Review - Scale 75 Unnatural Flesh

Scale 75 are a Spanish Company, producing high quality paints that you can buy in sets or the full range in a mega set deal.

Below is the second set I have bought, after the black and white paint set which left me so impressed I had to buy more of them.

So here is the Unnatural Flesh set which I bought for my EFGT Goblins.

You get a range of 8 paints that have been carefully created to match the required palette. Each bottom is the traditional dropper dispenser that fellow country product Vallejo use.

The first thing to note is the dropper is sealed, you need either a needle or in my case, the end of a small round file to puncture the seal.

I noted that the paints were separated from the water and here was the first notable difference to Vallejo. The paints mixed after a 5 second shake, not the 30 seconds required with Vallejo.

On dispensing the paint I noted it was perfectly consistent throughout.

 These colours at first glance may seem extreme but I found them to be perfect for the job in hand. The colours are also somewhat unique which is another advantage in creating a unique look.

All going well so far and then there is another thing in the packaging.

 A painting guide !

What you see above is two clear articles to use the paints to create different looks, each article in four languages and are accompanied by a series of photos to hel[ you along the way.

 So now to the painting. The paints look so enticing you could be tempted to use them neat. I managed to avoid that and thinned them to roughly one part paint one part water. Application was perfect, two coats doing the trick to leave a consistent base coat to work from. The system here is to set a good mid / highlight tome all over then add the shading.

 Now the first areas of shading are applied using some fantastically named pots. This first shade is Undead Flesh.

Now some Hellbound Flesh mixed with Misfits Green

 And so on through the shades before adding a couple of layers of highlight at the extremeties.

 I should also add that these paints mix perfectly with each other allowing you to create your own 

schemes.

 And finally

 Here is the finished piece completed in a couple of solid hours painting. I did the scheme as a test to see what I thought and I am delighted with the look. The photos make this figure look slightly bluer than reality. My achilles heel is photography but I will improve (He says hopefully)

So the final thought. Excellent paints, in fact I find these the best I have and have to stop myself getting the rest of them. 

I have ordered their pigments and shall conduct a review of those once I have tried them.

EFGT - Balin

Next up Balin

I have looked to keeping the reds darker, leaving the final highlight using VMC orange red. I think this gives a truer red rather than going too orange or white on the highlight. Using white can also give a pink appearance, which I wanted to avoid.

EFGT - Gandalf Completed

Here we are then, after throwing a few cold and warm colours at him, he is finished. To be honest I could push him a little further but like I have said, the time I spend on these will take a slight reduction so I can get them all done. Hope you enjoy him.

Escape From Goblin Town - Gandalf

After a night of cutting, scrapping, filing, washing and priming I can say that all the set are ready for painting. It is something I will cover at a later date, the importance of preparing a figure for painting.

 Now for Gandalf. I have made a start on his robe. A bit more to do yet, I want to extend the contrast a bit more yet, throwing in a few cold and warm colours. Looking at it, I fancy a very light brown glaze just to set a slightly different hue. I've often thought about Gandalf's cloak, that it almost had a brown appearance.

Bag End - Scratch built

This was one of my biggest, yet rewarding moles I have made.
It was based on the John Howe design for Bag End, though sadly I had to leave out a couple of windows as it would have been too big.

 Each of the windows started life as a piece of card that was cut to shape and small pieces of balsa wood were added for the window frames. I found that a sieve served as excellent leaded lights.
Once painted, the decorations you see were things like flowers and lumps of cork to represent the stones.
The path was made up from milliput.
Two different types of grass were used, an 18mm long grass from Noch and a short version, ideal to represent a well tended lawn.

 The well was also sculpted from milliput and the straight parts of a paper clip were cut and glued together to create the winch. That was somewhat time consuming to get it right...

 My first hand made tree and one I was very pleased with, though if anything was a touch small in the end.

 My favourite window being the kitchen window complete with a drain, again sculpted from milliput.

 Frodo doing what bosses do, sat back in his vegetable patch. He was from the Captured by Gondor set. A little bit of cutting and filing removed the tree stump he was attached to.

 The iconic front gate. To give you the idea of scale it is 11mm across.

 No Bag End would be complete without it's own bird house.

And the overall view.

The End of Things

My latest diorama depicting an alternative end, where Mordor wins. This is the final over thrown with only Prince Imrahil, a standard bearer and one Fountain Guard remain.

 The tree was a twig I found and I went about sculpting the roots from Milliput. Using a few tiny roots to make up the top branches.

The water effects started as Woodland Scenics realistic water and the using a variant of Woodland Scenic Water Effects and some clear silicone sealant, the type you would use in a bathroom etc. I used a toothpick to tease out the splashes.

The claret on show was Games Workshop Blood for the Blood God mixed with a tip of black to darken it down and look more Orcish. I couldn't go too dark as the translation of a fresh kill may be lost if I had used pure black, as is Orc blood. I suppose my own artistic licence.

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy it.

Escape from Goblin Town Begins

And now for my latest project. Its for the diorama challenge over on The One Ring.
My intention is to do all 55 figures from the Escape From Goblin Town set.

After tonights work I have them all put together with exception of the little scribe goblin.
As for the base, my intention is to have a suspended rope bridge involved somewhere but I will have to play about with this.
I've got some paints on order from Scale75 unnatural skin set which I intend to use for the goblins.
More on that when the order arrives.

Three Trolls Diorama

Here is an example of my work. This was my last project and was a my version of the three trolls. As always, I try to put lots of little details into my big projects and this was no exception

Here you can see the view into the troll cave and the obvious additions of Tom preparing a horsey snack as the next victim gets a bit distressed...

And a view looking from the rear of the diorama, back up toward Tom.

And a waterfall, complete with a flowing stream.

Welcome

Here is a new venture for me, my first blog were I hope to share my interest and love of miniature painting.
Although I have been painting since about 2000, it is only this last year or so I have decided to make efforts in improving my style. I have advanced but as always, there is a long way to go.
Primarily I paint Lord of the Rings miniatures from Games Workshop, but I am starting to tentatively branch out in other directions. These I hope to share with you in the coming weeks and months.
I intend to provide hints and tips on getting the most from your painting to suit many levels, though mainly aimed at present to the starter and intermediate.
Thanks for looking