la Résistance #3 / Base & Figures /

With light staff car built & painted, detailing of the base could start. To expand the scene, as it seemed too flat, I added cable pole that became one of key elements of the story, stopping but not destroying ambushed by Resistance German car. Before settling with cable pole many options were considered - from a tree (which is a model on it's own),  to simple sign post. To balance heavy action up front, section of Citadel's stone wall was added closing the scene from the back.

The pole was constructed using wooden stick from a paintbrush with attached two cable line hooks, with cables being represented by small diameter wire stretched out in the air. I did not really want to leave it looking bare, hence movie poster Inglorious Basterds by QT was printed out and glued on, with top corners left peeling off. Area of the accident  is being observed by silent, but not voiceless witness, a Robin, sitting on the top of cable post. This character was inspired by frequent visitor at friend's garden, model comes from Tamiya Panzer Crewmen kit.

Painting figures started as usual with sprayed on white undercoat. All single color areas were painted using airbrush. Also tried color modulation, which proved to be rather long process in case of a single figure, due to often cleanups of an airbrush (each figure has different palette of colors what extended painting time eve further). Result is pretty smooth so far, not as thick as it would be when applied by brush without evident brush strokes. Tamiya & AK acrylics were used for largest areas, for flesh Tamiya as base with Citadel highlights (so far Citadel paints are the best for brush detailing, as Tamiya dries up too quickly & AK acrylics tend to be too watery, requiring applying few coats).

Heads were painted separately from the rest, and faces were most challenging. Basecoat was applied with airbrush, from that point on all work was done using paintbrush. First I used Tamiya FX15 Flat Flesh as base, than Citadel's Elf Flesh with addition of White applied onto raised areas. Mb's figures are of excellent quality, with crisp detail and very convincing facial expressions. I just hope it will not get lost under paint. After painting faces, figures were put together with final detailing following. Guns with other accessories were also painted separately, added at the very last stage.

After detailing German officer's uniform I realized it is missing III Reich's Eagle which I did not even try painting, it was too small to do it right by hand, so I used decals from Tamiya kit. Tip for next time: not to use pure decalfix on unvarnished models as it melts the paint! Luger pistol in open holster complete the officer, Bren gun (holding strap made out of masking tape), ammo clip bag (or bread sack, which as name suggests, is to be a grenade holder ;) & sten gun complete resistance figures. The car is ready, base detailed, all characters of the story painted as well, time to finish the job and put everything together...