The Adventures of Frank & Lily

Down here, we are in lock down.

My hotel is closed indefinitely, and was one of the first to close since we catered to the Italian market.

So I decided to work on the ‘shelf-of-shame’, in my hobby room.  The first old project that caught my eye was ‘The Adventures of Frank & Lily’.  I am primarily a modeler and I specialize mostly on dioramas.

Since I’ve been so busy with painting armies (maybe you saw my 1/72 Romans and Britons), I though this would be a relaxing experience and something to take my mind off the troubles

This was a project I started as a homage to my beloved grandparents who have now passed away, and yes, they are the old couple in the title picture.

I remember seeing the figures below at Hasslefree, and the idea came straight to my mind like a download.

So I will post the first progress pics later on this week.  I hope you are interested in this endeavor and if so stay tuned.

The first step was to prime the whole model.  For this I use a Tamiya spray can primer called ‘Mr Surfacer’.  This primer is excellent if sanding is necessary to remove imperfections.

After priming, comes what I call the foundation.  That is choosing the base colours that will define the tone of the model.

As you can see from the pics above, I have started to add some washes to map out how I want to progress.  This will be more evident as the work continues.

So this is all I had time for, as internet services here are fluctuating in reliability.  In order to post I have to travel on foot to my work place and post there.

Therefore, I will post sometime on Friday.  Until then goodbye and stay safe.

NR

The painting is done.  After blocking in the colours I wanted for my scheme, I went ahead and started to add highlights and lowlights, washes and glazes.  The best way to explain it is like doing a painting – adding and subtracting colour, intensifying or softening contrasts until the piece looks right.

When everything was done, I added even more contrast to the stairway, because it seemed a bit bland.  I also went ahead and added some green and brown washes to inject some interest into the structure.

Maybe Sunday or Monday I will post again.  The next step is to add the roots! Until then, stay safe.

NR

In this step I started the laborious work of adding roots to the ruins.  All the the roots are real dried roots.  Some of them were painted where necessary, especially around the outer stairway were I had to cut roots up and join them.  In that case a bit of paint helped to blend the work together.

In the last picture, I have placed Frank (Conran) just to give an idea how the whole thing will pan out eventually.  Lily and her tiger will be on the top part.

Now the next step is the part I enjoy the most, that is placing in the vegetation.  I will probably post this on Thursday, as I have problems with the internet service and I have to walk to work in order to post.

Until then keep hobbying and stay safe.

NR

Adding vegetation is my favorite step in building a diorama.  It takes time and patience and a little bit of research.

In this project I did not want to create ‘real’ vegetation, but fantastical ones.  In fact, some of them are constructed.

Well that is now done.  It is time for the hard part, that is, painting of the figures.  I will start with Conran and then move on to the big cat.  I will leave the woman till last – because painting females is always difficult.

Until next post, please stay safe and keep on hobbying.

NR

Hi everyone,

I stopped working on the diorama for two weeks in order to paint up a small Concord force for Beyond the Gates of Antares.  My club doesn’t play this game anymore, so I have to decided to paint it up and sell it and with the proceeds buy the new Code One box set.

In the meantime, I have finished up painting Conran to a decent showcase standard.  I haven’t painted up showcase pieces for as long as I have not done dioramas.  The passed year I have been working on my 1/72 Romans and Britons.

I also started the tiger.  I have cleaned it up, put it together, primed it and painted the basic colours.  I have decided to go with a Krieger look from He-Man.

That is all for today.  I will post the tiger up probably next Monday.  Until then take care and stay healthy.

NR

Hi everyone,

I have finally finished my little diorama dedicated to my grandparents.  I wanted to get this ready for the Spring Cleaning Challenge, but I needed to work on my 15mm Dwarf army and my 1/72 French Napoleonic army – and those took up most of my time.

These army diversions forced to me to put 2 diorama projects and a single display miniature on the back burner.  But I managed to work on this project over the passed two weeks, and I finally put it all together.

The story I am trying to tell is about an odd adventuring couple who tend to stumble into adventures and danger.  As you can see from the pictures below, the two are staring into the distance, but are unaware they are about to get an ugly surprise!

I hope you all like it.

NR