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God save the Queen

Posted by Santi Pérez on 12 Mar 2023, 20:15

This was my entry in the first Painting Competition I have ever participated in.

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As I already told in a rather extensive post my impressions about this my first experience, here I will limit myself to expose the development of the vignette from its origins to its conclusion, through a good collection of images.

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26256

(You must scroll down the page to find my post).

As I didn't think I would have enough time to produce a vignette with several figures, I had to choose only one, which was sufficiently representative of the subject I wanted to portray (a tribute to Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee through one of her Guards).

As it was clear to me that it was best to represent an officer, the next step was to choose which of the five regiments of the Foot Guards he would belong to.

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Remembering that I had in my photographic archives quite a few images of a Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace from a visit I made several years ago, in which the regiment involved was the Grenadier Guards, I decided that this would be my choice, as it is also the most senior regiment of all.

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Bearing in mind that, except for the old Airfix set, the British Foot Guards have never been produced in plastic in 1/72 scale, it was clear that it would be necessary for me to build the figure (my speciality, conversions). :mrgreen:

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This was the first occasion in which I was going to be able to use one of the latest Caesar Miniatures sets (Modern PRC PLA Troops), my admiration for which I had already expressed in a previous post, as well as its great potential to represent modern military figures in unusual poses such as standing at attention, presenting arms or saluting. Here I would have the chance to prove it for the first time.

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This was the chosen pose and the part of it I was going to use:

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But to complete it, I was also going to need a new right arm and left hand, a head with a fur cap, a right hand with sabre and its scabbard. These were the donors of those pieces.

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And this was the result once all the elements were placed and glued together:

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Then came the paint job, the most laborious for me, which I illustrate with the following sequence of images in my usual style: the figure seen from four angles in the three states of development (unpainted, primed and fully painted).

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Once the figure was finished, a suitable setting was now needed. I thought that a cobbled pavement and a brick wall in the background, where I could put up a poster alluding to the Royal Jubilee, would look good.

The pavement came from the Bush H0 pavement plastic sheets set, while the brick wall and the poster were downloaded from the Internet, adjusted to scale and printed on a self-adhesive paper sheet. The brick walls were adhered to both sides of a sheet of thin cardboard. Also following my habit of adding an animal to my dioramas and vignettes, I chose a gecko from the Bush H0 set of small animals.
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I painted both the ground and the wall (this one only on its front face) with several green tones, trying to represent the large amount of moss and other vegetation of the usual rainy climate in London (although this was not exactly the predominant one last July :shock: ). The poster and gecko were added at that time.

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It only remained to add the figure to the setting and this was the final result.

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Sorry for the long length of this post, thanks for watching and I hope you like it. :-D

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by blacksmith on 12 Mar 2023, 20:52

I envy your sharpness in painting, amazing.
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blacksmith  Spain
 
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Posted by steve_pickstock on 12 Mar 2023, 21:12

Incredible, painstaking work.
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steve_pickstock  England
 
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Posted by Konrad on 12 Mar 2023, 21:39

It wasn't difficult to recognize your fig.
You have your very own style.
I know it's not easy to make a new one out
of many parts from different figs.
I admire your dedication to every detail,
and your clean and precise way of working.
And a few well-made pictures complete the whole thing.
A real Santi.
Well done! :thumbup:
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Konrad  Germany
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Posted by Rich W on 13 Mar 2023, 00:22

A brilliant contribution Santi. And thank you for including the work in progress photo for it.
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Posted by Bill Slavin on 13 Mar 2023, 00:55

Great stuff, Santi! I love seeing the process as well, although I have to confess how the French grenadier bearskin and Modern PRC PLA Troops torso became what they did in your guard escapes me!
And are there really geckos on the walls in England? :-D
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Bill Slavin  Canada

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Posted by Bessiere on 13 Mar 2023, 03:48

I thought I recognized that sword! Brilliant work Santi. You have a precision to your sculpting and painting that is unreal. Excellent work.
Cheers.
Bessiere
Bessiere  United States of America
 
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Posted by Susofrick on 13 Mar 2023, 09:29

You have a very lovely and personal style. It is hard not to recognize your work. It was great to see this in a competition. I loved it a lot. have done some competitions, but I realize I never going to win so I just have fun looking at what I meet. Hope this wasn't the last entry from you.
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Susofrick  Sweden
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Posted by C M Dodson on 13 Mar 2023, 14:30

Very nice indeed.

You are giving Egbert, the conversion king a run for his money!

Best wishes ,

Chris
C M Dodson  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by Ben90 on 13 Mar 2023, 15:58

Wonderful work... I would have never guessed, this figure is a conversion!
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Ben90  Germany
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 13 Mar 2023, 16:37

Great conversion and painting Santi, and thanks for the detailed explanation of the work, having one figure from 6 different donours is not only finest capability, but also huge research to find the proper hand, leg etc....
lots of compliments !
Enrico
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Iceman1964  Italy
 
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Posted by Peter on 13 Mar 2023, 23:10

First of all thank you for joining the competition! It was great to have you in it with this marvellous figure! :thumbup:

And also thank you for this topic that shows us how it was made! My respect Santi! This is something I will never manage! :notworthy: :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Minuteman on 14 Mar 2023, 14:45

A very fine conversion and a very convincing-looking Guards officer. The painting on such a small figure is very precise and neat. Great work Santi!
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Minuteman  United Kingdom
 
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Posted by MABO on 14 Mar 2023, 16:14

Thanks for all the backstage info about your cool entry. I didn't realize that it was a conversion. :oops:
I thought it was a figure from your visit in London.
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MABO  Europe
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 16 Mar 2023, 21:48

As always, thanks a lot for your kind words, my friends. :oops:

blacksmith wrote:I envy your sharpness in painting, amazing.

steve_pickstock wrote:Incredible, painstaking work.

Bessiere wrote:...You have a precision to your sculpting and painting that is unreal...

Minuteman wrote:The painting on such a small figure is very precise and neat...

Phew, do you understand why my projects always progress so slowly? The initial part of designing the vignette/diorama and making/converting the figures is usually quick and easy, but then I get really stuck in the painting part. :sweatdrop:

Sometime in the future I will have to make a dishonest proposal to Ben90: that he should paint one (or more) of my converted figures. I love his style. Not for nothing is he a regular winner of the golden brush in the painting competitions. ;-)

Konrad wrote:It wasn't difficult to recognize your fig.
You have your very own style...A real Santi...

Susofrick wrote:You have a very lovely and personal style. It is hard not to recognize your work...

Do you now also understand why I said that I couldn't be Mr. X or any of his rivals in the painting duels? Everyone would know that the figures are mine and that would influence the voting. :mrgreen:

Konrad wrote:...I admire your dedication to every detail,
and your clean and precise way of working.
And a few well-made pictures complete the whole thing...

Rich W wrote:...And thank you for including the work in progress photo for it.

Bill Slavin wrote:...I love seeing the process as well...

Peter wrote:...And also thank you for this topic that shows us how it was made!...

I'm glad you like the illustrated explanation of the whole process of developing the figure and the vignette. Don't forget that I am a Secondary School teacher and I use to giving my students the clearest and most complete explanations possible so that they learn a lot and learn well. :winky:

Konrad wrote:...I know it's not easy to make a new one out
of many parts from different figs...

C M Dodson wrote:...You are giving Egbert, the conversion king a run for his money!...

Ben90 wrote:Wonderful work... I would have never guessed, this figure is a conversion!

Iceman1964 wrote:Great conversion and painting Santi, and thanks for the detailed explanation of the work, having one figure from 6 different donours is not only finest capability, but also huge research to find the proper hand, leg etc...

MABO wrote:...I didn't realize that it was a conversion. :oops:
I thought it was a figure from your visit in London.

I think it's clear that I enjoy doing figure conversions, don't you? Actually, it's very rare that I use and paint a figure in the same original state as it comes in its box. :lol:

I suggest you an idea as a moderator, Peter: How about a new section in the Competitions & Duels section? Its title could be Conversions Competition. In this one I might have a chance to win, hahaha.

Bill Slavin wrote:...I have to confess how the French grenadier bearskin and Modern PRC PLA Troops torso became what they did in your guard escapes me!...

You're absolutely right, Bill. I forgot to take pictures of the first phase of the converted figure, the one where all the elements are just put together. I must say that all these components are stripped of their original details with a modelling blade to leave a completely clean surface before gluing them together. The pictures I have taken and posted show the figure after all the final details necessary for the painting process have been added to the surface using white wood glue, my usual modelling material.

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I will try to include those pictures in future works. ;-)

Bill Slavin wrote:...And are there really geckos on the walls in England? :-D

You are right also on this appreciation, Bill. I have researched that the natural distribution of the common gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) extends over the Mediterranean region, including southern Europe, Mediterranean islands and North Africa, but not England. An unforgivable failure in a Biology teacher, theoretically a specialist in Zoology. :lol:

My warmest greetings to you all, my friends.

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by Wiking on 17 May 2023, 19:11

What an impressive combination of parts from other figures to create one ! ! !

TOP only TOP !
I am impressed by your work and usual Santi painting style.

:yeah:
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Posted by chen on 18 May 2023, 16:38

It's amazing to see such amount of effects being devoted to such a simple subject yet to create such an artistically rich effect. Well done indeed.
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chen  China
 
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 18 May 2023, 18:54

Thank you very much for your so kind comments, Wiking and chen. It's an honour for me to receive them coming from masters like you. ;-)

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by PatrickJ71 on 20 May 2023, 09:18

Amazing conversion, Santi.
Incredible how you select parts of all kinds of different figures and put them together and make it look as if it was an original figure.
Clean painting and the rest of the vignette looks very nice too.
Thanks for sharing.
Patrick.
PatrickJ71  Belgium
 
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 21 May 2023, 19:31

PatrickJ71 wrote:...Incredible how you select parts of all kinds of different figures and put them together and make it look as if it was an original figure...

Thanks so much, Patrick. In fact, the final homogeneous look of the figure before painting is due to the use of white glue to fill all the gaps between the different glued parts and to add all the details of the figure (ears, buttons, straps, etc.). :mrgreen:

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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