Wansui's Sohei miniatures

[Wansui]

I notice my pile of lead has grown from a molehill to a mountain thus I decided I would at least paint up all of my samurai miniatures.

As this is my first time painting I feel as if I climbed over another hurdle I hope they don't disappoint.

The miniatures are a mix of Old Glory,Perry and Steel Fist.

I used Vallejo model paints and Army painter strong tone quickshade and anti shine spray.






Next on my to do list is to paint my Assault group Sohei and finish the noboris.

[Steel fist]

For a first attempt you should be pleased, it's a brave person to take on samurai as their fist painting project. Good to see you have tackled the lacing too.
Keep it up!

[von Lucky]

First time painting? We all start somewhere, you've started a little further ahead than most. Keep it up.

[carlos13th]

Hey mate I remember chatting to you a while back. (Ok I had to go through my pm's to confirm.) thanks for your help with armour styles so far.

Glad you are making progress on your lead pile.

Lacing is a nightmare to paint as a beginner isn't it isn't it? I got half way through my first samurai miniture then didn't touch it for weeks because I had no idea how to do the lacing.

Can't wait to see your further work and see how you improve.

[Wansui]

Thank you for the support gentlemen, as a beginner any kind of encouragement or criticism is welcome.

I have no idea how to paint eyes,do painters usually ignore them or try to paint them as I've seen horrendous and beautiful results.

Carlos13th indeed lacing is a pain I think I need to buy a smaller brush or somehow train my hands to be steady

My Gakken books have been collecting dust if anyone needs help researching or just want to look at the pictures feel free to contact me.

[carlos13th]

I don't paint eyes yet. I just hit some wash into the eye sockets to darken them.

I would recommend you use a dry brush to wipe up some areas and stop the dip you used pooling on the surface. For example the brown mark on the face of the first guy kind of extends from the eye down the the cheek. Getting some of that off the highest points of the miniature might help define the face more.

I actaully found it harder with a smaller brush. I found it easiest with a small but not tiny brush with a very fine point.

Dont happen to have anything about Kojima Yataro in there do you?

[skip]

excellent first try at painting samurai, for lacing i use a 000 brush for more control or a brush with a very fine point, also with army painter you can take off some of the varnish or control the areas that you want the varnish to stay with white spirit/ terps, just dabbing the areas with a small brush, hope this helps

brian

[Wansui]

My wip Kato Kiyomasa

[Wansui]

Finished up a Perry Samurai and a Assault Group Sohei

I have decided to switch from Army Painter Anti Shine to Daler-Rowney Cryla Soluble Acrylic Matte Varnish as the Army Painter Anti Shine was making my paints crackle.

[von Lucky]

Good idea. They do look a little shiney.

A trick is to paint from the inside (ie recesses) first and work your way to the outside (ie protrusions on the miniatures) last. If for whatever reason you don't/can't do this, you should go back and touch up little bits you painted one colour that you didn't mean to. For example on the horse, you painted some of the blue Munagai (breast strap) white.

[Wansui]

Good idea. They do look a little shiney.

A trick is to paint from the inside (ie recesses) first and work your way to the outside (ie protrusions on the miniatures) last. If for whatever reason you don't/can't do this, you should go back and touch up little bits you painted one colour that you didn't mean to. For example on the horse, you painted some of the blue Munagai (breast strap) white.

Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate any feedback as I'm just a beginner.

I will definitely fix up the munagai.

[von Lucky]

No problems - that's what we're here for. YouTube should have a few painting tutorials for beginners, but I have no recommendations unfortunately.

[Wansui]

After a long hiatus spent in Taiwan and mainland China I've managed to paint up No. 283004 Ma Chao from Wen Ding miniatures.



My only complaints are the spears are quite brittle and will snap with the slightest pressure,and spearheads resemble GW thickness therefore I've taken the liberty to replace the spear with a Perry nagae yari.




Left to right: Perry,Assault Group,Wen Ding

Compared with other companies the horse and rider is noticeably bulkier,unfortunately I lack a steel first cavalrymen to compare them with.



In various stages of completion:Perry,North Star,Kingsford,Wen Ding,Steel Fist

As for the historicity of the Ma Chao model it seems to based on a generic "Chinese" armor rather than the Three Kingdoms.

The Suan Ni helmet (狻猊兜) origin is an statue unearthed in Luoyang made in the Tang dynasty,the Suan Ni is a legendary chimeric dragon/Chinese lion who is the 5th son of the dragon,the only reference to Ma Chao wearing such a helm dates to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Mountain scale armor(山文鎧) dates towards the late Tang,seeing the most use during the Song and reserved for generals of ceremonial outfits during the Ming,though curiously it did not spread to any other countries.

As for the animal motifs on the breastplates and pauldrons they existed though elites were the one that could afford the decorations.

[rumacara]

For a first time, your painting is not bad at all.
Keep it coming and keep practising.

One tip. Since you take pictures do try and loose some time studying them for they give us a lot of information on mistakes we make and usually dont see sow easy. By increasing the size of the image you see details missing or badly painted.
I do a lot of that to correct myself.
I do paint eyes but sometimes they look big and other times they are ok.
You can always correct them with a little paint on the excess areas.

[carlos13th]

I dont bother with eyes yet. Not going to worry about them until I am better at making sure the paint goes where I want it too. Looks like your getting better at getting the paint where you want it but its still looking a little thick in places. Keep at it. Every one you do you will learn a little more on.