I guess figure painting is "superdetailing". This is one of the Knuckleduster figures, which are really well sculpted, even if they're slightly oversized.
First step: Prime black
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Then I paint from the inside out. Flesh:
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The white shirt. For this I tried the Ammo White paint I got at Springfield last year. It worked OK, but I had to go over the shirt area twice to get coverage.
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Then the apron. I wanted a slightly contrasting color, this is called "Tapioca", but it's almost unbleached muslim
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Then I did the hair, chocolate brown with a little white mixed in. This guy has a great mustache, and an expanse of forehead. I had to go back and repaint the forehead using a little white mixed into the flesh color.
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to be continued... dave
For the blue jeans, I used an appropriate craft paint blue. This paint is kinda old, but it worked OK.
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Then back to the brown. I did his shoes and painted the broom, painting over some white from the apron.
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The broom handle was done with a light yellow, with a bit of that chocolate brown mixed in.
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Finally, the broom itself was done with a different yellow. This color happened to be Model Air, which is a bit thin. I didn't want a lot of thick coverage, I wanted the brown undercoat to stay. But I added a bit of white to give the airbrush paint a bit more body.
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Tomorrow, I'll do some washes and then a matte varnish.
All-in-all about 2 hours of work, but with some time in between to let the primer, flesh and white shirt paint dry.
dave
Dave, for the wire support, what size wire and pin drill number are you using to mount the figurine before painting?
Quote from: Dave Buchholz on November 07, 2025, 04:53:16 PMDave, for the wire support, what size wire and pin drill number are you suing to mount the figurine before painting?
#75/ .020 wire
dave
By the way, if you're doing a bunch of figures at a time, this goes pretty quickly. Each time I change color I have to stop and clean the brushes. An assembly line for figure painting is the way to go.
dave
Excellent tutorial. 👍
Just wish you had a "macro" lense.
I didn't see what scale it is.
MJinTN
Thanks for the excellent step by step!
Am I correct in thinking that the intent of the wire has a second purpose?
To mount the figure more easily on the layout by drilling another hole and putting the wired pin into the hole drilled into the scene base?
Quote from: labdad on November 07, 2025, 05:41:13 PMExcellent tutorial. 👍
Just wish you had a "macro" lense.
I didn't see what scale it is.
MJinTN
HO
dave
Quote from: Dave Buchholz on November 07, 2025, 06:16:25 PMAm I correct in thinking that the intent of the wire has a second purpose?
To mount the figure more easily on the layout by drilling another hole and putting the wired pin into the hole drilled into the scene base?
Mebbe. But for the machine shop, I just sand their feet flat and glue the figures into position.
dave
Dave you did a fine job on the LP!!
Jerry
Quote from: deemery on November 07, 2025, 11:57:35 PMQuote from: Dave Buchholz on November 07, 2025, 06:16:25 PMAm I correct in thinking that the intent of the wire has a second purpose?
To mount the figure more easily on the layout by drilling another hole and putting the wired pin into the hole drilled into the scene base?
Mebbe. But for the machine shop, I just sand their feet flat and glue the figures into position.
dave
I'd have to admit at times my hands will shake just enough to knock the figure over several times before the glue dries
(Growing old is not for sissies. And least I'm not trying to cut the red wire on a time bomb)
Fifth Dave to the right.
Howdy Dave, thanks for the tutorial for painting those tiny HO figures. I assume you used an Optivisor. Have fun, mike
No Optivisor, but sometimes I have to take my glasses off and hold the figure close to my nearsighted eyes. I did look through my magnifying light a couple times to make sure I saw the detail correctly.
Bracing my hands to do the fine painting is more important...
dave
Well done. I've seen that done by one of the original crew at RR-L in "the day" I use the color over flat black painting vehicles as well.
Nice job, cool figure.
KS
Great tutorial..thanks
terry
The idea of black primer is to create 'default shading' as you add paint on top of the primer. There's always a bit of tension between keeping your paint colors thin, and getting full coverage. That's particularly noticeable when painting white (shirt) on top of the black primer. A bit of practice helps get you used to getting the right amount of paint. For the white shirt, I had to go back and paint it twice, 2 thin coats.
dave
I paint in the opposite sequence. I start with the shirt/pants and finish with the face/hands. The present batch of LPs, I primed with the black, but had issues seeing the detail on them versus light grey or white primer. Probably due to my not so young vision. Your figure looks great.
Jeff
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on November 08, 2025, 10:24:50 AMI paint in the opposite sequence. I start with the shirt/pants and finish with the face/hands. The present batch of LPs, I primed with the black, but had issues seeing the detail on them versus light grey or white primer. Probably due to my not so young vision. Your figure looks great.
Jeff
"There's More Than One Way To Do It."
dave
Here's the washes. This took about 10 minutes but makes a huge difference.
I put a bit of the flesh wash around the eyes, ears and neck.
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This wash has a reddish, rose or rusty color.
Then the wash for the rest of the figure. I'm using Citadel "Nulm Oil" which has been highly recommended by both model railroaders and figure painters. The color looks to be a thin neutral grey.
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This got painted along the lines of the broom, the belt line, between the legs on the back, along the apron, around the collar and under the arms (both front and back.)
Some close-ups. This looks dark when you look this closely, but from normal viewing distance it looks a lot better (as you can see in the other photos.)
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The final step will be to do a matte varnish once the washes have dried. As they dry, the colors will fade a bit.
dave
Dave, thanks for your step by step tutorial.
I would anticipate the initial darkening should be airbrushed on. As to not create too thick of an underlying base coat would cover fine detail.
Fifth Dave to the right.
Looks like a clean sweep Dave!
Nice work.
Dave,
Well done, Looks like he swept a lot of dirt/dust as well.
Tom
If you add carpets, make sure he doesn't sweep it under the rug. I don't trust the look in that guy's 1/87 eyeballs.. Looks kind of shady to me.
😅
Dave #5
Here's what the washes will do for a commercial figure. This guy is from the Woodland Scenics 'roofers' set. There wasn't enough contrast between the (African American?) skin tone and the hair, so I painted the hair a darker grey. Then I added a bit of the flesh wash to face, neck and hands:
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Next, I did the Nulm Wash on the clothing.
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I'll let this dry, and then do the matte varnish. Total time spent on this figure was less than 5 minutes. Most of this was done with a good quality #0 'round' pointed brush.
Don't forget, by the way, these guys will be in the poorly illuminated interior of the Machine Shop, so adding more contrast will help you see the detail. The WS figure doesn't have anywhere near the same level of cast-on detail as the KnuckleDuster figure. But he's closer to scale size, the KD figures are really 00 size so they represent quite tall and bulky people (basketball players?) in HO scale. I try to keep the KD figures grouped away from other closer-to-scale figures.
dave
Dave, those figures look excellent.
Thanks for the tips and how you did it.