Have any of you painted any figures?

[ET2SN]

I have a serious question, for a change.

Have any of you painted any figures?
I've been trying, on and off, to paint realistic (Caucasian) skin tones on some figures that will be part of my "long term on purpose" 1/24th scale Peterbilt 379 super build*.

I have a bunch of skin-tone paints and still no luck getting the figures to look human.

I'm keeping this post open, if you've gotten good results I'd love to know what brand and colors of paint you used. What did you use as a base? What did you use for highlights and shadows?

When I try to find video tutorials on YouTube, its always the same thing- Orks or soldiers on the Russian Front. Which is not what I'm aiming for.

Any ideas, hints, or tips are welcome.



*- A long time ago, I wanted a real challenge as a long-term project. I settled on the Revell/Germany Peterbilt 379 specifically because I knew the molds were worn out long before they injected the plastic. For the most part, every piece of plastic from the kit had to be reshaped or carved. I also bought some of the old AMT truck kits to donate parts that Revell just got wrong (wheels, rear axles and suspension). The figures are made by Master Box and look perfect for my project (minus the cowboy hat):

[mapuc]

Have you asked a portrait painter s/he would know what colour you should mix to get the right skin colour.

Markus

[ET2SN]

What bugs me is that back in good old days (at least in the US) I would go to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Pactra "flesh tone" and be done with it.

Pactra was enamel paint and their "flesh tone" was the go-to base color. Just mix some with a tiny amount of "whatever's on the shelf" red for the lips and mouth area. Mix a tiny amount of "flesh" into white paint for the eyes then use the flesh tone on its own for the rest of the face and skin as a base color. Done and sorted.

Pactra went extinct sometime in the late 1990's and no one picked up their formulas.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

What bugs me is that back in good old days (at least in the US) I would go to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Pactra "flesh tone" and be done with it.

Pactra was enamel paint and their "flesh tone" was the go-to base color. Just mix some with a tiny amount of "whatever's on the shelf" red for the lips and mouth area. Mix a tiny amount of "flesh" into white paint for the eyes then use the flesh tone on its own for the rest of the face and skin as a base color. Done and sorted.

Pactra went extinct sometime in the late 1990's and no one picked up their formulas.

Made a search to see if either Humbrol or Revell had a colour near our skin.

Here what it says
"There is no such thing as a “skin” color. Skin color is essentially a combination of all 3 primaries: red, yellow and blue. That's right. Red plus yellow plus blue"

Markus

[ET2SN]

If you allow it, "skin tone" will drive you mad.
What I try for is an accurate "quick look" color. You see it on the figure, it looks about right, and your attention moves on to other areas.

What surprised me was that the worst "flesh tone" paint comes from Tamiya, I call it "electric peach".

[Onkel Neal]

Not me, I'm going to try to paint some crew members for the Gato when I get tot it but I'm not really confident they will good. I've watched some videos on it and they make it look easy, but again, my dexterity isn't that good. I'm certainly not good at drawing and that seems like the kind of coordination that helps.