Masterclass Modeling Videos

Clinic #3 Building & Painting Small Scale Figures

Conducted by  Rafe Morrissey

Reviewed By  Jack Kennedy, IPMS# 12511

MSRP: $49.95 Website: www.masterclassmodels.com While I was at the IPMS National Convention I had the occasion to buy something from a vendor who also had a video on building and painting small-scale figures. I looked at the video but decided against buying it at $49.95. The figure that came with the video (actually a two DVD set) was a very nice U.S. Navy/Marine pilot from the Pacific Theatre in WW II. I spoke somewhat with him and he seemed like a very nice guy. It was only after the Reviewer Corps sent me the video that I realized that the fellow I met was the one that did the video. This video consists of two DVDs. The first outlines supplies, references, parts cleanup, assembly, seam filling, priming, light study and pre painting. Mr. Morrissey clearly shows all of these steps and while I don't usually do some of them, I found his method very informative. The second DVD shows in detail painting flesh, painting uniforms, mixing yellows, mixing whites, final details and painting hair. I especially found his technique on using yellow and white very helpful and I used them when painting the figure that was included in the DVD set. The DVD's take you step by step in detail from starting a figure to completion using the figure included. The figure included is of a WWII U.S. Navy/Marine pilot in the Pacific. It is very well cast and comes with two heads, (one with a ball cap and the other with a flying helmet). The pose is realistic and the faces are terrific. There was only one seam line to clean up on the legs and it was ready to build. Fit was perfect with very little filling. I painted it in about three hours and I didn't even use artist's oils as I normally do. I have been painting figures for over 40 years and have attended hundreds of figure shows and I still found that I have a lot to learn. Mr. Morrissey's class was a real winner and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn how to paint small-scale figures. It takes the fear factor out of this art. I wish to thank Masterclass Modeling Videos and Rafe Morrissey for giving me this DVD Class to review.