ALEXANDER the GREAT
75mm Pegaso ‘Alexander the Great’
Born in 356 B.C. in Macedonia Greece, son of King Fillip and Quinn Olimpias ruler of the whole known world by the age of 33. A lot have been written about the life and the accomplishments of Alexander the Great so I think it is a waste of time to try to reproduce any of them.
THE KIT
The kit comes in the typical Pegaso white metal at 75mm. Inside the box there are 11 pieces in a protective foamy material including a small scenic base in two pieces (didn’t use them, see below). The scene consists of Alexander based on Collin Farrell who plays Alexander in the movie holding his helmet in one hand in a very relaxing pose. The art work of the box represents Alexander after a battle (probably near Egypt – as it can be seen from the inscriptions on the base). The photo on the box of the finished model is enough to give some ideas on how to paint this kit. I used acrylic paints from Vallejo (VA) range as the base colors for Winsor & Newton (WN) Oils. At the end of the article there is a color chart of the colors used.
Ok then let’s start have some fun……
THE BORING PART: PREPARATION……
A. Laruccia has done a superb job with this figure, even if it is in an artistic static pose. I used files and sand paper to file away gates and a few (thankfully) mold seams. As I said earlier there are not so many mould lines to get rid of making the job easier especially for me because I hate sanding and filling.
After all parts were cleaned using a hand drill I drilled and pined them on a piece of wood using paper clips for easy painting access. I use Plastic-Kote Super Primer (1148 grey, you can buy it from any local hardware shop), and set them aside for 24 hours.
HAVING FUN: FACE AND FLESH PARTS…
For the flesh parts an undercoat of acrylic color was applied followed by an oil base color of which the excess was wiped out using a clean soft brush. I always use an acrylic undercoat as it gives a good base for oil paints to follow. By wiping the excess of the oil paint the first highlights and shadows can be seen on the figure providing a guide for their later application. The wet-on-wet technique was used for the first highlights and shadows (allowing at least an hour after the first color was applied), followed by the wet-on-dry technique the following day for the second highlights and shadows. Both highlights and shadows were applied by using a fine brush (usually 000 or 0000) and applying the color in small dots (the size of a pinhead) and then using a larger soft brush mix them together.
For the hair an undercoat of burned umber was used followed by flat yellow highlights and a final wash of burned umber oil.
The same procedure was followed for all the flesh parts (arms and legs).
CUIRASS & TUNIC…
For the cuirass I was looking to obtain a dirty white look. Acrylic white was applied as a base color followed by a mixture of titanium white and a small amount of burned umber with the excess removed using a dry flat brush. More burned umber was used to put more dirt on the cuirass. The fittings and decorations were depicted using red and bronze acrylic colors. For the protected steel plates mithril silver was used followed by a wash of ivory black, which after a couple of hours was removed using cotton buds.
The same colors were used for the tunic and the shirt.
The blood stains on the shirt and cuirass were represented with cadmium red mixed with a touch of ivory black. The first layer was very thin color blended on the surface using a soft brush to imitate blood stain. Additional red color mixture was used on top of the first layer to imitate fresh blood.
CLOAK AND BOOTS…
The cloak is a straight forward peace to be painted; in the color chart the colors used can be seen. As I wanted to give it a cloth look I adopted a technique described in Military Modelling Volume which is as follows. After a layer of white acrylic was dry the entire clock was covered with pure Vandyke brown oil with the excess removed using a clean soft brush. After a couple of hours pure titanium white was used for the highlights. The more layers of titanium white used the brighter the cloak will become. I hope that it makes sense and the clock looks like cloth!!!
The same technique was used on the boots as well with the lasses painted red.
After all pieces were glued together using five minute epoxy glue it was time for the…
BASE…
For the base I used a plinth from Armstrong Bases purchased in an earlier model show. As I wanted to depict Alexander in a Greek environment I didn’t used the base provided by Pegaso. So, I drilled two holes for the pins already glued on the figure’s legs and used polyfilla to create the terrain. After it was dry with the used of a screw-driver I engraved the stones and add a few cracks on them. Several gray colors were mixed together to produce an stone color. Oil paint washes and dry brushing with lighter colors followed until I was satisfied with the final result. For the column I used stands used to support wedding cake layers. They come in a packet of 4 for just £2.99, just cut two in half glue them together and here it is, some color was added on the top and lower part of the column just to make it more interesting in the eye followed by several washes of burned umber.
