Gaugamela 331BC
90MM PEGASO ‘HYPASPISTIS’
The kit…
…represents a Greek Hypaspisti of Alexander’s army during the battle of Gaugamela 331 BC. He is wearing a typical muscle cuirass reinforced with two rows of pteruges at the lower part. He is wearing a Thracian type bronze helmet with side protections covered with engraved decorations looking like beard and cover all of his face. He is in an aggressive position ready to attack to his enemy.
The kit comes in 10 white metal pieces including a scenic base. The moulding is once again at Pegaso’s high standards making easy for a beginner modeller to work with. The mould lines are kept to minimum (no need for filing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but there is a small need for filler on the back of the figure at the point where the torso meets the hips!!!!
The boring bit...
I removed the few mould lines using wet sand paper and wash all the parts with hot water and dish washing liquid, after which I let them dry naturally for a day. Alternative you can place them near a radiator (for winter periods) or place them in the oven at the lowest temperature for about 10 – 15 minutes.
For extra security I always use paper clip wires for the arms and heads of a figure. So, paper clip wire was inserted in the two arms and right hand for security and easy handling during painting.
With the parts secured on pieces of wood and on a fully ventilated space i used Plastic-Kote Super Primer (1148 grey) as a primer, and set the figure aside for at least 24 hours to dry completely (time to continue with the other project ha, ha).
Try to avoid small enclosed rooms to use the spray as you don’t want to inhale the spray fumes. Dry to spray outside in the garden or if don’t have one open as much windows and doors you can. Also use newspaper’s sheet to cover the area you will spray.
Let the fun begin...
For the flesh parts (face, hands and legs) an undercoat of a mixture of Shinny Skin Tone, Vermillion and English Uniform from the Vallejo (refer to Va for the rest of the article) acrylic color range was applied followed by an oil base color consisting of 5 parts of Tint Flesh, 2 parts Mars Yellow and 1 part Titanium White. The excess oil was wiped out using a clean soft brush leaving a thin layer of color on the figure. The first were applied using pure Titanium. The highlights were applied by using a fine brush (usually 00 or 000) and applying the color in small dots (the size of a pinhead) and then using a soft brush taping to paint and trying to blend them together. For the shadows Mars Brown was used under the nose, around the eyes, under the lower lip, under the neck and around the hair. The following day I came back to add more highlights using again Titanium White this time though applied wet-on-dry the same way as the first highlights. The same procedure was followed for all the flesh parts (hands and legs).
The eyes were blocked using an off white color (mixture of white and a bit of black) with the iris painted brown. A 2 o’clock shine dot added with white. Avoid to block the eyes with pure white as it doesn’t look natural and avoid painting the iris black go for a brownish color instead.
Armour, helmet and greaves……
Aiming for an almost shinning bronze effect and I hope I achieved it. For the bronze protected plates on the cuirass Games Workshop acrylic Dwarf Bronze was used as a base coat followed by a coat of Burned Umber oil straight from the tube. The excess was removed after a couple of hours using cotton buds. After it was dry for a couple of hours a dry brushed the whole armour with Vallejo Gold.
The helmet and greaves were painted with the same way. An additional blue stripe was painted on the helmet based on the box art to give a bit of color to the figure.
Tunic…
The tunic was painted using Vermillion, Buff and Black (Va) mixture. For the highlights more Flat Yellow was added while for the shadows more Black was added. After it was dry a wash of Cadmium Red and Ivory Black was applied sparingly.
Hoplon (shield)…
The design I chose for the hoplon (shield) comes from a painting I found ages ago surfing the internet (to be honest it must be at least 2 years since I copied it) and it depicts the Medusa head surrounded by snakes!!! Black was used as the base color and by using several layers of dry brushing a more used shield was achieved.
The head was copied using a sharp pencil on the already dried shield and several acrylic colors were used to paint it. It is not easy to explain what colors and what mixtures I used as it will be to confusing. Just find a good reference photo and experiment with color mixtures, good luck!!!!
Ground Force...
For the base I used a plinth from Armstrong Bases. The base provided with the figure was glued and extended using milliput. Several brawn colors were mixed together to produce an earthy sandy color. Several washes and dry brushing with lighter colors followed until I was satisfied with the final result.
When the base dried the figure was glued on and brownish pastels merged the base and the figure together.
That’s all folks!!!!!! I have to say I really enjoyed painting this figure. I am amazed with the quality of Pegaso kit, easy to build, not much filling and sanding………… excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
