Yul Brynner from "The King and I"
1/9th scale resin bust from Mitches Military Models
Painted in 2016
As a child, I watched quite a lot of television, of course Westerns with the likes of John Wayne and Robert Mitchum were staples, but so too were a variety of musicals – The King and I being one of my favourites, because it had Yul Briner in it, and he’d been in Westworld and the Magnificent Seven, and they were really cool films !
Gordon Mitchell of Mitches Military Models kindly offered to donate a bust for the first fifty people to enter the Euro show that Steve Kirtley, Richard Wharton, Thomas and myself had decided to try and keep afloat in 2017, and amongst numerous suggestions, the character of Yul Bryner playing a part in one of his films came out as the favourite.
I’ve got to admit that I was expecting his character from either of the two “Western” films already mentioned above, but was really pleased to see this, his portrayal of the “King of Siam” in “The King and I”.
I got hold of one of the first castings to throw some paint, which would allow us to then advertise it for the show.
It’s a superb sculpture, capturing the likeness of the actor, and with a lot of fine detail on the front and collar of the tunic.
Photo #1 shows the beginning of the painting process, and I wanted to try something different by adding a coat of Burnt Umber oils to the bare resin. The head and collar ate a separate piece to the body casting, and the fit doesn’t require anything other than some glue and maybe a strengthening pin to be added.
Photo #2 and you’re possibly asking “why” regarding the change of method to paint the flesh areas ?
First off, I wanted to see if it altered anything relating to really finely sculpted details – like the veins visible along the temples in this shot. Could this help me when painting the flesh colours ?
Well, possibly.
Photo #3 shows the mouth and nose at this stage, and although there’s not as much to show that wouldn’t be visible with my normal use of colours, the small wrinkles coming down from the corner of the mouth and the ones at the corner of the eye show up much more clearly.
So what had I done to get these details to stand out more ?
OK I’ve mentioned the use of Burnt Umber oils being added to the bare resin. I used a large soft brush to do that, and used the paint straight from the tube – no thinners at all.
Then I got a soft cloth – an old T-shirt and very gently dabbed away the excess paint.
It’s not a fast process, but it does allow the details to gradually appear, and as more and more paint is removed, the lighter areas seem to have only the slightest stain from the brown oils, whilst more paint is left in the fine wrinkles and undercuts of the sculpture.
Photo #4, and not just the head was treated in this way, the tunic, sash and gilt details were treated exactly the same, again allowing the sculpting to shine
Photos #5 and #6, now the head has received oil paints in the form of a mix of Mars Brown and Titanium White, this being applied thinly over the head, but allowing some of the stain to show through on the shadow areas. More Titanium White is added to build up the highlights, and the eyes were also added in at this stage.
The tunic is undercoated with Humbrol Crimson, and it’s gone a little chalky because of the amount of Tamiya Flat Base that I added to help the clothing matt down properly.
Photo #7. here I’ve begun painting the tunic.
It looks very dark at the moment, because I’ve added Carmine oils mixed with a small amount of Vandyke brown to act as the shadow colour, and then stippled in more of the carmine to make the mid-tones.
Photo #8 shows the white tile I use for laying out paint, and the two small sections of kitchen roll that are busily soaking up excess carrier oil from the oil paints.
Left on these bits of absorbant paper for half an hour, it’s quite shocking how much carrier oil can be removed, and this all aids the oil paint drying flat and not glossy in appearance.
The paint mixes are on the left, and for a highlight I’ve used a mix of Light Red and Crimson, again stippling this gently into the rest of the paint on the model where the highlights would naturally form.
Photo #9 and although it’s looking very shiny, the tunic is complete. A few days in the drying cabinet – an old kitchen cupboard with a reptile cage, heating mat in it – will dry the oil paints off and they should lose the gloss finish and turn quite matt.
Photo #10 and while the red paint is still wet – because I lack patience, I undercoated the blue sash. The initial coat was heavily thinned with Isopropyl Alcohol so that the overspill of the oil paints on the sash didn’t repel the acrylic paints being used for the sash.
I added three coats of MP Sky Blue to form a solid layer, and then the model was put in the drying cabinet to sort out the red oils.
Photo #11 and a week later the model was taken out and the red paint has dried to a kind of satin finish, which is OK by me. Not completely matt, but it’ll do.
The sash is next on the list to get colour added, and I began with a mix of Cerulean Blue oils, adding a little Prussian Blue to this for the shadows at the bottom edge of the sash, and some Titanium White for the highlights.
Photo #12. Here the model has been in the drying cabinet for another week to dry off the blue colours and then I added the gilt embroidered designs over the red tunic.
The painting of this is eased a lot by how raised the detail is, allowing the modeller to almost dry-brush the gold paint on, although a final wash of a dark brown oils will camouflage any areas that the gold paint has got on to unintentionally.
Photo #13 shows the back of the model, with the sash and the gilt collar finished.
Final thoughts
Initially produced in a limited run of fifty models by Mitches Military Models for the first fifty people to enter into the competition at Euro Miniature Expo 2026, it was a great gesture from Gordon Mitchell to offer such support for the show – my thanks to him for that.
It is a super bust that is now commercially available from Mitches, and whilst relatively simple to paint, it’s a great likeness to the actor Yul Brynner and reminds us of some great films he starred in.
