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venerdì 24 maggio 2013

Review: Joe Petrosino - Terrible Kids Stuff by Sergeant BlackArt

Hello Guys

Today we open together, for the first time, a Terrible Kids Stuff model by Sergeant Blackart.

By few months I got this package in my desk, given to me directly by the hands of Lance Corporal Vittorio of S-Team.
I never opened it before, maybe due by the dangerous sticker on the package,
But more possible due by my lack of time.
So now I'll make it directly for the review.

The package looks like this

It's a very nice replica of a wooden box for weapons or ammo, made of brown hard cardboard and printed with the logoes "TERRIBLE KIDS STUFF" and "SERGEANT BLACKART".
In addition, as mentioned before, we find a nice sticker "EXPLOSIVE"..I don't want to think what would happened if I had been stopped at customs, probably the "nothing to declare" wouldn't be helpful.

Let's open the box.
And here we are a mini briefcase FBI style with the word "CONFIDENTIAL"..it gets interesting.

Going on..

..and inside the folder there are 2 front and back printed in full color leaflets and two SERGEANT BLACKART stickers (sure that which one ends up on the my surfboard)
In the printed sheets there are:
- The background history of our character.
- The concept art
- The box art
- The image with the pieces to assemble (very useful in my opinion to instantly check if there is everything inside)

And here we are, just to spend few words on the miniature and on its creators.
Details, however, that you can find in the Terrible kids stuff shop

Joe Petrosino
- Category: Gangster's Planet
A nice steampunk style, with half animal or half machine  characters, set in the era of American Prohibition
To let you point out that all the characters of the line Gaster's planet were inspired by guys really existed
- Concept: Andrea Jula
- Sculptor: Benoit Cauchies
- Painter: Fabrizio Russo
- Material: White Metal
there is a reason in the  in the google search results, beside of the name Sergeant BlackArt, you can read LEAD EATER
- Pieces: 11
- Scale: 1:32 or 54 mm

At this point there is nothing else to add

I remove the protective foam and let the photos speak for themselves
7 metal pieces , a bag and a brooch!! (WOOOOW..Stickers and brooch..These guys are just PUNK!)

And take a better look at the contents inside the bag, custom too, nothing is left to chance. Very good Sergeant BlackArt!

I take the Pattafix (blue tac), the cutter, the sandpaper, a bit of water and the slip of paper illustrated.
And Let's see together this kit in detail.

The first thing that catches my eyes, the animal part of the piece.
There are no burrs on the junction of the two parts, so I try now to make a dry assembly test of the two pieces. QUELLE SURPRISE! ( cit. Sherlock Holmes..Sorry I was not able to hold myself )
The two pieces without pattafix are ​​perfectly united and stable, I could probably fit bust and jaw if it wasn't for the gravity force..Damn Newton!
The legs are strong, so there is also no risk to be deformed during the working processing (drilling, cleaning and glueing.)
Ah, I must not forget to mention that in leg of my model, I didn't find any mold lines.

Let the bust.
There are two very thin mold lines on the sides ranging from ear to the junction of the shoulder, but they are subtle and as you can see in the below pictures aren't really visible. Just one coat of sandpaper soaked in water and everything disappears.
The real mold line is found on the left side of the miniature, from armpit to waistline.

BUT..No problem, I can list 3 possibilities to solve it.

- Leave it as it is, meanwhile, it's an area almost hidden by mechanical arm with the trap.
- You can paint it as if the jacket in contact with the mechanical arm is punctured, burned or stained.
- Arm yourself with Milliput White or Magic Stuff and a bit of patience, once mixed the two-component materials, mix all with water or alcohol and then once it reaches the density of homogenized baby food, lay it on the affected part.
Wait for it to dry and then with sandpaper (I use the 1000 grit) sanded and finished all using the sandpaper wet in the water.

A nice thing about this model is the Buttondown collar, and by concept, sculpture and boxart leaked that the collar is a part of a kind of metal bust. A model to asylum.

Another detail of the bust is the plugin with the hat..
..how many times have we saw helmets or hats worn backwards in the models, but with this model for sure you can't wrong.
Also because the hat has a nice hole gun (which is a historical reference to the death of Joe Petrosino?)

And now the mechanical arm
there are mold lines on both sides.
Don't worry, with a bit of fine sandpaper (1000 grit)soaked in water and with less than 1 minute per segment, you will eliminate perfectly the lines, PIC!

At the end of the mechanical arm is the hand..ehm sorry..the giant trap!
just clean a bit the arch graft with cutter..
..and the two blades are hooked perfectly to the mechanism, almost interlocking.

The right arm
Without defects

Here the rifle to be mounted on Joe's back.

And maybe here I found the only real tiny flaw.
a line of fusion between the two gun barrels, to clean it you will take a sharp blade (a bit of careful to not cut yourself) and with bit of patience you have to carve the flaw like a V.
But there is nothing impossible plus I have to say  is just a nit-picking.

And the last picture there is the bust and the hat with a 1 €cent coin, just to let you know the proportions.
The face as you can see is not really in proportion with the classic 54mm, but it is more close to a 75mm!

So I pin up the brooch to my bulletin board..
..and I start to work on it, in the meantime an idea already jumped to my mind.

I hope the article will be helpful for your choices, if you are still undecided in purchasing.
But I would say that it's worth no having in own hands and no painting one of the models of the Terrible Kids Stuff. They really did a nice work!

Cheers.
Cesare "Trevis_11" Trevisiol

lunedì 20 maggio 2013

DREAM AND NIGHTMARE

Hi Guys!!
Today I present one of my latest works:
DREAM AND NIGHTMARE




Before to start a big project I always try to got an idea to create an only one piece and in this case I chose to make a skit reversible.

THE IDEA:
The scene takes place on 2 sides and it is composed by the same elements, on one hand we see a child get out of a mirror landing on the "DREAMS" land, a lively and colorful room with toys of different types, while on the other hand, the scene is repeated but this time the protagonist is catapulted into the "Nightmare" where the same toys come to life and turn into monsters with sharp fangs, all in a cold tones and a creepy atmosphere.

THE SCENE:
I wanted this project unique in all its parts, and so I decided to sculpt everything by the beginning.

The first thing I made is the base for my scene using plywood to create the floor and the wall.
For the frame of the mirror and the skirting I used the balsa wood for ship models.
Finally I plastered with wall putty the imperfection and with the same putty I also made the floor tiles, spreading it evenly over the surface and then engraving it with a metal tip.

For the main character and the toys I used a mixture of 50%  Fimo soft and 50% Gray sculpey.
After cooking sculps in the oven I finished them adding the details in Magic sculpt.
Usually always use this method because I like to be able to refine the materials with metal spikes and sandpaper, for details I prefer the Magic sculpt because is more "sticky" and it attaches well to the surface.

I tried to keep a "playful" style and then I decided to sculpt a chubby child and work on him facial expressions.



Instead for toys I decided to sculpt the various elements of the larger scale than the child, just because the two scenes represent a dream world and children usually dream big toys, when I was a child I remained enchanted by the toy shop windows where they were often exposed oversized puppets and large games to attract attention!



After preparing all the elements I tried to arrange them in various ways to got an idea of ​​the final scene.
It's important, in works as this one, got no gaps and balance well the scene through the arrangement of all subjects.

PAINTING:
For painting I gave as my usual an acrylic base with the airbrush, on the one hand I used a warm base and the on the other a cold base, so I increased the contrast between the two scenes.
On this basis I painted as always with acrylic colors, while maintaining the concept of warm/cold, I used on a side warm shadows and lighs (brown and beige) and on the other cold shadows and lights (blue and light blue).
For the glazing, the final washes and to add saturation to the scenes I used ink and then I realized the dirt on the darker side with pigments and acrylics.







Max “Amon” Richiero

domenica 19 maggio 2013

ABOUT US - Interview: New Member R.I.P.


Hi Guys

Today we are so pleased to announce that there is a new member on Hysteria Yard Team.
Let us introduce him by the Amon's little interview during Genova Figurines Empire, at Sheraton Hotel.

Present yourself: name, surname, age, nickname and the reason behind it.
Ciao, my name is Andrea Nicolini and I am 31. My nickname is R.I.P. The reason behind it concerns the name of my girlfriend and the peace I found after meeting her...


How long have you been painting? Why did you start?
It's about 10 years. I started because some friends started playing Confrontation (of the now defunct Rackham). They had no intention of painting their models, I wasn't interested in the game but I have always been fond of drawing and Art. So when they asked me to try painting them, I said yes.
For the first 5 years I painted seldomly, I was just interested in the "tabletop level". Also because I didn't know any other painter, and so I just stagnated. Then I met the "Legio Pictorum" forum, and the gates opened: people like minded on an artistic and personal level. Now I paint to become better and better...

Who's your favourite painter/sculptor? Who's your inspiration?
It's a difficult question, there are too many of them. If you want two names I can say I really like Fabrizio”Rusto” Russo because of the way he uses the colors, there is no equal to him, and I really like Max “Amon Chakai” Richiero because the way he uses them it is crazy.
But there are still to many of them and usually I look up at the pieces more than their authors, trying to understand how they get a certain result and I try to learn watching (that's why contest are so helpful, you watch the pieces live). As sculptors I really dig Andrea Jula, my favourite and then comes Joaquin Palacios, a dragon!

Do you have a particular piece? What's your favourite?
There's too many! The first that pops in my mind is the first piece that truly made my jaw drop and it's the piece that pushed me to do better. It's the BELAK’HOR  with which Francesco Farabi won the slayer sword in 2007 (is that right?), than there is the great MASQUES by Fabrizio Russo, one of my favourite, And also because it's in my cabinet there is FEAR by Max Richiero because it shows how with few resources you can create a splendid work…

Can you show us some piece?
Bullk Brock

Goblin Captain

Gladius
These three are made in acrilyc, using mostly "Allegro" colors. I prefer not using premade colours for the skintone, I make them starting with primary colours, my specialty infact are "non human" skintones.

Taurus
This is my second experiment with oil colors. It's a technique I really like but because of the time required I use it rarely, really a pity.

Shield
This is my first serious try doing “freehand”, It's an area that always captivated me but I never really tried seriously, now that I tried I can say it's quite fun just doing it for the sake of doing it on something such a banner or shield.

Happy that now R.I.P.  is joing the Team, we are waiting for his next work on this channel.
Here you can watch his gallery on Putty and Paint
Stay tuned!

Hysteria Yard Team
Interview by Max "Amon Chakai" Richiero
Translation by: Andrea "Kraan" Buratta