Russian Rifle Section

With the arrival of the Peter Pig figures (so many figures so little time :) I have been able to complete the two rifle groups. I also put the finishing touches to the busted T-34 I have.

The figures' bases have been modelled with patchy snow in hollows and under bushes. It is pretty generic sort of basing, so should be good for most scenarios. Plus the presence of some snow supports the wearing of greatcoats - so far only on the LMG gunners.

So here they are together, the first rifle group inspecting a destroyed T-34.

Points for picking the Peter Pig figure in there. But you cannot refer to past posts. :)

Updated to include a larger size image on request...

WW2 Russians

I have made a start on my forces for NUTS!. The discovery of some left over figures from my Guards Air Landing force for FoW settled the question of which theatre to play.

The left over figures did not include any of the Degtyarev DP LMGs, so I have ordered some from the local Peter Pig distributer along with an OPFOR of late war Germans.

I also have a vague inclination to get some Japanese as well, to be opponents in the Manchurian campaign - something a little different.

Here is an early picture of the two groups (aka sections, squads) of a Russian platoon. These figures are from the FoW range.

Despite my best efforts, these tovarishes look a little dark - they look better in person. Still a bit more highlighting and weathering to do, but they are beginning to take shape.


The basic set of colours in use here are:

Tunic
Tamiya Khaki

Boots
GW Chaos Black

Gun
GW Bestial Brown

Helmet
Vallejo Russian Green

Gun Metal
GW Chainmail

Pouches
GW Graveyard Earth/GW Bleached Bone 50:50

Rain Poncho
GW Catachan Green over GW Graveyard Earth

HOTT Skeletons

While I had the camera out I decided it was past time to capture some class photos for my army of skeletons.

The spears are a recent addition and have not been based yet. In the meantime I have completely changed my basing technique, so I have to relearn the old way... Oops.

Artillery. Next to useless in practice, but nice little diorama.
Sand bags and cannon balls hand made from Milliput

Dark Riders. Someone ought to get those horses some oats.


Lurker.


Blades.
Some effort was put into making the metal rusty looking, including orange surface rust and the deeper red iron cancer.


Shooters.
They are carrying crossbows if that is not completely clear.


Necromancer as the Magician who raised the skeleton army.
Has a skeleton standard bearer and a sorcerer or some other magical assistant.


The necromancer's Stronghold.
I was a bit inspired by Orthanc in the construction. All the rivets are PVA drops applied with a piece of brass rod.


Spears.
Cannot quite figure out what the shako or WW2 helmet is all about...


Wraith Sneakers

WW2 Paint Guides

I have made a purchase of some figures for NUTS! and found myself wondering how to paint them.

So here is another post in the WW2 theme, this time tracking web resources on painting schemes and guides

Any recommendations for this list will be gratefully accepted. :)

British (and Commonwealth?)

• British Infantry - Flames of War website
• British and Canadian infantry - Bolt Action Miniatures. Very detailed, sadly light on pictures. Colour charts for Citadel and Vallejo.
• British Airborne - Great Escape Games
• British Commando - Great Escape Games
  

German

• German infantry - Lloydian Modelling Tips. This is really nice article on German infantry.
• German infantry - Bolt Action Miniatures. Very detailed, sadly light on pictures. Colour charts for Citadel and Vallejo.
  
• SS Pea Dot camouflage - Flames of War website
  
• German Infantry 1939-1945 - Flames of War website. Not completely sure about this one - disagrees with the Lloydian site above...
• Fallschirmjager camouflage - Flames of War website.
• Waffen SS - Great Escape Games
• Wermacht Heer - Great Escape Games
• Vallejo Colour Guide - The Miniatures Page post. Bit hard to read, but great resource.
• Splinter Pattern Image - Steve's Page of Camo
• Suggest Colours for Splinter Pattern - Colorado Minatures
• German Camouflage Patterns - kamouflage.net
  

Russian

• Russian Infantry - Amazon Miniature. A general page with some good detail on Russians:
• Russian infantry - Bolt Action Miniatures. Very detailed, some pictures. Colour selections for Citadel and Vallejo.
• Russian Infantry - Great Escape Games. Step by step pictures and colour guide. Nice.
  

United States

• US Airborne - Flames of War website
• American Army - Bolt Action Miniatures. Very detailed.
• US Infantry - Great Escape Games
• US Airborne - Tom Weiss

for chris

Magic Wash - Pledge One Go

I have noticed that as a thinner, Magic Wash (Pledge) makes the paint flow beautifully. I also noticed that it leaves a slightly glossy (about semi-gloss I think) finish. Looks real nice on metallics, but probably a bit much on the non-metallics.

So I went searching for flat coat choices to both protect the miniatures and make them look realistic. The popular choice seems to be Testor's Dullcote. As a lacquer there are some concerns about it yellowing over time. Other people recommended PollyScale Flat and something similar from Model Master. The lacquer based sealers use a thinner that can be harsh on acrylic paints, especially silver apparently, which is a bit of a concern.

Unexpectedly my searching turned up a technique based on Future (known as Pledge here). The idea is to mix a matt medium, such as Tamiya X-21 (get it from Toyworld) to make the normally glossy Pledge flatter, leaving a tough, flat finish. Remember that despite all this modelling fun, Pledge is meant to be tough enough to be walked on.

A number of different finishes are possible, just my varying the amount of flat base used:

• dead-flat: 1 part X-21, 3 parts Pledge
• flat: 1 part X-21, 10 parts Pledge
• satin: 1 part X-21, 15 parts Pledge
• gloss: Pledge (what else :)

I am really impressed with the apparent flexibility of Pledge as well as it cost - available from Coles or Woolies for less than $6 for 500ml. How good is that?

For reference here are some links:
The Complete Future - a great reference. Includes an image of the bottle (centre bottle).
Future Floor Wash - as used by a railroad modeller.

Partial Painting Results

Well I started testing the new painting techniques on a guinea pig Raptor (everyone else took one step back).

The first picture is of a brush primed Raptor next to a "raw" Raptor. This was obviously more time consuming to actually paint on than a spray can, but because it is water based it can be painted on much sooner. Especially if you have access to a heat gun! :)

I thinned all these paints with a magic wash, which worked well. Still getting the feel for appropriate dilution - not sure I agree with the TAB Studio video - yet. The primer covered in three coats - and that means about 3-4 drops of primer. The difference is a bit hard to see - it is bit more obvious in the flesh (metal?).

Left is the basic marine and on the right is the brush primed model.

After the primer dried I started working on the metallic armour for the Raptors. The colour is Dwarf Bronze and I thinned it down in the TAB Studio way - about 10 drops of magic wash to a drop of paint. I though this was so thin it was completely useless - I swear I could count the mica flecks after I had done a coat. I figure that this due to a difference in pigment content in GW versus the Vallejo paint in the video.

I used a thicker wash than before and proceeded to carefully wash on thin coats of the bronze. Between coats I hit the model with a heat gun to drive out the water, speeding up the process. Even with the thickened wash the results below took a fair while and about 7-8 washes.

Time consuming, but a very smooth result.

Here are some pictures of the test piece. Note the highlights on the armour. How cool is that? :) Stoked in short.

Front view of the Raptors armour

Rear view of the Raptor.

I am a convert, and intend on using this technique further including normal non-metallic paints. Stay tuned...

New approach to painting

The brush on primer mentioned above is white (Vallejo have one). I have been an advocate of black on the 28mm sized figures since the beginning, but the latest round of metallics have been disappointing (note that the silvers work like a bought one). So with all that I am going to give the brush on primer a try.

The challenge will be to ensure that all areas get some sort of paint. Missed areas on a black primed model look like deep shadows. Missed areas on a white primed model really stand out and look, well, shit. The other trick will be in getting the darker "scale" colours and grungy feel you get for free with black undercoats. It will really be a matter of darkening paints accordingly, which will require some work on palette mixing. Cool.

I should that my 15mm work gets a white undercoat followed by a brown shadow wash, so this won't be all new. It will be a challenge but I am sick of fighting with red, white, yellow and the non-silver metallics - so here I go...

Painting Videos

After complaining about painting metallic golds in a recent post, I got referred to a video tutorial series.

All in all very good.

Highlights for me were:

• Use of "magic wash" as a paint thinner instead of straight water. This wash is one part acrylic floor wash and three parts water. This is supposed to help with keeping the metallic flakes in suspension, instead of lying about on the bottom.
• Undercoating with an acrylic brush on primer. The basic idea was that spray cans while much faster can produce inferior results due to temperature and humidity. I have seen a powdery finish due to the paint drying in the air and an uneven finish due to high humidity.
  

Here are some links to the series. The home website appears to have gone AWOL, so these links are all to blip.tv, but the videos come from TAB Studio.

• Priming A Miniature
  
• Attack of the Colours
• Pinning
• Base Coating Metallics - (the video that started it all)
• 35mm Face Painting

They can take a while to download and the client does not appear to buffer at all. So I suggest some manual buffering - leave it on pause until fully downloaded.