Scenes from the HIRIART Workshop (1 Viewer)

[ucla1967]

Mike do you know how many people are involved in Hiriart production? Who does the painting?

Guillermo does just about everything (i.e., research, design, sculpt, cast, assemble, tie into boxes, pack, and ship) except paint. He has one or maybe two women who do the painting.

 

[jrsteel]

Guillermo does just about everything (i.e., research, design, sculpt, cast, assemble, tie into boxes, pack, and ship) except paint. He has one or maybe two women who do the painting.

Wow they produce a lot of figures for just a few people. It would be neat to see photos of the painting process.

 

[ucla1967]

Received four more workshop photos with figures from my current order. The first three include castings at various stages of production including horses just cast with flashing that need to be removed to castings clean and assembled ready to be painted. The fourth photo shows painted sets.

 

[Feldkappe]

The paint that Hiriart uses is indeed Sherwin-Williams. It is a synthetic enamel with a brand name of "Lustral Kem." I am not sure if that product is available everywhere or if it is unique to South America. As an example, the gray bases are a mixture of ice gray and black aggregate. For khaki, they use Sherwin-Williams beige; for lighter khaki a mixture of beige and white. The bottom line is that it sounds like it would be fairly difficult to try and match Hiriart's paints for touch ups as compared to if they used Humbrol or Testors.

Fellow Collectors,
in these days of computer generated matches matching a paint should not be much of a problem. Many people who have produced in the past have used commercially produced house paint or a unique mixture. Sherwin-Williams at least the last time I enquire in mid 2014 still offered paint matching services "guaranteed to match the paint sample". Quantities vary according to your ability to negotiate with the supplying dealer. many paint manufacturers have a similar service. It is done all the time in construction. However ucla 1967 is correct in that "Lustral Kem " may in fact be unique to South America, but SW is big and may have an equivalent product available in your area. Actually it may be unique to just one market like Uruguay. In the states the air quality requirements for VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) changes from jurisdiction to jurisdiction hence their availability. California at one time used to have 13 different Ai Quality Control management districts with 9 different districts. My advice would be to consult a local paint supplier. with paint companies being truly international these days you might get a good paint rep who can help. I have worked for a manufacturer occasionally who in fact had SW mix up some "Prussian Blue" for the Waffenrock ( tunic) of his Prussian/ Imperial German figures. Hope this helps. I do admit that this is not timely but I signed on not too long ago,
Felkappe

 

[ucla1967]

Thanks for your input Felkappe. If you look carefully at the last photo in post #23, you can see at least three cans of Sherwin-Williams Lustral Kem on Guillermo's work bench.

 

[cem]

Fellow Collectors,
in these days of computer generated matches matching a paint should not be much of a problem. Many people who have produced in the past have used commercially produced house paint or a unique mixture. Sherwin-Williams at least the last time I enquire in mid 2014 still offered paint matching services "guaranteed to match the paint sample". Quantities vary according to your ability to negotiate with the supplying dealer. many paint manufacturers have a similar service. It is done all the time in construction. However ucla 1967 is correct in that "Lustral Kem " may in fact be unique to South America, but SW is big and may have an equivalent product available in your area. Actually it may be unique to just one market like Uruguay. In the states the air quality requirements for VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) changes from jurisdiction to jurisdiction hence their availability. California at one time used to have 13 different Ai Quality Control management districts with 9 different districts. My advice would be to consult a local paint supplier. with paint companies being truly international these days you might get a good paint rep who can help. I have worked for a manufacturer occasionally who in fact had SW mix up some "Prussian Blue" for the Waffenrock ( tunic) of his Prussian/ Imperial German figures. Hope this helps. I do admit that this is not timely but I signed on not too long ago,
Felkappe

wish to be there..

 

[ucla1967]

I have a new workshop photo from Guillermo to share with you from my current order which is due to be shipped next month. It shows nine newly painted sets (including two double sets) prior to their being tied to their tie-cards and boxed. Two of set 1100 CAMERON HIGHLANDERS COLONIAL doubles for me and resale, set 1118 ESCOLA NAVAL BRASIL for me, set 1161 PUNJABI INFANTRY for Fred, set 1093 GARDE REPUBLICAINE for Alan, and four non-catalog sets of the NATAL CARABINEERS, ZULU WAR for Damian, Michael, resale, and me.

 

[ucla1967]

Guillermo has started work on a World War II German Marder self-propelled anti-tank gun AFV. These are two photos of its chassis as a cardboard prototype in its very early development stage.

 

[ucla1967]

This is a workshop photo from my current 2015 order which shows castings either prior to being assembled or assembled and ready for painting. It includes two double sets of 1100 CAMERON HIGHLANDERS, COLONIAL BAND for me and resale; sets 1149 and 1190 WEHRMACHT MOTORRADFAHRER for Bob and Fred; four sets of 1207 WWII HUNGARIAN TANKETTES for Bob, Julian, me, and resale; two non-catalog sets of RUSSIAN GRODNO HUSSARS for Bob and Fred; and various German Hussars and WWII Hungarian Infantry in trays.

 

[ucla1967]

These are painted figures organized into sets. They include a double set 1135 GRANADEROS DE SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA for Mark, a regular set 1135 for me, a double set 1033 PRUSSIAN INFANTRY for Fred, and two double sets 1100 CAMERON HIGHLANDERS, COLONIAL for me and resale.

 

[ucla1967]

This workshop photo shows five more painted sets: 1161 PUNJABI INFANTRY for Fred and four non-catalog sets of NATAL CARABINEERS, ZULU WAR for Damian, Michael, resale, and me. The fences are not from my order, but are for several sets of 1347 RODEO RANCH COWBOYS.

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Guillermo has started work on a World War II German Marder self-propelled anti-tank gun AFV. These are two photos of its chassis as a cardboard prototype in its very early development stage.

Hello Mike,
now this is something different. I allways liked these behind the scenes stories but showing the development of an afv is really fascinating new stuff. Thank you very much for shareing I keep myself at full alert watching.
Kind Regards
Wolfgang

 

[ucla1967]

Hello Mike,
now this is something different. I allways liked these behind the scenes stories but showing the development of an afv is really fascinating new stuff. Thank you very much for shareing I keep myself at full alert watching.
Kind Regards
Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang,

You're welcome. It is different, isn't it, which makes it interesting. We collectors rarely get behind the scenes looks at the production process. The Marder project should be interesting to follow through its various stages. About a year ago, when Guillermo told me he was going to make a Marder, I assumed it would be the Marder II based on the Panzer II chassis which he had already made as catalog sets 1279 and 1280. Instead, he is making a Marder III based on the Panzer 38(t) chassis. I don't know if he is making it to add to the catalog or as a special order from a collector or dealer. In any case, I will probably order it for my collection when it becomes available.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Here are about a dozen sets from my current order which have been painted and are almost complete except for the final silver and gold paint details. From the left, they are sets 1127 ZOUVAES DE CONSTANTINE for Niels; 1118 ESCOLA NAVAL BRASIL for me; 1093 GARDE REPUBLICAINE for Alan; double 1048 DEUTCHES KRIEGSMARINE for Mark; 1036 BADEN DRAGOONS for Collin; 1243 IMPERIAL CADET CORPS for Fred, Tommy and me; 1164 BRITISH INFANTRY SUDAN for Randy; and 1207 ITALIAN CV-33 TANKETTE (desert) for Fred and me.

 

[johnnybach]

Man, your guy is so NEAT and tidy Mike, puts me to shame when I consider how messy my workbench looks when I'm developing a set of castings.:redface2:

However, as my sets are usually considerably smaller than these - I guess he simply HAS to keep them in order - to avoid getting muddled up.

Thanks for posting - lovely to see how a professional producer tackles the tasks of flash cleaning, assembly and painting. jb

 

[ucla1967]

Here is the latest photo of Hiriart's WWII German Panzerjaeger Marder III prototype. The molds are not quite yet ready to be made. I inquired this morning as to paint scheme, panzer grey or camouflage and projected availability. I am also interested in the figures slightly visible on the workbench in the back row with the Australian-style hats.

 

[ucla1967]

Guillermo sent me this photo last week of some of the castings for the second and final part of my 2015 order which has 54 sets. There are seven boxes of castings:

Bottom row left are mules for five sets of Indian Mountain Artillery, WWI German Alpen Korps Mountain Artillery, and Balkan War Greek Pack Mule Train.

Bottom row center are 10 sets of Texas Rangers, WWII German Mountain Infantry, WWI French Infantry, Argentine Infernales, WWI Italian Infantry, US Marines Color Party, and WWII German Afrika Korps.

Bottom row right are three sets of Irish Rifles, WWII German Winter Infantry, and Foreign Legion Parachute Infantry.

Top row left are five incomplete sets of Romans, WWII Polish Infantry, and WWI German Alpen Korps.

Top row center left are two Zulu War Royal Artillery Gun Teams.

Top row center right are five sets of Peruvian Husares, Madras Light Cavalry, and Foreign Legion Timbalier.

Top row right is a set of WWI Austro-Hungarian Dragoons and other horses.

In order to be able to ship these sets in January, he has a lot of work ahead of him cleaning up these castings and then armoring. There are several stages of painting that follow, then label printing, tying the figures in their boxes, packing, and shipping.

 

[ucla1967]

I received two more workshop photos yesterday of castings which are ready to paint from my 2015 order:

First photo sets 1328 WWI Austro-Hungarian Hussars for Fred, 1225 Romans for Tommy, 1341 WWII Polish Infantry for me, and 1351 Argentine Cazadores de los Andes for me.

Second photo sets 1095 WWII German Infantry in greatcoats for me, 1307 Peruvian Husares de Junin also for me, and 1355 Argentine Infernales de Guemes for Bob.

 

[ucla1967]

Progress has been made on the Marder III prototype since the last photo on October 28th.

 

[ucla1967]

Ready to make the mold for the Marder's gun. I am not exactly sure what he said, but I believe he said this would be the first half of the mold.