a base yellow coat.

Staring to look like a figure ….







I have very little time until Saturday, which then gives me a full week to finish. If in the next few days, I can get a good yellow base (hide the slopped over other colors), then I should be into the highlight, shadow, blend, weather and touch-up.

Or it could run right up to the very end in a flurry of paint splatters …

[DazDaMan]

Looking good!

[iggie]

That's a piercing stare he's got

[Molly-new]

Shaping up quite nicely as the paint layers are being added.

[JohnRatzenberger]

No pix.

As I said, not much time this past week - even less than I thought actually. I think the base yellow will be done today and that means I can move on to shading, shadowing, patching, etc. I'm not sure how I manage to chip off so much paint just by holding it, I know I'm not a gentle person but I also have to watch splattering thinned paint around - he seems to have a bad case of dandruff on the shoulders.


Anyway, I'm sure I'll make it by next Sunday, although I have a bunch of other stuff to do through Wednesday. And I found out SWMBO agreed to hold a Super-Bore party on the 1st, so I'm going to lose some time preparing and being there.

I should have been doing this all along:

Old soldiers..., Miss Dandridge... hah! Someday you'll learn how they hate to give up. Captain of the troop one day: every man's face turned towards you; lieutenants jump when I growl! Now, tomorrow, I'll be glad if a blacksmith asks me to shoe a horse.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Going well, if I could just avoid knocking paint off and having very-thinned dark colors run onto the lighter ones.

Will be a completion.

[JohnRatzenberger]

On the final lap and finally some pix. The last construction piece was to glue on the blowing end of his scarf.







Since I took the pix, I painted the buttons - really the last unpainted piece of it. Now I am down to touching up all over. I have given the base a final coat of white. I am working on the scarf, I got some blue under on it and it's almost gone. Thinning the paints makes 'em run in the wrong place. I have been shadowing button holes, touching up the face (blue run again), getting the scarf fixed up, and touching up elsewhere.

If I can get all everything but the coat touched up, then it should be a simple light coat over it to hide the white chips and we're done. Then keep my hands off it and take final pix.

Oops! One other thing - I have got to uncross the eyes a bit, it's mostly the figure's left eye that is off but that's awful delicate work this late in the build ….

I should have mounted the base on a small board so I didn't handle the figure so much - that's lesson learned #1.

Later, when fully dry, I need to do a varnish, matt mostly but stain over the bright inner liner of the cape and maybe a tad on the hat cord.

Should be done sometime Saturday, it's my #1 project other than helping SWMBO get ready for the party we're hosting.

[fredk]

I'm glad you noticed and mentioned the eyes. I was afraid of saying anything. Time for a 10/0 brush there. Don't forget to put plenty of gloss varnish on them when they're done.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thanks for the "eye gloss" reminder !

[JohnRatzenberger]

A couple of paint touch-ups yesterday to include "fixing" the eyes - probably still too obvious but I'm done. Having achieved closure with the eyes, I painted the buttons, glossed the eyes, and satined the cape and cord. Today I matted the uniform, hat, and face, glossed the buttons, and satined the base.







All that between cleaning the house, repairing the toilet, shopping for groceries

My first figure ever, and done with acrylics. I'm sure I have a lot to learn but I am getting a bit more comfortable mixing my own with the Vallejo range. I guess what has held me back from trying all these years is that I never had anything invested in my subject until now. Whatever its shortcomings, I'm happy.

And so it is proper to close my entry with the closing narration from the movie itself.

"So here they are: the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents-a-day professionals... riding the outposts of a nation. From Fort Reno to Fort Apache - from Sheridan to Stockton - they were all the same: men in dirty-shirt blue and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode - and whatever they fought for - that place became the United States."

[DazDaMan]

Looks great!

[MarkyM607]

Definitely a great job, especially for a first figure. Eyes look better!..

[iggie]

Excellent, and the film's closing words are very fitting

[TimJ]

Great job for your first figure.