Small Scale Military Headquarters

I was kind of of disappointed with the Hacks 1/18 when they came out as there is not much in 1/18 Greek mythology out there. After looking at them closer I realized they were actually not bad sculpts and it was just the basic paint job I didn't like. I tried to customize a few and while painting I realized there is good detail there and the articulation has a wide range. I think if they would have a prestige line painted with more detail it would be a big seller. check these and see what you think - ( I am not a professional painter so they are not perfect ( added a little shield custom on two of them) but I think they look better...... thoughts ?

Your paint jobs are stellar! Articulation is a good thing though unfortunately, like in this case, the leg joints look more like some kind of robot or a human with prosthetics. Bare skin is difficult to make look real with articulation. I shake my head when I see the masterful jobs the guys in the local SSCC 1/6 scale club do with their figures with every possible historically accurate detail and accessory included. They have almost wax figure quality life-like head sculpts with very real looking eyes.....only to have toy-like mechanical joints exposed beyond the sleeve of a uniform. Kinda bursts the bubble.

Never heard about those Figures, I just found the website. they already have 6 wave of figures is already for pre-Order .

in here is the Link to the official website,

http://www.bossfightshop.com/collections/series-1

Axis, I agree with you on the articulation as well. I guess in this size they went with full movement over leg look and in their base blog paint it makes them look toyish. I was just more pleasantly surprised when I got down to the detail that under that basic paint there is actually a good sculpt with toe nails et all. These things do have 18 point articulations so they pose pretty good.

Skorzeny - I was a Kickstarter supporter of these guys that's where I found them - apparently 2-3 sculptors who worked on the marauders 90 mm venturing out. They apparently are moving to medieval Knight 1/18 coming that due o the armor the articulation is more hidden. I was just happy to see somebody bringing something new to the scale that wasn't total toy shelve. Maybe we can encourage them to do something with the hinge points and paint a bit more detail as they grow and eventually get them to the big WW11.

couple of more views - again forgive the flaws in my painting ( learning) just trying to show their sculpts.










This is what the base model paint job is when you purchase - they are like 19 usd each so a bit pricey - also in their concept drawings it looks like they might be playing with some ww11 although I think they did work for gijoe

I remember seeing a post on this site about a kickstarter program for these figures, nice to see it worked.
bradelaine13, there is nothing wrong with your painting, I like it.
I'd be very interested in WWII figures, at $20.00 a figure they'd have to be better than BBI's.

Impressive work. Thanks for sharing your customs.

My hesitation is always picking a paint approach that works. It seems like mine end up soft/sticky like the oil never completely dried or the paint chips and flakes over time (acrylic). Yours look fantastic and durable. What did you do?

Quite a few kickstarter campaigns working for toys... Chicken Fried Toys got their Dime Novel Legends line funded (personal friend created it, same sculptors as involved with HACKS, just waiting to get production moving along once Chinese New Year passes), as well as an Eagle Force line. Also, Marauder Gun Runners has a line of male and female figures that follows along with their already successful 1/18 weapons/accessories line.

Tack on things like Acid Rain (not crowd funded, but small/niche and "designer"), Hiya Toys' Aliens line, etc... Lot of cool stuff in the 1/18 world, if your wallet can stand it. Mine can, so I'm a happy camper.

Regarding paintjobs... Wanting better paint apps isn't very realistic. It's a labor-intensive step in manufacturing, something that adds significant cost, and unless the people applying the paint are artists, you'll never get "customizing" quality to the paint apps. You may get better, but I think HACKS and all these lines do pretty damn good.

At the end of the day though you're still buying a mass (even if smaller runs) produced toy, not individually hand-painted pieces of art. Customizers exist because that level of detail isn't going to happen otherwise.

Likewise I take the same stance on articulation... I'd sooner have it and notice it than not have it at all. Talk to Star Wars fans about that crap, and I put an emphasis on crap.

grunt1 wrote:My hesitation is always picking a paint approach that works. It seems like mine end up soft/sticky like the oil never completely dried or the paint chips and flakes over time (acrylic). Yours look fantastic and durable. What did you do?

Hey Grunt - I had that problem big time on the first one I tried (not pictured.) I used a combination of paints - games work shop citidal paint worked best for helmets and bronze. I used Vallejo acrillic for the flesh tones but I didn't like any of them so I mixed and made my own color painting it on my finger till it matched my real flesh which I used for the base flesh. I painted them all with a mat black base first. then I used very water downed combination of the small starter Vallejo and games workshop set I bought and built on layers very slowly - as in one layer at at time let completely dry - then another - probably 4 + layers on armor and most of the flesh. the helmets have about 5 layers on them starting with undercoat, bronze , rust, pantina, oxidized green , more bronze, dirt etc. to try and get that real bronze helmet look. When I did that it appeared to smooth out nicely and blend better then the first one that clumped up and chipped as you mentioned. then I added a Vallejo matt varnish / sealer on it by brush very light. Then I added a bit of weathering dust in some of the key areas to get the pantina look on the shields helmet chest plates some of the dirt etc. ( not sure if I mastered that yet as some sort of smeared a bit but I will say the actual blends look more subtle in real life than in the pictures which is a result of my crap photo taking with a flash, so from a blended fashion and wash it looks pretty good. I then decided to seal it again around fingers and joints , face, places that scratch or chip again with varnish to avoid just what you where talking of. after letting it sit a day. so it was a balance to build layers of fine paint up without it getting bulky but keeping it durable and sealing it . took about 8 hours a figure but I was learning as i went so probably should be able to go quicker. I need to learn a bit better as the face Shown looked much better before I added the last varnish where it separated the blending a bit too much but it allows me to take the helmet off and on without it scratching or peeling off. I did paint the face a bit strong so the eyes and shades would show through the helmet ( almost like putting movie make up and eyeliner on to show on camera ( not that I have ever done that) as the first face I painted and I think the ones from the manufacturer get lost when the helmet is on as they are too sutble. anyway that is how I did it for this first approach - they do seem pretty durable so far. IF anybody has any suggestions or tips on what is missing fire them over and I will try it out if I paint some more. I like some of the detail I did but I think I blended and layered the shields so much that the work was kinda of lost in final product unless you are holding the real thing in your hand. I need to learn how to make the wash and dry brushing/ weathering pop more I think.

Jesse James wrote:Quite a few kickstarter campaigns working for toys... Chicken Fried Toys got their Dime Novel Legends line funded (personal friend created it, same sculptors as involved with HACKS, just waiting to get production moving along once Chinese New Year passes), as well as an Eagle Force line. Also, Marauder Gun Runners has a line of male and female figures that follows along with their already successful 1/18 weapons/accessories line.

Tack on things like Acid Rain (not crowd funded, but small/niche and "designer"), Hiya Toys' Aliens line, etc... Lot of cool stuff in the 1/18 world, if your wallet can stand it. Mine can, so I'm a happy camper.

Regarding paintjobs... Wanting better paint apps isn't very realistic. It's a labor-intensive step in manufacturing, something that adds significant cost, and unless the people applying the paint are artists, you'll never get "customizing" quality to the paint apps. You may get better, but I think HACKS and all these lines do pretty damn good.

At the end of the day though you're still buying a mass (even if smaller runs) produced toy, not individually hand-painted pieces of art. Customizers exist because that level of detail isn't going to happen otherwise.

Likewise I take the same stance on articulation... I'd sooner have it and notice it than not have it at all. Talk to Star Wars fans about that crap, and I put an emphasis on crap.

I agree with your points jesse on paint and articulation. Although I do think at 20/ piece the BBI warriors of the world and schleich knights and even some 21 century figures had more character in their paint with some detail and shading effect. but agree I sure it adds a lot of cost. I will say these hacks have a lot of articulation. if they made some WW11 stuff where the uniform covered more of the points they would probably look quite smart and be highly articulate

You don't see a ton of the "paint wash" effect on things anymore. Acid Rain has it, but that was something you used to see on Hasbro Star Wars figures extensively for either weathering/damage or even just shading hair.

Without it, and as simple as that is, it definitely detracts. It's why 5POA Han from TFA looks off, to me. Shade the hair with a wash and he looks 10x better. Same with Director Krennic in the current 5POA line... I miss that stuff, but prices have soared and Hasbro's feeling it as much as anyone. Thus the line is 5POA. I'm hoping they hit a better balance (increasing paint apps/articulation) at a higher price than 5POA, but with less of the articulation than the TBS 4" figures have... That middle road for the line would help the line's health overall IMHO.