Austrian Pikeman
In this short article I will try to show how I painted a historical figure in 1/72 scale. As a model, I used a pikeman from the Zvezda set 8061 17th century Austrian Musketeers and Pikemen. Zvezda is one of the most famous producers of plastic 1/72 figures and plastic models in general of highest quality, and the set of figures itself is very suitable for making a diorama of the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683.
To start, the figure needs to be separated from the sprue with sharp hobby pliers. Care must be taken not to damage the figure. Therefore, it is better to cut away from the figure, and later cut off the excess sprue with a sharp hobby knife (for example no. 11). This is followed by the removal of mouldlines, and it is recommended to wash the figure in warm water with the addition of soap or dish detergent. Such figures are produced by injecting plastic into metal molds. To make the plastic easier to separate, the molds are coated with a mold releaser. Traces of this oil-like agent remain behind on the figure and can cause the primer and color not to be adhere well to the surface of the figure. Therefore, washing the figure is highly desirable.
After the washed figure has dried, I fastened it to a plastic stopper with "patafix" and painted it with a gray primer from Army Painter. When the primer had dried, I coated the whole figure with a layer of Nuln Oil wash (GW) and let it dry again. The wash itself did not have as much of a "preshading" role as I wanted it to highlight details on the figure that I would have to paint later. This step is not so necessary, but it makes painting easier.
After the figure was prepped, I applied the base colors to the figure. As a reference, I used an illustration and an example of a colored figure on a box (boxart) which greatly shortened my search process for historical literature. The colors I used are Flat Red + Black Red (sleeves and feathers), Medium Blue (pants), Black (hair, beard and shoes), Gunmetal (armor, helmet, sword and spearhead), Basic Skintone (face), Leather Brown + Biege Brown (gloves), Bone White + Biege Brown (socks), Biege Brown + Orange Brown (pike). All paints are from the Vallejo Model or Game Color series. Leather Brown paint from Revell was used for the straps.
I then applied Reikland Fleshshade (GW) to the skin and Agrax Earthshade (GW) to the brown parts. All other parts (metal, red, blue) I coated with Nuln Oil. Already after this step, the figure took on a satisfying appearance that will be enough for some wargamers to play. However, I decided to do two "highlights" for each color (except black). I got the "highlights" by lightening the above colors, with the second "highlight" covering a smaller area than the first (layering). The glazing technique for coloring was out of the question because the figure is quite small. Eventually, I arranged the base and coated the figure with a layer of varnish. I mixed matte varnish (Pebeo) and satin varnish (Ammo by Mig) and diluted it a bit with water.
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