Saving Captain Miller – Step-by-Step Skintone Repaint Tips (Part 2 of 2)
DID’s fabulous 1:6 scale 12-inch Saving Private Ryan’s “Captain Miller”, 2nd Ranger Battalion, Normandy, 1944 launched in 2010, in my opinion is one of the best commercial Captain Miller created. Equipped with a slew of metal alloy and fabric accessories and more, the highpoint of the figure is the awesome headsculpt. The facial expression captured on the headsculpt depicts a man (portrayed by actor Tom Hanks) under the physical and psychological stress of combat, leading a squad of men whose deaths he feels personally responsible.
The headsculpt has an extremely well-done flocked-stubble effect around the jowls and chin – this blew my socks off when I first saw it. The folks at DID were really pushing the envelope!
Fast forward 13 years to 2023
Fast forward 13 years, and the stubble (above image) has strangely vanished leaving an off-white patch where it once was. Hence the reason for this little project, and a pretty necessary one at that. I was determined not to let this headsculpt go to waste.
(Above image) Painting begins with a base colour of a pink/warm grey mix with a touch of tan. I tentatively applied a thin coat of paint and realised that I had to darken the fleshtone mix and paint with a thicker volume.
(Above image) Much better now, I added a tiny lick of orange to warm up the mix too. It’s time to blend the colours.
Blending done, but the fleshtone mix can still be improved.
Not too bad, but it looks like there’s going to be lots of blending ahead. Let’s see how this goes. But first, it’s time to let the paint thoroughly dry… like over night
A good excuse for a beer, haha. It’s Miller Time!
Back again, and this time some minute refinements were made to the stubble using Tamiya’s Weathering Masters Soot and Rust mix, carefully applied with the time of a cotton bud (I need to get those make-up applicators soon).
I had the eyeballs repainted from a dark brown to a brownish blue-grey as those were the colours of Tome Hank’s pupils. These were then given a gloss varnish.
Tiny brownish black spots were painted on the cheeks and upper bridge of the nose, these referenced those seen on referenced movie stills of Captain Miller.