right, lets kick off this crazy project...mind you it will take several months to get everything done, if i ever finish it at all ;)








unlike the 1/32scale romans where i hand painted one figure at a time, here i used air brush to speed up work, plus im doing 10 figures at a go.
the figures are 1st spray painted with flesh



the initial paint job..they will be high lighted with dilute gunze black



the high lighted figures


they are given a light wash of oilpain mix ... black + burn sienna + linseed oil + minyak tanah. let it dry for an hour then give a second wash



after the 2nd wash.













these horses are given an overall spray of black


charriots with light spray of dark wood on black base


horses give their coat....spray paint with various colour of white grey, dark brown, red brown


i use a 50psi compressor for the green paint work

Hi ari,

Great project! Love to see it finished. How big will the battle scene be?

Min

Coming along nicely. Should be a very impressive scene even if you finally manage to do a portion of it. Well done by giving some degree of individualism to the individual hoplite by varying their tunic and Pteruges strip colors. For me even cleaning the flash would be a huge challenge in itself much less painting at such small scales.

I understand at the small scales one has to really push the contrasts, so heavy washes are the norm.

Looking forward to seeing more.

haha...i dont really how big its gonna be, as i havent really thought about it or dare think about it, but i do have problems with depth...i would really like to place the 256 figures in a compact formation, 10 figures deep but it seems i cant do this as with ofb figures.
whatever it is ..the dio will be at least 30 inches in lenght,

yup i did some indepth research of the tunics worn by alexander's army, it seems theres no standard or uniform colour, each hoplites or in my case the phalangites wore what they could afford..and that means what they could plunder. colourwise..the favourite colour at that time is purple from indigo dye, an expensive import from the east. other expensive colours are pink and claret , so are flowery cloths...guess the 60s hippies got the flower power ideas from alex's army :rolleyes:

i did alot of mistake on the first 12 figures...especially on the tunic colour and unclean flash, well the next 12 will be an improvement .
lucky this set from zveda doesnt come with too much flash, just a little , but they have to be clean anyhow..no short cuts from now


yup contrast makes or break a 1/72figure, the wash should be on the heavy side, but i avoid any dry brushing, i believe this will make the matter worse

chariot and horses before wash



after 1st wash...



fresh wash, a bit heavy on linseed oil ...too shinny , well this will fade within 2 to 3 days



Allied troops....usually native army or mecenaries serving alexander

I guess I've the same interest on doing research to match the historical refernce upon building a model ;)

instead of trying to finish off the lot factory production style i decided to take my time and give the figures a more accrute finish. the first thing i did was to find suitable colours for that period, instead of standard red , i used russet, a more brownish red, considering the fact that dye in those days are not as durable as it today, russet will give that faded red look, after all i doubt soliders back then will go into battle wearing brand new red tunic
another thing i avoided is to use sliver colour, this is the 3rd century bc, the weapons and armour are made of bronze, so anything sliver is out

finished minus wash

after 1st wash





after 2nd wash

This grand scale project is coming along very well. The variations in colors give the standard poses more variety and make them more interesting especially when they are placed in formation.

I'm not too sure about silver colored armor though. I remember reading that iron was available at that time or even much earlier although bronze which was more available was used instead. I'll go home today to check it out.

I commend you on your effort. Just painting even 10 of these figgies without the variation you have given them at this scale would knock me out for the week. :)

well, beachbum, its not so hard painting those figures, the main thing is to enjoy doing it...dont take it as you have to finish them.
A modeler's worst enemy is a split mind...sort like you have so many unbuild kits or projects that you thinking about them while you are building the present one.
just take your time , no rush or any dateline. i know this guy from sweden who took 10 years to super detail his 1/350scale USS Enterprise.


ok back to the project. here is the second batch of figures. they certainly do not look as colourful as the 1st batch, due to the colour selection, no more bright red or any modern colours, just keeping to the dule historical colours

another thing i discovered is...soliders back then would usually paint their faces with colour paste...i did this on some of the figures, well did my best not to over do it, at 1/72scale it certainly not easy

after painting


a thick wash is given and allowed to dry 1 hour before cleaning them with a soft cloth

wow.. a grand project...

i could only think of 1 thing that might help boost the spirit to complete this... a round of the game Rome Total War.. a great reference but of course you need to be a game-nut to really enjoy the game since it was quite hard... :D

anyway... keep up the good work... i'm no-figure guy but will eyeing this one.. :)

kuman

yup brader ..i big game fan especially war games...okay i ll try Rome Total War...if i could get my hands on one..thanks

Light infantry.


these are light infantry known as Psiloi...they wore light armour or none at all. they are usually mercenaries or native army serving Alexander.



i used a different method to paint the lace armour, as one would with armour on samurai warriors, 1st paint a black base , then dry brush with gold






the lace were painted twice. u need a very good brush and a steady hand. i use Rembrandt no.0 red sabre hair,a pretty expensive brush but then the ease of paint flow is worth every cent paid for this brush





the figures are allowed to dry overnight before the application of wash


close up on the painted face ..its very tempting to paint them all...but i try not to over this

heres what i have completed so far....guess i take a break , im begining to get that overdrive feeling...the sort that will make a model turn bad

My word!!

The painting, the painting!!! Man I sure envy your patience and choice of scale. Very colorful indeed.

Just having a collection of these jems is enough. No need to put them in a scene but can you imagine them arranged in fighting formation...phew! I always marvel at the detail that's put into these little guys at wargamers shops and now I see it first hand here evolving from plain plastic pieces to these little individual masterpieces.

Great eye candy.

Richard.

OK..BACK TO WORK...after 3 weeks of holiday, hehehe


psloi infantry ...in a defensive mode, as these guys are place right up front of Alexander's army, as none greek , in the general's mind they are expenable and needless to say they took the brunt of the opening Persian attack and suffered heavy casualty.







Greek infantry...these are from Zveda, an old kit, not too bad. but im not happy with old style way of moulding the shield and the figure into 1 piece...its truly ugly if seen from the sides. this kit includes light and heavy infantry.


light infantry before shading and wash