Violinist diorama base work part 7 (and figure)

Bubble, bubble

With the resin ‘water’ in the fountain now dry I started adding the many layers of Vallejo Water Effects to the pool of water and the spout of water.  The spout of water is a piece of clear fishing line glued into place and then water effects painted over the top to make a water stream.  For the pond I tried to make the turbulent water nearest where the water stream hits.  There probably needs to be another 3-4 layers to call this one finished.

For the main base it was a bit of two steps forward, one step back.  I glued on the wooden board onto the foam (to make a more solid base for all the rest of the components to glue to) and then started the dirt ground work with some DAS modelling clay.

Cork rocks in the ground work

 Then I glued on the foam stone ground work sheet.  At this point I realised I had trimmed the stone work too much and there was a small (.5mm) gap on two sides.  Secondly the ground work would need to be raised more than I imagined to meet up with the level of the stone ground work.

Flagstones glued one, pond retaining wall done, edging being glued..

So out came the milliput and I filled in the gaps between the stone ground work and the base edge.  While I had the milliput out I also made up the stone retaining wall around the pond.

I planned to cover all the layers of the base by putting styrene sheet around the edges of the base.  So I decided to do that next so I would know the level that the ‘dirt’ ground would have to be at.  For the edges I used 0.5mm styrene sheet glued onto the foam with Shelleys Allfix glue (one of the few glues that doesn’t damage foam).

Another job going backwards is the wall that the fountain is on.  I found the right edge (originally edged in black) will need to be repainted to look like the corner of the wall instead.  That edge of the wall and the fence weren’t working together how I originally planned.

Violinist at last getting some paint love

I also got some figure painting done (finally).  I’m pretty happy with the face (but will continue to fiddle for a bit) and I blocked out the inner shirt, pants, stockings and shoes.  So far I’ve shaded the pants to near completion.  Like all my major figures I spent a few hours doing colour map work on paper first to try and sort out shading and highlight colours.  These aren’t always final but they do help me trying to get a consistent colour feel.

Painting notes - yes it really is worth the time :)

Next week will be finishing off the edging of the base and then fixing up the dirt ground work.  Some more water layers on the fountain and maybe painting the pond brick work.  Also some more figure work I hope.

Violinist diorama base work part 6

Well painting the figure didn’t really happen.  Too many nights of broken sleep for that which makes the eyes rather fuzzy at the end of a work day.  I did get the first cut of the face done and I’m pretty happy with that.

Looks super clear...

On the base side things are all coming together.  The resin pour for the pond worked really well.  It looks totally clear.  However from the side there are some tiny micro bubbles (or maybe dust?) visible.

...but not so much

So not sure if I’ll box in the sides or keep them visible.  I’ll be covering the top now with the Vallejo Water Effect gel to get some water ripples.  I painted up three leaves to be floating on top of the pond water.  Lastly I’ll be putting on the water effect to the pond with the leaves (the water effect can be used as a glue for the leaves) on top.  Should get that finished off tonight.

Autumn leaves painted up

For the fountain/wall I varnished the fountain in a gloss varnish to add to that marble sparkle effect.  I use Vallejo Gloss varnish which I apply via an airbrush.  I find approx 50/50 varnish to water works best.  I normally do 3-4 coats but keep them very thin and let them dry (which only takes a few minutes) between coats.

Diggers casting resin and catalyst

With the fountain then varnished (and left for a day) I mixed up some clear casting resin for the base of the water in the fountain.  This was because using the water effect would take ages to build up.

Plastic lid to keep the dust off while the resin dries

If you apply the Vallejo Water effect too thick it dries white, not clear.  The Diggers brand casting resin cures without any bubbles.  It's a two part product and you buy the catalyst separately.  You have to be careful not to add to much catalyst otherwise while the resin cures it can get quite warm (or in one test case I did, too hot to touch) and potential damage items.  Too little, it may not set.  The only problem is that it the resin is slightly yellow, hence why I didn’t use in in the pond.  When the resin is dry then I’ll glue on a piece of fishing line from the fountain spout to the basin and use the water effects to make the stream of water.

Basin full of "water"

Violinist diorama base work part 5

After a very slow start I actually got some bits done this week.  I finished off the marble effects on the fountain.  In the end I just made the whole thing marble as I didn’t want the different colours breaking up the area too much.  Once the fountain was done I started shading the bricks.  I did two levels of shading.

Fountain wall with a quick mock up with the animals, violinist goes on the box

The first level was each brick was shaded individually with the bricks on the lower sections getting more dark area and the bricks on the top sections getting more light areas.  My light to dark mix on the bricks was

VGC Charred Brown
VMC Hull Red - base
VMC Flat Red
VMC Light Orange

For the second level I did a number of glazes by adding in VMC Dark Sea Blue and VMC Light Yellow to the dark/light mixes across the whole brick area.  So the dark glaze on the lower 1/3 and the lighter glaze on the top 1/3.  I repeated the glazes a few times but reduced the area each time so by the third glaze only approx 1/9 of the total brick area was being done.  I then tied up some of the grouting that had been coloured over by the glazes.

Your friend and mine, Liquid Gloss

Next big item was pouring the resin (Liquid Gloss) for the water pond.  Been putting this off for a bit as I didn’t want it to go wrong so did the usual avoidance technique.  Finally just did it.

Mold box ready to go

After boxing up the area and covering the paint with a coat of varnish I mixed up the resin and poured in three layers.  After each layer (approx 2mm deep) I used my propane torch to get rid of any bubbles.  This way I could pour the whole amount in one go without bubbles getting trapped deep in the resin.  Did slightly melt the styrene card.

Resin in, melted styrene sheet :)

Now to leave for a day before pulling off the mold box and trimming off the edges, and then a whole week before the sanding.

The violinist, at last

Lastly I actually started to put paint the figure itself.  Been a long time coming.

Next week I will try and get the water in the fountain underway and actually paint some more of the figure.

Violinist diorama base work part 4 and other distractions

This week was trying to make a marble effect on my fountain piece work.  I think I’ve almost got there.  My colours used were

* VGC Bonewhite - base
* VGC Khaki + Base - first darker marble streaks, second darker lines made my adding more Khaki.
* Above + VMC German Pale Brown - alternative dark lines
* VMC Sand light + base - first lighter streaks
* Above + VGC Dead white - second lighter streaks

Marble fountain

All of the above mixed with Winsor and Newton flow improver and diluted with water to make the lines as thin and smooth as possible.

Using the flow improver was the key.  It breaks down the surface tension and allows the paint to be put on very smoothly and near transparent.  Most streaks were done by repainting the same line repeatedly.  When the paint was going on for the first time the colour change was barely noticeable.

I’m pretty happy with the marble.  I need to decide what to do with the fountain bowl, spout area and tiles around the bowl.  I’m thinking of coloured tiles and terracotta.  Still thinking there.

Pond area painted

I painted up the pond area and added a simple design to break up the large blue area.    I tried freehand first, failed and then used a template to make the pattern symmetrical.  Now I’m working out the prep work before the resin pour.  This involves varnishing the area (to seal it) and building up the mold box.  Then comes the pour and lots of sanding..

My new bust of Amy Johnson

I was totally distracted when my bust of Amy Johnson by Bad Squiddo Games arrived.  Absolutely love it.  So of course I spend some time prepping it and have almost finished making a display base for it already :)

Also found a small seed pod I realised that it would make a great beaten gold bowl in 1/32 scale.  I put on two coats of PVA glue to seal up the wood and then undercoated it in black.  My base was a mix of VMC Dark Sea Blue (great for taking the shine out of metallics) and AP Greedy Gold.  Highlights done with VMA Yellow Ochre and VMC Gold.  Needs a dark oil wash to bring out the “leaves” on the outside but very happy with finding that on the footpath.

Violinist diorama base work part 3

Well it was a bit of shocker at work this week.  Half the team no longer there and some big questions on what is going to occur in the future.  Makes it very hard to concentrate on painting which is a bit unfortunate.

Most of this week was thinking about the water pond and trying to get a marble like effect.

Water pond underway

For the pond I sculpted the Milliput into a gentle curve around the edge of the pond.  This was then sanded down and then painted in PVA glue to seal it up.  However the PVA glue made the Vallejo undercoat I normally use crackle.  In the end I used some household ‘4 in 1’ prep paint which went on smooth.  I originally painted the pond a earth colour as per the picture but have since decided that a lighter blue with a pattern on it will look better.  Think tile mosaic.  I’ll still have some rubbish in the water I think but this way the pond is more a decorative garden pond gone to waste instead of a rough pond.

Water, but no tap??

I purchased some Vallejo Water Effects to use to make the fountain spout water.  This is a very thick gel that dries clear.  Using a piece of fishing line as the core a number of coats of the gel is applied to get a life like steam of water.  I’ve very happy with the test piece and the product.  Still very disappointed with the Vallejo Still Water which is useless.

Begging bowl, coins unpainted

I needed a begging bowl for my violinist so used one I had purchase as part of a pack of 54mm diorama extras.  I used VMC Tan Yellow as the base as I wanted the bowl to look like an earthen ware.  I added a few coins to the bottom by slicing off some 1.0mm styrene rod very finely and glueing them to the bowl.  These were then painted silver.

Marble trial

I’ve also been trying to do marbling this week.  However I haven’t had much success.  I’ve been doing the ‘thin paint, then add water drops’ method to get the darker colour lines like you seen on marble.  That hasn’t been really working as well as I wanted.  I started using some Winsor and Newton flow improver (alcohol ethoxylate) which breaks the surface tension dramatically.  Very much like putting a drop of detergent in a pool of greasy water.  This helped no end.  Of course too much and the paint all separates.  In the trial piece that was working ok, but not quite what I wanted.

Since then I’ve tried the other method which is directly painting the marble lines.  Again I used the flow improver to make the paint as smooth and thin as possible.  You don’t want to see the paint lines really, rather just the suggestion of a different colour.  I think this second method is working better but need to do some more work.