MMSI Chicago 2011 - Part 3

Equally represented was the fantasy community with exhibits from a number of talented artists. Two of the stand out for me are shown below.

If there was anything that I disliked about the show it was the separation of fantasy and historical in two categories. I was told that this was done in the clubs ongoing effort to include all aspects of the figure painting community while still allowing the separate styles some autonomy in their displays and judging but I'm not sure how much that actually helped build camaraderie. This separation was also the case at World Expo and MFCA and I'm really troubled by the separation. Hopefully over time the two facets will feel comfortable enough to be exhibited together as one.

Mathieu Fontaine was one of two Canadian Masters whose work was on display. The two Chaos figures shown below were wonderfully painted and far more impressive than my lousy photos indicate.

I have known Rick Taylor for years as an amazing artist whose figures and flats have constantly wowed the crowds. His exhibit this year consisted of four 28mm figures in the "Painters" category and an amazing scratch/conversion of a Kabuki figure in the "Open" category. Too appreciate these pieces one truly needed to see both the front and back of each as can be seen in the photos below. I would have given anything to have been able to photograph these pieces with my set-up rather than by hand, to show the amazing patterns and designs. Hopefully you will get the idea from the pictures below.

If the photo above doesn't amaze you then there is something wrong with you. Remember, 28mm or around an inch and a half tall!!

Hopefully I will see you all at the MMSI show next year, Enjoy!

MMSI Chicago 2011 - Part 2

Exhibitors like Doug Cohen, Rod Curtis, Anders Heintz, Matt Wellhauser and others, proved that we do have a strong body of quality painters here in the US and Canada. With visitors like Mike Blank and Stephen Mallia you can't go wrong. This was equally represented in the Fantasy categories which will be seen in my third post.

Continuing in the Historical vein, Jason Green has an amazing display of work, including both busts and full figures. I think Jason is the star for Mike Cramer at Michael/United Miniatures. His box art busts were amazingly well painted and his full figures were equally well done.

Dan Capuano has been a prolific painter and modeler of all things WWII and his huge display at this year's show was quite impressive. As can be seen below, he works in every scale from 90mm to 200mm as well as busts. I am sure that over time as his skills continue to evolve and his artistic vision grows he will be a force to be reckoned with.

My old buddy Chris Mrosko represented extremely well this year with his "Congolese 1st Armored Brigade" a spooky trio on a Type 69 Hybrid resplendent with skulls. I'm not really an armor guy but I really loved this piece. Well done Chris!

There were lots more figures, dioramas and vehicles of all types, including a pretty cool box diorama from Lewis Pruneau, depicting the burning crash of the Hindenburg. More photos are out there so check out the postings on various forums for more goodies. I was fortunate as one of the judges to have the luxury of getting lots of opportunities to take good long looks at the work. This is one of the best avenues for learning other peoples techniques. I always recommend attending shows if you want to grow as a modeler. Ask questions of those whose work you respect, you'll be surprised what you may learn.

MMSI Chicago 2011

One of the highlights of the show season here in the U.S. is the annual MMSI Show in Chicago, held each year in October. I have been looking forward to the event this year as it has been ten years since I last attended the show. I was looking forward to seeing many old friends for the first time in years as well as seeing some of the cream of the North American talent pool and I was not disappointed. Here are a few photos of the show spread out over three posts.

The show was held at the Marriott Schaumburg, west of downtown Chicago. The main hall had the exhibit in the middle dividing two vendor areas, with more vendors in the front lobby. There was something for everyone with vendors including Chuck Robinson of The Red Lancers, Sentinel, CRM, Rich Salzburg and others selling figures, old and new. Jack and Jan Muldoon were there selling flats and John Jefferies was manning his base supply as well (very nice selection of natural burl bases). Manufacturers were represented as well, with Mike Stelzel, Michael/United Miniatures, Lost Battalion, Thunderbird and others. Book sellers, Toy Soldiers, Militaria, prints, you name it, it was there to be purchased.

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Every show has it's highlights on the tables and this year was no exception. I have a number of individuals whose work I always look forward to seeing. Bill Horan had a very nice display of work, as well as Greg DiFranco. Greg had two entries (seen below) that struck a chord with me. The first was a wonderful vignette of two troublemakers entitled "Plundering The Pfalz", a wonderful grouping that was masterfully sculpted, posed, and painted. The second was an amazing drummer that was so dramatic you could picture his surroundings despite the piece being a single, based figure.

Mike Blank was in attendance and had his amazing "The Emperor's New Clothes" diorama which won this year's "Best In Show" award. Mike also displayed a scratchbuilt Knight and a stock dandy in the painters category.

Jason Whitmann once again presented an amazing body of work (shown in the photos below) which combined with years of excellence garnered him this year's "Chicago Medal". Well done Jason and congratulations!

Von Mackensen - Research on a Real Tight Budget!

So there you are with a new figure or bust and you want to do it up right but you've got nothing much on the shelf to offer in the reference department. Where do you turn?

That is the subject of post number two on my nice little bust here from SK Miniatures. This could be the case really with any kit out there. Most have a nice photograph on the box and a little reference sheet listing color choices inside, that's all. Many people rely on the quality of what they get but if you are like me you want more information, more choices, more details, more accuracy.

Now if you are like I was ten years ago, you have a library of stuff acquired over years of being in the hobby. I would be willing to bet that most are like me now. I have a small but carefully selected research library that focuses on my specific areas of interest. In my case, Roman, Greek, Medieval and Asian subjects. For this bust that is worthless. Ten years ago I could have popped a few books and magazines off the shelf and had everything I needed.

What I rely on most these days is primarily multiple sourcing on the Internet. Anything can be found if you just look. A warning however, like in books, you can't always trust what you find. Many simply repeat old outdated info so the "Multiple Sourcing" can be very important. I start with Google. In this case my search started with specifics related to Von Mackensen, from there I searched on the specifics of his awards and various uniform and regimental links. I keep a file full of saved pictures broken down by era and within that specific to the project. So everything I find is dropped in the file. Right now the file for Von Mackensen has 86 images and I'm still looking. I started with the photo posted in my last blog post. A quick check of Wiki found linked photos of his awards. I then did Google searches on his various uniform items, saving pictures of original equipment and replica equipment, anything that gave me details that might come in handy later. A few phone calls/e-mails to buddies gave me some more details that I couldn't verify on line. (Now if Shep just responds to my last e-mail.......). If anyone out there is planning on doing this bust, here are a few little gems that I found:

Uniform:
http://www.derrittmeister.com/home.htm#indextop
specifically the following page for Attila details:
http://www.derrittmeister.com/productpages/20145.htm  
Also: http://www.kaisersbunker.com/feldgrau/tunics/fgt03.htm

Shoulder Boards: Although primarily WWII, this page has "prewar" boards for the rank of generalfeldmarschall halfway down the page. Not specific to Von Mackensen but enough reference to apply the details needed.
http://www.themarshalsbaton.com/GFM%20and%20High%20Ranks.htm

Leib-hussaren Fur Busby:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo7abf/id61.html reproduction but nice examples.

Aiguilette:
http://www.derrittmeister.com/productpages/15534.htm
Cool site for references on the Pour le Merite:
http://www.pourlemerite.org/
Order of the Black Eagle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Black_Eagle
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross

So there you have a few interesting sites for reference on this subject. Once I gather enough info I use Microsoft Publisher to create a quick reference sheet to remind me of the highlights of my research. You could do the same with Word. This is what I created for this figure. If I need more detail or close-ups, I simply turn around and look at my computer files.

I even used a color swatch created by making a rectangle and setting the fill to the R:G:B: listing I found on a site for "feld-grau". I'm not convinced, as I've seen this uniform material for real before, but I also know that no two uniforms look alike in person or in photos so that will be where "artistic license" come in handy. I hope this post has been helpful for a few of the newer members of the hobby, maybe even for a few old hands like me. Now let's pick up the brushes, mix paint and have some fun! Next post, the face!

And Now For Something Completely Different!!

I have a few side projects going at the moment as the weather changes. Along with the previous posts that everyone has been following I am painting two subjects that may seem a bit different from what you all have begun to expect from me. Both will be subjects of regular posts here and my desire is to use them to focus on areas of our hobby that I haven't spent a lot of time discussing in the past.

The first piece is this nice little bust from SK Miniatures, sculpted by my friend Matt Springer. I'm not sure the age of this piece but I believe it to be one of SK's earliest releases. WWI has always interested me, especially the German transformation from a colorful Imperial force to the Feld-Grau Army that typified the Great War period. I have especially harbored a deep love for German WWI Aviation. So, that being said a piece like this is of great interest to me.

August Von Mackensen (6 December 1849 to 8 November 1945) was an interesting figure, coming from the heart of Imperial Germany, beginning his military career in the Franco-Prussian War and surviving to the end of WWII. He was a true German war hero who became a supporter of conservative monarchist political groups in the twenties. After Hitler's election, Von Mackensen became a symbolic figurehead for the Nazi party despite his monarchist beliefs. He was never truly trusted by party leadership however because of his past support of Hindenburg. One of his last highly visible public appearances was in full uniform at Kaiser Wilhelm II's 1941 funeral. Quite the dichotomy I must say.

The bust is cast in two resin parts, headgear and torso/head with two white metal castings for the Blue Max/Iron Cross and Peltzmutze cockade. The photos above show the kit assembled and primed, ready to begin. Assembly was simple and straightforward with just a small amount of clean up, typical of most resin kits. A round rosewood base from Thomas Art Bases was selected to offset the color tones of the finished bust.

The subject that I will focus on first is reference. This is possibly the single most important aspect to our hobby prior to ever exercising the artistic side of things. I take a lot of joy in the research as I am an avid reader and a bit of a fuss about getting things as close to "right" as possible. Instruction sheets and painted figure photos in kits are great but I NEVER rely solely on their use. In the case of this bust my research began on the Internet as I no longer have the wealth of research materials in my library that I used to own. This will be the focus of my next post but in the meantime here is the photo that I believe was used as Matt's reference for this sculpt.

What I found so fascinating about this picture and what draws me to this bust is just what I referenced in the beginning about my interest in this period. He is wearing a great mixture of old and new, with the fur busby of the 1st or 2nd Leib-Hussaren Regt. of which he had been a part, and the Attila or Hussar jacket being in the Feld-grau of the period. This won't qualify as an extremely colorful piece but it will be a mixture of tones and textures that I find visually appealing and historically important. I would like to think that was why Matt chose the subject, but that may be presumptuous of me.