More Kinkeshi figures: Black Shadow, Canadianman, Hammerhead and Treeman

Well well well... it's been a looong time, right ? More than 4 months without any activity on this blog, but a lot of visitors, more visitors (according to blogger) than when I write some new posts - is it a way to tell me that my blog is better without updates, dear fellow readers ? :-P

I kept on painting from time to time during this period, but not a lot, because I mainly focused on practicing the oud, and began to learn to use Blender, in order to create my own animation films. Well, I still need years of practice in both case, but I really enjoy it :)

And what about figures ? Hum, nothing to display in 1/72 (not yet), but I've painted a few more Muscleman / Kinkeshi figures - if you don't know this range if figures, I've explained everything in a previous post.

This time, we have:

Muscleman #49 / Kinkeshi #33 Black Shadow

Muscleman #51 / Kinkeshi #31 Canadianman

Muscleman #79 / Kinkeshi #89 Hammerhead

Muscleman #115 / Kinkeshi #94 Treeman (Moku-Mokujin in Japanese)

As you can see on the back of the figures, only the last two are Kinkeshi originals, the others are Cosmix plastic copies (easier to paint, I must say).

As Tristan explained me in a comment on this blog, it seems impossible to have a mate result on a rubber figure (as original Kinkeshi are) if you use a spray paint as a primer, due to some chemical reaction between the spray and the rubber - that's why my last two figures are a bit shiny, though I added a layer of mate varnish on them.

The trick seems to prime the figure with a pencil and ordinary acrylic paint - not a spray. I will try this method as soon as possible, thank you Tristan :)

 

For those who are waiting for 1/72 painted minis, let us say that I should try to paint more in september, because:

- the holidays and outdoor activities will be over

- Orctober is in October - I might consider painting green Orcs this year

- I have to prepare the 2021 Advent Calendar with all my friends at Benno's !

See you soon!

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 20

For today's image, we follow the track of Alexander, the great Macedonian General, as we discover a region never seen on this blog, the Indus valley.

Day 20 of the Calendar: Indian warriors of the Indus valley, 4th century BC

Documentation on these warriors is rather scarce (or my research wasn't good), so I had to follow secondary sources to paint these guys. 

First problem: the skin tones. How were Indians in those days ? I supposed that people in this time were as different from one another as today, so I used 3 different base colors, from dark to light tone.

Second problem: the shields. Probably covered with leather, but painted, or still with animal skin ? I chose to represent both, but once again I'm not sure of the historical accuracy.

Third problem: the clothes. I chose to stick to undyed fabrics, but once again, not sure.

We can see the variations in the close-up picture below:

The Macedonian army of Alexander reached the Indus valley in the 4th century BC, and fought against the famous king Porus on the banks of river Hydaspes. Years after, the Greek and Indian culture melted in what we name today the Graeco-Indian civilization in Europe, and Yavanarajya (Kingdom of the Greeks) in India.

I represented here a Graeco-Indian elephant surrounded by Indian warriors from another kingdom.

The last picture shows an avatar of an Indian god fighting among the warriors that worship him. This figure comes from the Kinnikuman / M.U.S.C.L.E. range, as you can see on this post.

So, regarding the historical accuracy, you understand that I'm not sure of my color schemes. In case you have better documentation than what I could find, do not hesitate to leave me a comment, either to confirm my choices or to help me to fix my mistakes. Thanks!

See you tomorrow!

Pentagon, Robin Mask and Chainman

Another batch of Kinkeshi figures. I really appreciate the variety - nothing to do with regimental painting :). From left to right: Chainman, Robin Mask and Pentagon.

Pentagon (Kinkeshi No.25, M.U.S.C.L.E. No.67)

His name comes from the fact that he has a pentagram painted on his face. He's got bird wings and a completely white body - which makes a very interesting challenge for painters.
Once again, this figure is not an original Kinkeshi, but a plastic copy from the Cosmix range.
Maybe I could use him as an angel in a 1/72 Fantasy Empire army.

Robin Mask (a) (Kinkeshi No.5, M.U.S.C.L.E. No.46)

This is the first incarnation of Robin Mask, with a silver metal armor. The color scheme will change with the next incarnations.
He should wear a spiked helmet, but this Cosmix copy is of poor quality.

Chainman (Kinkeshi No.81)

This figure is really funny. Remember that Kinkeshi figure are meant to represent wrestlers ? This one is a disentanglement puzzle, also known as Mindpuzzleman. In the manga, he has a fight against another toy wrestler called Cubeman who beats him immediately - by solving the puzzle.
This is an original Kinkeshi figure (and it wasn't part of the M.U.S.C.L.E. range). I painted it as any other plastic figure: white primer, then acrylic paints, except for the gold which is my only enamel paint.

That's all for today. Hope you still like them, though they're not 1/72 :)

Asuraman, Jesse Maybia and the Ninja

I keep on painting Kinkeshi figures, that's rather funny and recreative. I've taken pictures with my smartphone, so I apologize in advance for the quality. Let's have a look.

On the left, the first figure I've painted a few days ago, Sishkeba Boo. You will notice that his skin is shiny, more than the others - I suppose I didn't mix my paints well enough - it was the first use after a break of several months. Another element is that I didn't prime this mini - maybe it had an impact on the result, too.

Now let's have a look at the new ones. The first mini on display is Asuraman (Kinkeshi No.82, M.U.S.C.L.E. No. 70). In the manga, this character is a prince from the Demon world. His name comes from the buddhist and hinduist mythology in which the Asuras are described as demigods with three heads and four or six arms.

Those who are familiar with Kinkeshi figures will find that this figure is not an original Kinkeshi, but a copy - there's no mark at the back of the figure. Indeed, this figure comes from the Cosmix range, that copied some of the Kinkeshi range. Moreover, it is plastic and not rubber.

Nevertheless, the figure is interesting and I am quite happy with the result. Ashuraman will make a perfect god in my (future) ancient Indian army! You can see below Ashuraman together with 1/72 Ancient Indians by Hät - Oh my God, unpainted figures on this blog ! :-)

Next mini, and far less impressive, is Jesse Maybia (Kinkeshi No.32, M.U.S.C.L.E. No.10). Jesse is a human wrestler from Hawaii. He looks like a lifeguard, probably because of his swinsuit, though swimming with a metal helmet and golden shoes must not be that easy. Once again ,this guy is a Cosmix, and not a real Kinkeshi.

Last of the three, a figure representing a Ninja - The Ninja (b) in the Kinnikuman range (Kinkeshi No.184, M.U.S.C.L.E. No. 96). Again, a Cosmix figure.

Kinkeshi Figures

Hello everyone! It's been a while since last post, and this one will be very far from my usual painting subjects - read it as a holiday post :)

Have you ever heard of Kinkeshi Figures ? Or maybe M.U.S.C.L.E. Figures in the US ?

"Kinkeshi" stands for Kinnikuman Keshigomu, which means Kinnikuman Erasers. This range of collectable toys are erasers, which looks popular in Japan. The Keshi figures usually represent Manga or Anime characters. Here, Kinnikuman is the hero of a manga series written by Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, originally published between 1979 and 1987. An anime was also created for the Japanese TV.

Kinnikuman is a wrestler, so the figures range (473 figures) represent wrestlers from the manga and anime.

A subset of this range has been distributed in North America under the name of M.U.S.C.L.E., which means Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere. As far as I know, the only figures available in Europe were plastic copies sold as COSMIX in France, and Exogini in Italy.

Here you are my first painted Kinnikuman figure:

This character's name is Shishkeba Boo, a member of the Barbeque clan on planet Kinniku  - don't ask, I don't know anything on the subject, I never read the manga, nor saw the anime. And I'm absolutely not interested in wrestling either.

Below, you can see several unpainted figures from the Kinkeshi range.

Yes, some of the characters look very strange, and rather funny - the main reason why I wanted to paint them.

The other reason is that I've recently discovered this blog: Mike's Painted Miniatures

The painting of the figures is really amazing. Since they are manga or anime characters, the style may be different from the usual way for historical figures, and I wanted to try.

So that's it. I intend to paint a few more figures these days, but I keep on painting 1/72 plastic figures too :)

If you want to know more about Kinnikuman, a lot of information (and sometimes color schemes) can be found here: Kinnikuman Fandom