First blood

This 54mm figure needs no introduction i think but for those of you there who have been living under a rock for the past thirty years this is John Rambo from the Andrea miniatures range. 


A little interesting note here is that in nowhere in the book ,First Blood, does the author David Morrell ever say that his first name was John. This was something invented by hollywood :). Oh, and anyone who has read the book will know that there could not possibly be a sequel to Rambo, let alone four films.


Anyway back to business. This is another figure that you cannot really let your imagination run wild when painting him and that's because you need to paint him, more or less, how he was in the film. 

First off i painted the base of the figure which in this case depicts a street scene. The street was coated grey and then giving a liberal drybrush with a mix of grey/white to create that worn, used street look. The manhole cover was painted bronze, given a black ink wash and then drybrushed with a mix of bronze/black to create that typical manhole colour that's standard to everywhere in the world i think.


The fire hydrant was given a dark red colour, then washed with brown ink and then drybrushed lightly again with the same red colour. Some parts of the hydrant were nicked with a metallic colour to create that used look where the paint has been worn off.

The jeans were done by covering it in a dark blue first and then drybrushing everything with a mix of that dark blue with some white. Then more white was added to the mix and drybryshed yet again in the areas where he would most likely have wear and tear, i.e thighs, knees, bum etc..


The shirt is done the same but with a dark green followed by a lighter green tone to finish.


The gun and boots were done exactly the same. That is paint it all black first, mix black and flesh tone and then drybrush it all over the area to create that black colour but with depth. 

The figure from the back view. The bullets were done by painting them all gold first and then just painting the tips with bronze.

And that's one Rambo ready to raise hell again :)

My first attempt: Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great  (from Art Girona) is the first of the military figures i did right after having polished my painting skills a bit with the Warhammer series (more of this later). 


I choose to use acrylic paint from Games Workshop to paint the 54mm metallic figure because they were easily accessible to me at that time.

I have to say that at this stage my knowledge of painting flesh tones and/or cloth was still in it's infancy. Also it is due to note that i also had a very limited range of paints and brushes that is why i painted his tunic yellow instead of the more royal purple that probably would have suited him better. 

The tunic was done using yellow as a main colour, then mixing the yellow with a tiny amount of brown for the depth in the cresses and finally white for the highlight on the raised areas.

The bronze is simply done with bronze as the main colour, washed with brown ink and then given a light dry brush of the same bronze. A bit of silver is used to create the light reflecting on the metal. 

The main body armour was very simple to achieve. A grey colour was dry brushed on it to capture the raised areas. It really was a delight to paint that bit. 

Note that at this stage the figure is done except for the base which as you can see below, benefited from a simple addition of sand and scorched grass. All available from the Warhammer series. 

The transformation is great with only a little sand and glue.

The red cloak was done in several steps. Red gore was done for the darker, shadow areas. Blood red for the main highlight/raised areas and to even further accentuate the shadows i used a bit of brown ink in the recess. 

The figure in it's wooden pedestal giving him an even more regal stature that i think Alexander deserves.