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I was just asked to do my first commission. While very flattering, I'm not sure how to proceed. Firstly, the request was for a ninja mini, but larger scale is preferred. I'm having difficulty finding anything. The closest I've come was a 35mm Samurai from Kabuki Minis. Any help would be gretly appreciated.

Have you asked your client about what his idea of "larger scale" is? Perhaps the 35mm is a perfect fit for his needs.

There's this one from Pegaso:

http://www.pegasomodels.com/productdetails_en.asp?id=180

That's 54mm.

I'm certain Andrea Miniatures used to do one, but they might have discontinued it, as it wasn't up to the standards of their current stuff.

R.

The client just said 'larger is better'. I'm sure it'll be more governed on price, which is another thing I need to work out. This just came from the result of my wife showing a co-worker pictures of some of my Space Wolves. It's quite unexpected.

The Pegaso models are great! Thanks! Many options there, and I may get some for myself. I've never painted anything this large so I'm not sure what to expect. I'll see what the client thinks of these.

Here is a large ninja:

This one is 28-32mm might be to small?


Or this one from Bushido



or this



If you doing a comission I would go for the Pegaso one though.. Bigger is better when you want to put something on display

The big question really is just how large....

If you pop through the links here:

http://amazingmodeler.com/links.html

You should be able to find one or two 90 or 120 mm figures.

You can also find 1/6 scale vinyl and resin figures from various Japanese suppliers - many of them who actually specialize in historically accurate figures.

HLJ.com or 1999.co.jp/eng/ should have something which will work in one scale or another - though you will need to sort out the cartoon ninjas...though that might be what he wants.

If I had more details about what they were after - I might be able to make a better recomendation.

Wow thanks!

It would be just for display, so I agree that the Pegaso models will probably be the best route due to size and I imagine he's wanting a more traditional/historical model. I'm having him take a look to see what he thinks though. That Anima model is pretty cool!

I haven't been given too many details other than that he wants an 'Asian Ninja', and that he wants larger than 28mm. I think he's pretty open to anything, and these Pegasos are hard to resist.

Pegaso is very good quality, but shipping can be expensive and time-consuming from Italy (plus customs duty). I don't know any US stockists, but check their website as it will be easier to order them in-country if you can.

The techniques for painting large models are very similar to those for painting at 28mm. However light works differently on larger areas, so extreme or edge highlighting that is dramatic and striking on a 28mm model looks garish snag improbable at 54mm. So go for more subtle techniques. True metallics are better than NMM and, for a display model, OSL is a very effective technique (if, say, you wanted to suggest that the ninja was moving from darkness, partially into the light of an unseen doorway.

Also give your base some thought. A themed base, depicting a bamboo or tatame floor would look really cool with some narrative context - some plasticard throwing stars embedded in the floor, say.

R.

Thanks for the heads up. My client did decide he liked one of the Pegaso Samurai rather than ninja. Which, despite all the little details, I think it will be more straight forward to paint, thinking of the OSL potentials on a ninja.

Does anyone have personal experience ordering from them that can expand on the customs duty and timeframe to US? I did explain to the client that it would be coming from Europe so shipping will take some time. He is in no rush, thankfully.

I have to plan out a paint scheme as he didn't have anything particular in mind. I'm not exactly sure how this all goes since I've never done a commission or commissioned anything. I was planning on trying to keep things more realistic than I would do for my wargaming minis, but your painting tips are very helpful.


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After looking through the US Customs website, duty shouldn't be an issue as it's under $200. So that's good. Now I just need to figure out shipping from Italy. I found a couple US retailers that have websites listed that actually have the specific model listed but at twice the price as Pegaso. I based my price on Pegaso's price, so I doubt my client will be willing to pay more, and the profit would be almost nil. I've contacted some other retailers listed on the site, and Pegaso directly. Hopefully it'll work out!

For colour schemes, see if you can get the Osprey book for the samurai, which has a good number of coloured plates illustrating their uniforms and armour. Or just doa Google image search for "samurai".

Customs can be a bit of a shock. I'm in the UK and recently a box of minis I ordered from the States came with £7.06 duty and an £8 handling few: almost half what I spent on the models to start with! I don't know what the US is like, though.

Commission painting isn't something you should start out expecting to make a profit on, though. See it as a chance to paint something new and different at your client's expense.

R.

From what I can tell, under $200 they don't really mess with and just let it through. I'm sure other countries can be stricter about it. It's also a much lower percentage compared to the figures I saw for the EU and UK.

While I will enjoy doing the model on multiple levels, it's a lot of time and effort, especially the level of detail on this particular model. I think one's time is worth something. That being said, I don't want MUCH for it. I'm not planning on advertising, or starting a business or anything. I didn't even expect this to happen! It's a direct result of my wife bragging to a co-worker about my minis. I don't think they're showcase worthy, I'm just painting them to where I think they look good on the table. I imagine several people get started that way,.