Photo Booth for Models, Miniatures and Toys

title="Photo Booth for Models, Miniatures and Toys"alt="Photo Booth for Models, Miniatures and Toysphoto"

Other than painting clean models, my other weakness is photography! I used to take photos outdoors under the shade of the afternoon sun. Pretty good results as it is mostly sunny here ( Philippines ). I never had any fancy camera though ( as obvious with my gallery photos ) and I have always used my phone cameras for photography ( iphone4s, iphone5 and now iphone6 plus ).

I still use my iphone6 plus for all my photography needs, I did get a couple of photo booth domes to try to level up the quality of my photos a couple of weeks ago. Waiting to shoot under the sun is not the most convenient method of taking photos of models and miniatures, my photo booths are my only solution.

I have the bigger dome roughly the size of a kid's play tent ( 3.5 feet wide ). I use the big dome for Gunpla photography like the 1/48 " Dead Turtle " diorama below. I feel I lack enough lights to effectively use my big dome though... so I also got the small 1 foot dome which I love the most! I rarely do Gunpla these days so I get to use my small dome a lot. I have enough lights to light up the small dome and I am experimenting on different light set-ups as of the moment.

As I've said before, I never liked photography in general when I was growing up... Unlike drawing or painting, I felt you need more equipment to get better OR at least get to be known as a good photographer if you have more equipment ( or lenses )... It was and it is a rich man's craft. Never realized I would enjoy photography with a couple of domes and my phone camera.

Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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Star Wars Stormtrooper Figure verDC23

This is a project started way back April last year ( 2013 ) for a friend of a friend. My second out of retirement project that I was not able to finish on time. I would not be surprise if the client does not want the figure anymore ( Sorry Bro ). A couple of years of drama aside, I had fun working with this project.

The most challenging part of this build was the re-sculpting of the pose of the figure. I had to saw off the arms and legs and pin them in place. After pinning with copper rods, I had to sculpt arm pits and groin parts with Epoxy Putty and some Green Stuff. The painting was also a bit challenging as this was fully hand painted with Vallejo Model Colors and Washes. The hand painting was not a choice as my lone airbrush broke last year ( part of the reason I retired ).

The photo above shows the original state of the figure. I think I did a decent job re-posing it and an equally decent job hand painting this 12 inch figure. Hand painting white on such a big figure was not easy to say the least. Dang I need to get a new airbrush soon! The Vallejo washes worked like a charm! Would never trade those paints with anything else! Great stuff that produces better effects than the old enamel wash technique that dries in years!

 Anyways, below are more photos I took with my iPhone ( my camera also broke last year ). Hope you enjoy them. Thanks for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

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Ironman statue in progress

I thought I will go straight to painting this handsome Ironman statue, apparently I had to fix the pose a bit as it is not standing straight.

The figure is made of fairly soft white rubber. And due to the stress of the weight of the torso, the legs and ankle parts loosened up and it cannot hold a straight pose.

I had to reglue the ankle part and the left leg knee part and reinforce it with green stuff. The green stuff will harden much like the material of the figure and should help in maintaining a straight pose.

I also had to disassemble all the parts of the figure so that I could clean up those hard to reach areas in between the connecting pieces.

Once the green stuff hardens in an hour or so, I will then start to do battle damage painting on this lovely figure. As always I will be sealing all the painting with wipe and shine soon.

Stay tuned guys as I try to improve this already handsome figure. :)

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